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Legion Go Console Dock

A console-style dock for the Lenovo Legion Go handheld PC. It cools the device while docked, hides the TV and charging cables, and reads NFC-tagged cards that launch games, so a PC handheld feels like plugging in a cartridge.

Print-ready parts: the service lid lifted off the chassis, with the NFC reader holder in purple.
My role
Solo hardware design: requirements, Blender CAD, print preparation and wiring plan
Built with
Blender, OrcaSlicer, Creality K1 Max, PN532 NFC reader, Zaparoo
Size
270 × 188 × 34 mm chassis with a removable 266 × 184 mm service lid
Status
Print-ready parts sliced and validated; printing and wiring are next

What it does

  • Active cooling

    A 70 mm fan sits under a 181 × 46 mm opening lined up with the handheld’s intake. The air path is designed as a sealed pressure chamber with a replaceable foam gasket, modeled on high-pressure laptop coolers, with a front knob for fan speed.

  • Cable routing

    Separate rear channels carry USB-C charging and HDMI out, so the handheld drops in and plays on a TV with nothing hanging off the sides.

  • NFC game cards

    microSD-to-SD adapters get NFC stickers and become physical “cartridges”. A PN532 reader inside the dock reads the tag, and Zaparoo launches the matching Steam game.

  • Serviceable by design

    The lid comes off, the fan is a bought part rather than a printed one, and the NFC reader sits in its own holder behind a thin non-metal wall so it can still read through the shell.

How I worked

  • Measure before modeling

    I documented every bought part (fan, NFC reader, tags, adapters, storage cases) with its specs and what it means for the design, and marked every dimension in the scene as verified or assumed.

  • Milestones over undo

    Each risky change got a named milestone file first. That made it cheap to try fixes to the rear vents and HDMI frame, compare them, and roll back the ones that made things worse.

  • Validate the print, not the render

    Parts were checked for watertight geometry and wall thickness, then sliced for the K1 Max at 0.2 mm with slim tree supports. A voxel-remesh shortcut that looked fine but failed validation was rejected and labeled “do not print”.
The chassis with the lid off: fan bay, cable channels and reader pocket.