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5 ESP32 projects that are better with a 3D printer


The ESP32 is a cheap microcontroller that powers sensors, toys, communication devices, and all manner of low-power electronics. It’s a favorite among hobbyists thanks to its versatility, price, and excellent software and hardware support.

ESP32 projects are even better when you can make your own 3D printed parts, so here are some examples to get you started.

Smart home Bluetooth proxy cases

ESP32 development board case by PLAUK on MakerWorld. Credit: PLAUK / MakerWorld

Most ESP32 boards have both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, which makes them perfect for use in the smart home. One such example is a Bluetooth proxy, which allows for presence detection in smart home platforms like Home Assistant based on the proximity of devices like smartphones and wearables.

At around $5 a pop, the ESP32 is the perfect device for this since you can deploy these devices all over your home without spending a ton of money. But you probably don’t want to look at an ugly board and a mess of wires. What you need is a neat little case to hide everything.

Thankfully, there’s no shortage of options. Both the ESP32 socket case and the wide socket case hide the development board and power adapter in a single enclosure that plugs directly into the wall. Alternatively, just about any 3D printed ESP32 enclosure you like the look of that’s designed with your model in mind will work (like this one for the ESP32-WROOM-32).

RetroGo handheld consoles

RetroGo is a firmware for ESP32-powered devices like the ODROID-GO that allows you to play retro games on the go. There are all manner of tutorials for building your own RetroGo devices at home, either by combining a suitably powerful ESP32 board with a display and additional components, or by using a display that already integrates a microcontroller like the so-called Cheap Yellow Display (CYD).

There are many guides online that walk through this process, like this one on Instructables and this one on Hackster.io. There are also plenty of projects that don’t use RetroGo, usually focusing on a single console (with the NES being a popular choice).

You don’t actually need a chassis for your retro handheld, as there are plenty of projects out there that consist purely of core components on a breadboard with a directional pad and a few buttons. These are perfectly usable, but nothing finishes a project off like a proper case in a color and style of your choice.

ESP32 Marauder container by Master_Of_None on MakerWorld. Credit: Master_Of_None / MakerWorld

The ESP32 Marauder is an offensive and defensive Wi-Fi device designed for penetration testing networks. You can buy one for $100 whenever stock is available, or you can build your own for less using your choice of development kit and a good antenna.

I featured this project in last week’s ESP32 weekend projects post, with the simplest example consisting of a microcontroller, display, a few breadboards, jumper cables, and a USB power bank. But there are many examples of user-made projects out there on repositories like MakerWorld. One example is the HandyHack, which has room for multiple antennas, four 18650 batteries, and an ESP32-embedded Cheap Yellow Display up front.

Smart speakers for Home Assistant

The Seeed Studio reSpeaker Lite ESP32 development board on top of a speaker. Credit: Adam Davidson / How-To Geek

You don’t need to buy a Home Assistant Voice device to be able to issue commands to your Home Assistant smart home. With the aid of the $30 ReSpeaker Lite, an ESP32-powered dual-mic array with on-board audio processing, you can build your own (or adapt an existing) speaker for use with Home Assistant’s voice assistant.

In fact, there’s a detailed ReSpeaker Lite project complete with bill of materials and 3D printable parts on MakerWorld. Alternatively, there are from-scratch builds (like this one) that use the ESP32-S3, audio amplifier, microphone, speaker, and a simple LED to do much the same job.

Both of these projects work locally, without any data leaving your network or remote servers to rely on.

The Seeed Studio reSpeaker Lite on a white background.

Brand

Seeed Studio

CPU

ESP32-S3R8

The reSpeaker Lite Voice Assistant Kit includes a two-mic array, a pre-soldered XIAO ESP32-S3 controller, and an XMOS XU316 audio processor with onboard natural language understanding, interference cancellation, acoustic echo cancellation, noise suppression, and automatic gain control. Hooked up a 5W speaker, you can create your own local voice assistant that you can connect to Home Assistant via ESPHome.


ESP32 Meshtastic node and LoRa radio

MeshT2 - Meshtastic case for Heltec Wireless Tracker V2 by Prokuon on GitHub. Credit: Prokuon / GitHub

Meshtastic is a peer-to-peer mesh network designed to facilitate communication between devices (known as nodes) without the need for the internet. With each device acting as a node, the mesh network’s range can grow depending on how many devices are currently nearby. Connect to your node using its local Wi-Fi network, then use an application on a computer or smartphone to send and receive messages.

Adrelian’s Meshtastic DIY guide is one of my favorite examples since it uses four main components and whatever shells the author had lying around to contain them. You can “improve” on it by 3D printing your own purpose-built Meshtastic case to taste.

For example, if you buy a $20 Heltec V3, you can use a fancy case that auto-ejects 18650 batteries like a spent magazine, or one of the many, many examples on MakerWorld and other repositories.

The Lilygo T-Echo LoRa radio.

Dimensions (exterior)

5×2.1×0.96 inches

Compatibility

Meshtastic

This LoRa device is made for use as a Meshtastic node and uses an e-paper display to conserve energy for its 850mAh battery. It connects via Bluetooth or USB-C, and it includes built-in GPS support so you can instantly send your location to friends on your mesh network.


If you’re keen on ESP32 projects, there’s a good chance you’ll appreciate having a 3D printer if you don’t already have one. Hungry for more? Check out some more ESP32-powered 3D printing projects.



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Recent Reviews

Why your new laptop has almost no ports (and why that’s actually great)


The first computer my family owned was an 80286 IBM clone, and it had lots of ports, none of which looked the same. There was a big 5-pin DIN for the keyboard, a serial port, a parallel port, a game port for our joystick, and of course, the VGA port for the monitor.

In comparison, a modern computer has much less diversity in the port department. Not only are there fewer types of ports, but the total number may be quite low as well. When we move to modern laptops, it can be much more minimalist. Some laptops have just a single port on the entire machine! Is this a bad thing? As with anything, the extremes are rarely ideal, but I’d say overall, this has been a pretty positive development for PCs.

The port explosion era was never sustainable

It was more like a port infection

You see, the reason we had so many ports for so long is that people kept inventing new interfaces to make up for the shortcomings of existing ones. However, instead of the newer, better interfaces making the old ones obsolete, they just became additive as perfectly summarized in this classic XKCD comic.

A comic illustrates how competing standards multiply: first showing 14 competing standards, then people agreeing to create one universal standard, followed by a final panel showing there are now 15 competing standards. Credit: Randall Munroe (CC-BY-NC)

In laptops, the need for so many ports reached ridiculous heights. In this video posted by X user PC Philanthropy, you can see his Sager/Clevo D9T absolutely packed with all the trimmings leading to a rather massive laptop.

It is undeniably a cool machine, but obviously goes against the principle of portable computing. Also, every port you install means power and space that could have been taken up by something else. That’s true for laptops and desktops.



















Quiz
8 Questions · Test Your Knowledge

PC ports and motherboard I/O
Trivia challenge

Think you know your USB from your PCIe? Put your connector knowledge to the test.

PortsStandardsHardwareConnectorsMotherboards

Which USB connector type is fully reversible, meaning it can be plugged in either way?

Correct! USB Type-C features a symmetrical oval design that lets you insert it in either orientation. Introduced in 2014, it has become the dominant connector for modern devices and supports everything from data transfer to video output and fast charging.

Not quite — the answer is USB Type-C. The older USB Type-A connector (the flat rectangular one) famously required you to flip it at least twice before getting it right. USB Type-C’s reversible design was one of its biggest selling points when it launched in 2014.

What does the ‘x16’ in a PCIe x16 slot refer to?

Exactly right! PCIe x16 means the slot has 16 data lanes, allowing significantly more bandwidth than smaller x1 or x4 slots. This is why discrete graphics cards almost always use x16 slots — they need that extra throughput to feed pixel data to your display.

Not quite — the ‘x16’ refers to the number of data lanes. More lanes mean more simultaneous data paths between the CPU and the card. Graphics cards use x16 slots because their massive data demands require all 16 of those lanes working together.

Which port on a motherboard is most commonly used to connect a display directly to the CPU’s integrated graphics?

That’s correct! The HDMI and DisplayPort connectors found on a motherboard’s rear I/O panel are wired directly to the CPU’s integrated graphics unit. If you have a discrete GPU installed, you should use that card’s outputs instead for best performance.

The right answer is the HDMI or DisplayPort connectors on the rear I/O panel. These ports bypass the discrete GPU entirely and tap into the CPU’s built-in graphics. It’s a common troubleshooting trap — plugging a monitor into the motherboard instead of the GPU and wondering why nothing works.

What is the primary function of the 24-pin ATX connector on a motherboard?

Spot on! The 24-pin ATX connector is the main power connector that delivers multiple voltage rails — including 3.3V, 5V, and 12V — from the power supply to the motherboard. Without it seated properly, your PC simply won’t power on at all.

The correct answer is delivering power from the PSU to the motherboard. The 24-pin ATX connector is the big wide plug you’ll find on every modern motherboard. It supplies several different voltage levels that the board distributes to components. PCIe cards get their supplemental power from separate 6- or 8-pin connectors directly from the PSU.

Which of the following rear I/O ports transmits both audio and video in a single cable and is most commonly found on modern motherboards?

Correct! HDMI carries both high-definition audio and video over a single cable, making it one of the most convenient display connectors available. It became standard on motherboards as integrated graphics improved, and modern versions support 4K and even 8K resolutions.

The answer is HDMI. VGA is analog-only and carries no audio, DVI-D is digital video only without audio, and S-Video is an older analog format. HDMI bundles both audio and video digitally, which is why it became the go-to connector for TVs, monitors, and motherboard rear panels alike.

What maximum theoretical data transfer speed does USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 support?

Impressive! USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 achieves 20 Gbps by using two 10 Gbps lanes simultaneously — that’s what the ‘2×2’ means. It requires a USB Type-C connector and is most commonly found on high-end motherboards, making it ideal for fast external SSDs.

The correct answer is 20 Gbps. The ‘2×2’ in the name is the key clue — it bonds two 10 Gbps channels together. USB naming got notoriously confusing around this era, with the same physical port potentially supporting very different speeds depending on the generation label printed in the spec sheet.

What is the role of the M.2 slot found on most modern motherboards?

Well done! M.2 is a compact form-factor slot that most commonly hosts NVMe SSDs, which connect via PCIe lanes for blazing-fast storage speeds. Some M.2 slots also support SATA-based SSDs and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo cards, making the slot surprisingly versatile.

The correct answer is housing compact storage drives or wireless cards. M.2 replaced the older mSATA standard and supports both PCIe NVMe drives and SATA drives depending on the slot’s keying. NVMe M.2 drives can achieve sequential read speeds many times faster than traditional SATA SSDs.

Which audio connector color on a standard PC rear I/O panel is designated for the main stereo line output to speakers or headphones?

That’s right! The green 3.5mm jack is the standard line-out port used for speakers and headphones in the PC audio color-coding scheme. Blue is line-in for recording, and pink is the microphone input — a color system that’s been consistent across PC motherboards for decades.

The correct answer is green. PC audio jacks follow a long-standing color convention: green for headphones and speakers, blue for line-in (recording from external sources), and pink for the microphone. It’s one of those legacy standards that has quietly persisted even as USB and digital audio have become more common.

Challenge Complete

Your Score

/ 8

Thanks for playing!

USB-C (almost) solved the problem

So close, but not quite there yet

Released to the public in the mid ’90s, USB came to the rescue. The “U” is for “Universal” and for the most part USB has lived up to that promise. Now there was one port that handled data and power. More importantly, USB is fully backwards compatible. So if you plug a USB 1.1 device into a modern USB port, it should work. Whether you can get software drivers for it is another story, but it will talk to the host device.

USB-C has proven to be less universal than I’d like, and the situation is still far better than it used to be. A single USB-C port on one of my laptops can act as a video output for just about anything, even an old VGA monitor.

A Macbook, CRT monitor, and iPad connected together. Credit: Sydney Louw Butler/How-To Geek

My smaller laptops don’t need special chargers anymore, and the latest laptops can pull 240W over USB-C, which is enough for all but the beefiest desktop replacement machines. There is no type of peripheral I can think of that doesn’t give you the option to use it over USB.

But the complaints aren’t so much that we only get USB these days, it’s more that we get so little of it.

Minimal I/O enables better hardware design

Harder, better, faster, stronger

When you only put a handful of USB-C ports on a mobile computer, you reap numerous benefits. The low profile of USB-C means the laptop can be thinner, and the frame can be a stronger and more rigid unibody design. Internally, you have room for more battery, larger performance components, or better cooling.

A green Apple MacBook Neo on display on a wooden table with a product sign behind it. Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek

It also means the internals can be simpler, and cheaper to design and fabricate, though whether those savings are passed on to customers is another story altogether.

Wireless and cloud-first workflows reduce physical dependency

I guess they are “air” ports

Perhaps the first sign of major change was when smartphones dropped headphone jacks, but the fact is that wireless technologies are now good enough for most peripheral and data connections. So, there’s no need to connect them directly to a port on a computer. Which, in turn, means that there’s no reason to have as many ports on the computer in the first place.

I can’t remember the last time I used a wired mouse or keyboard, and I only use Ethernet for devices that need extremely high speeds, low latency, or improved reliability. For normal day-to-day use, modern Wi-Fi is just fine. So while your laptop might not have as many wired ports on the outside, those wireless chips on the inside still give it numerous connectivity options for audio, input, and data transfer.

You could even make the same argument about storage to some extent, with many thin and light systems leaning on cloud storage to make up for a lack of ports to connect external storage.

MacBook Neo colors on a white background.

Operating System

macOS

CPU

A18 Pro

The MacBook Neo with the A18 Pro chip is Apple’s most affordable laptop yet, with all-day battery life and buttery-smooth performance in a thin and light profile.


The dongle backlash misses the bigger picture

The last bit of the port protest centers around dongles, but I never understood the complaints. Having one port that can be broken out into whatever ports you need using a little box is amazing. It makes ports optional and gives you the choice. If you never plug your laptop into anything, why deal with all the ports you’ll never use?

Likewise, if you only ever use ports with your laptop when you dock it at a desk, then you can just leave your dongle ready to go on your desk, but throwing a small dongle in your laptop sleeve or bag in case you might need it is a small price to pay for all the benefits of minimal IO.



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