Due to its innovative gameplay and eccentric sense of humor, the portal became popular when it was released in 2007. Characters have become cultural idols, quotes have become memes, and games have become classics with the sequel of 2011. Even today, more than a decade later, we often see hackers using their skills to recreate some elements of the game. A good example is [Joran de raaff]’s physical interpretation of the portal turret.
3D CAD drawing of gantry turntable
Inside the turret, there are moving parts everywhere.
[Joran] decided to use his 3D printer to create a turret that can move and speak like in the game. As you can see in the embedded video below, the result is a victory. Here we write down “great success”. The shell is a beautiful shiny white, which is achieved by patiently grinding, priming and spraying high gloss paint. The interior is even more impressive with servos, microswitches and a series of 3D printing gears, cams and levers.
A motion sensor activates the turret whenever someone moves nearby. Then it will spread its wings and fire while playing the corresponding sound in the game. Its brain consists of a WEMOS D1 that drives various LEDs and servos, while an MP3 player board has a sound clip library, which is played through a speaker hidden in the turret shell.
After publishing his work on youtube, Joran received many requests for 3D files, so he provided them and wrote a comprehensive construction guide. This will enable anyone with a 3D printer to make this beautiful gun without doing too much scientific work. If this model is too small for you, maybe this life size model is more suitable for you. If you like the small and lovely turret, you can see this plush version.