Poor man’s Polaroid camera

Take this build by Stasys Urbonas, for example. He calls it a poor man’s Polaroid, even though it cost more to build than it would to buy a Polaroid camera off the shelf: “I almost bought a regular Polaroid, but realised photos aren’t cheap, so the idea to use a thermal printer just popped into my head at that time, because thermal paper is cheap.”

We found this project build while we were looking for something interesting to copy on our 3D printer. We quickly skimmed over it, as it looks like it’s made of MDF, or possibly sheet metal with a thick coat of paint. Turns out it actually is 3D printed – it’s just had a load of work done to it to make it look like something polished that’s come out of a factory, rather than peeled off a 3D printer bed. 

The components include a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, a Raspberry Pi Camera Module, and a battery. Stasys designed the case himself, then printed, sanded, primed, and painted it in a colour scheme that reminds us of roadside speed cameras.