Vintage Radio & Hi-Fi Parts
A valve set with a missing knob stays a set with a missing knob, sometimes for years: the tooling went when the factory went, and the one on the auction site is the wrong brown and the wrong shaft. Knobs, escutcheons, feet and pointers are printable. The mains side of the chassis is not.
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Get a vintage radio & hi-fi parts estimate
Upload your file or describe the part. We review printability before confirming anything.
Common uses
- Tuning, volume and tone knobs for plain, D-shaft and splined spindles
- Dial escutcheons, bezels and surrounds
- Dial pointers and cursors for cord-drive tuning
- Cabinet feet for radiograms, valve sets and amplifiers
- Grille clips, cloth retainers and back panel fixings that are not a safety barrier
- Matched sets of knobs so the whole front panel agrees with itself
Cosmetics only — nothing on the mains side
Everything here is on the outside of the cabinet, and that boundary is not a formality. We do not print anything on the mains side of the chassis. No valve holders, no tag strips, no fuse holders, no coil formers, no mains lead grommets or strain reliefs doing an insulation job, and no back panel being asked to be a safety barrier. Filament is not an insulation-rated or flame-retardant-rated material: we do not know its dielectric strength, we do not know its tracking behaviour, and we do not know how it ages next to a dropper resistor that has run warm for decades. An AC/DC set with a live chassis is not where anyone should find that out, and the interlocked back panel on one of those exists specifically to stop someone dying — it is not a print. If a part's job is electrical safety, it needs the proper rated component, and we will tell you that rather than take the order. The second limit is colour, and it disappoints people more often than the first. Bakelite browns, walnut shellac, the cream of a moulded urea knob — those are decades of light, polish and tobacco smoke acting on a material we are not printing in. We can make a knob that is the right shape, the right size and grips the right shaft. It will not match the ones either side of it. The usual answer is to print the whole set so they match each other, or to print in a colour that takes paint well and finish it properly.
Knobs, shafts and the grub screw problem
The knob is the most-asked-for part and the one with the most detail to get right. Tell us the spindle: plain shaft, D-shaft, or splined, and the diameter measured with a caliper rather than remembered — a quarter-inch plain spindle and a 6mm one feel identical in the hand and are not the same part. Then the fixing. A grub screw threaded straight into printed plastic will strip, sooner rather than later, because the thread is layered and a grub screw is a wedge; so we design in a brass heat-set insert or a captive nut instead, which is the difference between a knob you tighten once and a knob you fight every winter. On a splined spindle, the splines are the fit and they are fine detail — send the original knob or the receiver if there is any doubt, because that is where a copy either works or spins. Dial pointers and cursors are their own small job: the cursor rides on the dial cord and has to run freely along the glass without binding, so tell us the cord diameter and the travel. Escutcheons come down to screw centres and the rebate the dial glass sits in — measure those twice.
Heat, load and finishing something you touch
Even outside the chassis, the top of a valve set gets genuinely warm after a couple of hours, and PLA is a poor choice anywhere on a set that runs hot. PETG or ABS for knobs, escutcheons and anything on a warm cabinet. Cabinet feet are the one part here that carries a real static load — a radiogram is heavy, and it sits on those feet permanently — so tell us the weight, and expect PETG with thick walls and high infill rather than a thin PLA foot that will slowly spread under a cabinet corner. Finish matters more on this than on most work, because a knob is the part of the set your hand is actually on: layer lines announce themselves under a thumb in a way they never do on a bracket. Sand it, prime it, and paint it, and it reads as a knob rather than as a print. On woodgrain and shellac, be realistic — patience and a rattle can gets you somewhere convincing across a room, and it does not get you shellac. We supply unpainted and ready to finish.
How it works
Send your file or describe the part
Upload an STL, OBJ, 3MF or STEP file, or tell us what you need with photos and a few measurements.
Get a guide price
When we can read the geometry we estimate from it straight away — material, print time, supports and quantity all priced openly.
We check printability, then confirm
A person reviews orientation, wall thickness and supports, flags anything that will not print well, and confirms your final quote before any work starts.
Vintage Radio & Hi-Fi Parts — example prices
Worked examples on real models from our print library, priced by the same calculator that estimates your own part. Sizes span small to large so you can see how cost moves with the part.
| Example part | Size | PLA | PETG | ABS / ASA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M4 Washer | 12 × 12 × 2 mm | £0.09 – £0.12 | £0.10 – £0.13 | £0.11 – £0.14 |
| Hex Nut M8 | 15 × 13 × 8 mm | £0.34 – £0.44 | £0.37 – £0.47 | £0.42 – £0.53 |
| Hex Nut M10 | 20 × 17 × 10 mm | £0.65 – £0.83 | £0.69 – £0.88 | £0.77 – £0.98 |
| Control Knob (large) | 45 × 45 × 20 mm | £7.89 – £10.08 | £8.25 – £10.55 | £9.02 – £11.52 |
Guide prices for a single unit, calculated from the measured geometry of each example model — not fixed quotes. Small parts land at or near the £0 minimum order, and per-unit prices fall with quantity. Your price depends on your own part, its material and its printability. How pricing works.
Example models for vintage radio & hi-fi parts
Open-source designs from our print library that show the kind of part this service suits. View any of them for a full material and quantity price breakdown.
Hex Nut M6
15mm Pipe Clip
Coaster (large)
Hex Nut M8
These are open-source example designs (CC0) we publish to show what the process suits and what it costs — not a record of past jobs. Prices shown are examples in PLA.
Vintage Radio & Hi-Fi Parts — FAQ
Can you print a back panel, a valve holder or anything on the mains side?+
No. Filament is not insulation-rated or flame-retardant-rated, and on a live-chassis set those parts are what stands between mains and a person. That is a proper rated component, every time. We work on the outside of the cabinet: knobs, escutcheons, feet, pointers and trim.
Will a printed knob match my other knobs?+
No. Old Bakelite and shellac colours are decades of ageing on a material we are not printing in, and nothing we do will land on that shade. The reliable answer is to print the whole set so they match each other, or to print in something that takes paint and finish it.
My spindle is splined and the grub screw strips everything. Will a printed knob grip?+
It will if it is designed properly. We do not thread a grub screw into bare plastic — that strips. We put a brass heat-set insert or a captive nut in, so the screw bites metal. Send the original knob or tell us the spindle type and diameter measured with a caliper.
I only have one of the four knobs. Can you copy it?+
Yes, and that is the ideal starting point. Send the survivor, tell us the spindle type and size, and we will model it and share the file before printing. Then print all four so the front panel matches itself, which looks better than three originals and one newcomer.
How much does vintage radio & hi-fi parts cost?+
There is no fixed per-item rate — price comes from how much plastic the part uses, how long it takes to print, how much support and finishing it needs, and how many you want. The example table above shows what real parts of this kind work out at. Upload your file for a guide price on your own part.
How long does it take?+
It depends on the size of the part, the queue and the material. Tell us your deadline when you enquire and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable before you commit.
Can I order one of the models from your library?+
Yes. Every model in our print library is a design you can have printed — pick one, choose a material and quantity, and the example price on its page is your starting point. You can also download the file and take it elsewhere; they are all CC0.
Are my files kept private?+
Yes. Uploaded files go to private storage, are never made public, and are only used to quote and produce your job.
Worth reading first
Practical guides that help you get a better part and a more accurate quote.
What Is TPU (Flexible Filament)?
TPU is printable rubber. It bends, grips, seals and absorbs shock — and it behaves nothing like PLA, which is the whole point and the whole difficulty.
Nylon and Carbon Fibre Parts
The engineering end of FDM. Nylon is tough and wear-resistant; carbon fibre makes it stiff and stable. Both are harder work — here is when that pays off.
How to Copy a Part Without CAD
No file, no drawing, just a broken part and a pair of calipers. That is a perfectly normal starting point — here is how the process actually works.
Other services
Get a 3D print estimate
Upload your file or describe the part. We review printability before confirming anything.