Tabletop Strike
Danny Lum's 3D printed automatic bowling alley
by Marshall Piros
The humble kitchen table has been host to many a friendly game of luck and skill — from simple cards to fantastical dungeons (and dragons), and even bowling! Wait, what? Your eyes do not deceive you, as Danny Lum has developed an entirely 3D-printable automatic bowling alley — complete with a mechanical pinsetter, ball return, camera-based scoring system, and LED animations — at 22% scale, which fits neatly on a 30”×60” table.
A full-time mechanical engineer and content creator on YouTube, Lum is no stranger to documenting the intricacies of 3D-printed projects. Curious about how bowling alleys reset their pins automatically, he decided to teach himself about the process after finding out how complicated the behind-the-scenes machinery is.
Although Lum may have started the project by himself in his New York apartment, he’s crossing the finish line with a whole community of engineering enthusiasts and bowling alley mechanics behind him. “Part of engineering is leveraging any resource available to solve the problems that you face, and most often it’s best to consult other people who have experienced problems that are similar,” he says. He’s garnered support and advice on how to further refine and improve his designs through the project’s Discord server, the comments on his YouTube shorts, and even through Kickstarter! With nearly $100,000 gathered in crowdfunding sales for the project’s digital files, many enthusiasts will soon be able to print their own miniature bowling alley.
And by design, the project is geared for all skill levels — the only requirements are a 3D printer, some basic hardware, and the files. (No special shoes are needed to bowl at this alley, either.
See more at instagram.com/dannylumcreative.
This article originally appeared in Make: Volume 96 in the Made on Earth section.