For many, virtual reality hardware is still an expensive niche to get into. Even our top budget pick in our best VR headset guide, the Meta Quest 3S, can still set you back nearly $300. Well, a YouTuber has rocked up with a homemade headset project using 3D printed parts and bobbins bought off AliExpress that costs half the price of the Meta Quest 3S.
Creator CNCDan's homemade VR headset runs at a 2880 x 1440p resolution, and even allows the wearer to manually adjust the position of its two 2.9-inch LCD screens (via Techspot). These tiny displays, alongside the headset's Fresnel lenses, IMU board, and Arduino Pro microcontroller, were all bought from AliExpress. It is, in essence, an inexpensive techie upgrade on the 'phone in a box' style headset.
In all, the project cost a little over $150, not counting all of the very spenny personal 3D printing equipment the rest of the build requires. CNCDan has made all of this project's 3D printing model files open source via his GitHub, alongside a full bill of materials if you fancy trying to build this affordable VR headset yourself.
The creator is big into sim racing, spending much of his free time building parts for his own rig that are far more affordable than even our budget pick for the best PC racing wheels. Wanting a more immersive experience on a budget is in part what inspired this homebrew VR headset project.
Seeing AliExpress full of dinky, dual-display setups also piqued CNCDan's curiosity. He says in the build video, "I kept seeing them and wondering if anyone was actually using them for their intended purpose."
However, this secondary source of inspiration is also one of the project's major drawbacks; while the LCD screens are capable of a 90 Hz refresh rate, they get throttled to 60 Hz when running at full resolution via SteamVR. CNCDan comments that this can feel pretty choppy in-game.
The creator also shares on his GitHub that he's reached out to the company selling these screens to "see if this is just an issue with my unit or if the other 120 Hz version they sell can actually provide the refresh rate that they claim."
Though this homemade headset lacks swisher features like sophisticated eye tracking, it's no less impressive. The fact that it's now an open source project for techie DIYers to tinker with also leaves me feeling just a little bit hopeful for VR's slightly more affordable future.
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