Achoo! Sorry, my hayfever’s been playing up again. Let me just grab a tissue from my Steam Machine… is something you could be saying if you’re willing to 3D print the replica this generous individual over on Reddit designed and shared.
The Steam Machine Style Tissue Box Cover (or ‘Enclosure’) is, practically speaking, just a tissue box. But I’ll be damned if I’m not tempted to buy a 3D printer just to make one. It looks very much like a real Steam Machine, sans all the actual gubbins that makes it, well, the real thing.
You can download the 3D files from MakerWorld and have one of your own. The creator Boyso expands: “Default print profiles are meant to be used with a 0.4 mm nozzle and a smooth build plate. Additional print profiles are provided where it prints on its side for textured build plates.”
Boyso also explains: “To keep things authentic, I’ve included two print profiles: 512 GB [or] 2 TB. Just like the real thing… except they’re exactly the same. Pick whichever capacity makes you feel faster.”
Personally, I’d be going for the 2 TB one—you just never know. Placebo effects are real, after all.
I turned a Steam Machine into a tissue box.
from r/steammachine
One thing to note, however, is that it might be worth holding off from using the ‘textured plate print profiles’ given ones reviewer’s poor experience with this. The creator has since replied and said they’re going to redesign things to avoid the issues they ran into with these specific profiles. So, it seems no matte surfaces on the design until those get fixed.
Provided you’re using a working profile and have access to a 3D printer, this project could be a good way to get a faux glimpse of a Steam Machine in your home—lord knows a real one is expensive enough to make it a difficult proposition.
If you have a Steam Controller, you might even be able to fit a custom faceplate charger onto the tissue box. But I’m getting ahead of myself again—just tissues, for now. Isn’t that enough?