Introduction: Dewalt Portable Bluetooth Speaker

About: I am 37, I have a job that allows me to build and make daily. I love my job. I have 6 children, my oldest is also a maker and has written her own instructables. I own a computer repair shop, and I build a lot …

I love Dewalt. I work on site installing networks and repairing computers and such and I have a couple of the dewalt radios, but I want one that has bluetooth, I also had a bunch of extra parts sitting around begging for this project.

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

Here are the materials I used to build this speaker

  1. Dewalt DW920 case - Availiable on amazon
  2. Logitech 5.1 computer speaker set - controller was broken, so i salvaged the speakers
  3. On / OFF switch -- the one im using has a LED lights in them, but you can use whatever.
  4. Several momentary switches for play, stop, volume up and volume down --- I did install these but they would not work with this bluetooth board
  5. 8v-24v battery and charging circuit --- Im using a broken laptop. It will run at approx 12v.
  6. TDA7492P 2 x 50 Watt Digital Bluetooth 4.0 Audio Receiver Amplifier Board
  7. various wires
  8. Micro USB Extension to extend charging to outside of case.
  9. Self adhesive cable tie mounts
  10. cable ties
  11. 8 M3 x 12mm hex end bolts and 8 nuts to fasten speakers

Step 2: Prepare the Case

To get the case to were we can use it to hold all of the electronics we will have to remove some plasic. All of the plastic meant to hold the drill, charger and such needs to be removed so that we can fit in the speakers and such. I have found that the easiest way to remove this plastic is to use a multisaw (dewalt multisaw, if possible, lol).

After the case is empty, I cleaned it out of dust and such. and then measured and marked the holes for the buttons and the power switch. I used a spade bit to drill the hole for the power switch.

After deciding what speakers i was going to use and how many I layed out the faceplates to mark and cut the holes for the speakers. I cut the holes using a dewalt drywall cutout tool.

Step 3: Prepare and Test the Electronics

OK now how you wire this up is going to be dependent on your battery and charging system, but with any system it should be similar to the schematic above. There should be some sort of battery, some sort of charging curcuit, and a switch to shut it off.

I found that the Bluetooth / amp board was powerful enough to run 4 speakers but i could not find a good way of arranging them so that it would be functional and look good.

Step 4: Install the Electronics

I used the sticky cable ties blocks to mount most of the electronics with zip ties. I used the Micro USB Extension cable to extend the charge port to the outside of the case.

Step 5: Clean It Up and Make It Pretty

I ended up painting the speaker faceplates yellow to match with the dewalt theme and used my vinyl cutter to create a matching "bluetooth speaker" sticker. I included the vinyl file if you happen to have a silhouette cameo.

Step 6: Closing Thoughts

The Bluetooth board that i found was impossible to solder the buttons to extend them to the outside, this was for the play, pause, volume up and volume down buttons. This is not a huge deal as the volume can be controlled by the phone. I also will probably add a USB port for charging my phone as well. I love the way it turned out and am very happy with this build.

I hope you enjoyed this instructible and will consider voting for me in my entered contests.

Amps and Speakers Contest 2016

Runner Up in the
Amps and Speakers Contest 2016

Circuits Contest 2016

Participated in the
Circuits Contest 2016

Dorm Hacks Contest 2016

Participated in the
Dorm Hacks Contest 2016