August 8, 2025
Description
This is a template to create your own figurines for Faba audioplayers. These are great, because you only have to encode your files and write a code on the NFC tag. No need to buy content again, just digitize your old tapes ;-) No manipulation of the box itself, except taking out the SD card and writing your content on it. I use very cheap NTAG213 stickers from Aliexpress (25 mm, around 4,50USD / 100) and write to them with my iPhone and the app “NFC Tools”. There are free command line tools for encoding (https://github.com/wansors/myfaba-hacks), I use their windows app “RedEle” for convenience.
You can just use the slicer to add little figurines from printables or elsewhere to the base.
The way this base works:
- print the bridge insert first
- print the base with a pause at 2.60 mm
- when it pauses put the NFC sticker in, then put the insert on top of it (open side facing down)
- the bridge insert should friction-fit or at least not move around laterally (scale it a tiny bit if this doesn't work out)
- continue print and observe the next layer: if the insert does not fit well it can stick to the nozzle
- this does not click into the little clips on the player like the originals, I found it too annoying and difficult for the kids to place the figurines. If you want this behaviour, just scale the base and insert up in the slicer by 0.2-0.4mm in x and y
On my printer the insert is not strictly necessary, but with some filament the bridging layers would be a mess. In my tests the print always recovered without the insert, and nothing was visible on the outside, but YMMV and I really recommend using it. Also it holds down the NFC sticker, which might be helpful if the glue fails at some point (I don't know how well it actually sticks to PLA longterm). I went with this solution because it's not possible to print directly over the sticker, the filament won't adhere to it.
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution