In lieu of Valve not having its personal dock for the Steam Deck but, one Redditor 3D printed their very own custom-made cradle for the system, and it appears to be like nearly as good as something Valve would possibly provide you with.
The Reddit person in query, Hannover2k (opens in new tab), constructed the dock by changing a Dock-Teck DD0003 USB-C hub attachment. Additionally they added in a number of different ports together with two USB 3.0 slots, an SD/MicroSD slot, an HDMI and LAN ports, and a 45w USB C-Cost port passthrough.
The extent of workmanship on this Steam Deck cradle appears to be like spectacular and will result in much more 3D printed docks sooner or later. Steam has partnered with iFixit to produce official substitute elements for the console, so patrons will not have to show to third-party sources for these, however when you’re on the lookout for a Steam Deck dock, then at the very least this custom-printed dock would possibly encourage some DIY choices amongst Steam Deck house owners.
Evaluation: might third-party and DIY Steam Deck docks  make an official dock irrelevant?
With the current and disappointing information of the Steam Deck’s docking station being indefinitely delayed as a result of COVID-related manufacturing challenges, it appears that evidently customers should flip to third-party suppliers and, more and more, themselves to fill the Steam Deck equipment hole.
There are already a number of third-party docking stations just like the UGreen USB-C Multiport Adapter or the j5create USB C Docking Station, plus loads of different choices on websites like Etsy. Nevertheless, identical to Hannover2k, there are extra patrons who’re efficiently 3D printing their very own docks.
If Valve cannot resovle its provide chain points, this rising third-party and DIY market might critically reduce into its gross sales as soon as it does launch an official model.Â
Then again, customers supplying their very own docks and cradles might imply that Valve will not have to fret about releasing one itself, and even might quietly retire plans to supply them. This might have the additional benefit of letting the corporate give attention to Steam Deck manufacturing as an alternative, which remains to be in excessive demand as it’s.
