After stumbling across a couple of tutorials I decided I would try and build my own speaker. This attempt succeeded and it surprised me at how well it actually played. This is a lot of fun and can be built for next to nothing.
It's also really great to show younger children and students to explain how speakers work. It would be ideal for a science class as there are very few components and all that can be found around the home. To assist in the learning side of it, I'll be sharing how I understand it works in the last step.
It's also really great to show younger children and students to explain how speakers work. It would be ideal for a science class as there are very few components and all that can be found around the home. To assist in the learning side of it, I'll be sharing how I understand it works in the last step.
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Signing UpStep 1: What you'll need:
When assembling this list bear in mind that basically all of can be improvised for e.g. the battery can be replaced by any other round cylinder of roughly the same size, depending on your cup (another item that can be replaced with other things).
- A Styrofoam/paper cup (don't try a plastic one, it won't vibrate well enough)
- A small magnet. Doesn't really matter as long as it's small, and a magnet.
- A 3.5mm headphone jack. This can be salvaged by cutting it off a broken pair of headphones or similar item.
- Some copper wire (can be attained by taking apart old TVs, stereos, but you'll probably have some lying around). It must be copper, as it is the most magnetic and conductive material that's readily available to be scrounged from around the house.
- A C or D battery/Any smallish cylinder that has a radius a cm or two smaller than the girth of your cup
- Sticky Tape and popsicle sticks (it turns out you don't really need these, so don't bother if you don't have any lying around)
- Some alligator clips. If you have some wire and a soldering iron, they'll work too for a more permanent solution, but that makes much more work.
- Something that you can plug the speaker into. I used an iPod touch just to test it, but you'll find an older stand alone radio works better as the iPod had only enough power to make the speakers whisper quiet.
- A Styrofoam/paper cup (don't try a plastic one, it won't vibrate well enough)
- A small magnet. Doesn't really matter as long as it's small, and a magnet.
- A 3.5mm headphone jack. This can be salvaged by cutting it off a broken pair of headphones or similar item.
- Some copper wire (can be attained by taking apart old TVs, stereos, but you'll probably have some lying around). It must be copper, as it is the most magnetic and conductive material that's readily available to be scrounged from around the house.
- A C or D battery/Any smallish cylinder that has a radius a cm or two smaller than the girth of your cup
- Sticky Tape and popsicle sticks (it turns out you don't really need these, so don't bother if you don't have any lying around)
- Some alligator clips. If you have some wire and a soldering iron, they'll work too for a more permanent solution, but that makes much more work.
- Something that you can plug the speaker into. I used an iPod touch just to test it, but you'll find an older stand alone radio works better as the iPod had only enough power to make the speakers whisper quiet.
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"iPod had only enough power to make the speakers whisper quiet."
I had lost power for 8 days last week due to "super storm sandy" here in NY, and was really bored. During the night time, I had hooked an old headphone jack's cable to a 5-1/4" 2-way car speaker (Infinity Reference 5022i), plugged it into my iPod and amazingly, it was MUCH louder then a little alarm clock speaker I was using beforehand. I even plugged the same setup into my laptop and it was 1/4th the loudness as the built-in speakers. Not really sure why it powered it better then your homemade speaker though lol. (iPod is a 5th gen aka the first video ipod) Nice instructable, will show it to my nieces and nephews next time I babysit them.
-Try using finer, insulated wire. This does admittedly defeat the purpose of scrounging materials, but it can be bought online relatively cheaply. The strength of an electromagnet is derived from a combination of the number of loops in the coil and the current through this loops. Using finer wire doesn't increase the resistance terribly much, so you'll still get a decent current through the wire, but you'll be able to pack in quite a few more turns.
-Try securing the magnet directly within the coil. The field will be strongest within the coil, which will provide a greater impulse to the magnet. Similarly, a rare earth magnet may respond more strongly, producing a louder, cleaner signal.
-If you really want to take things above and beyond, try building a few basic RC (resistor-capacitor) filters from your audio signal, then direct the outputs to differently sized homemade speakers. A really large speaker would make for a rich subwoofer sound, while very small speakers would increase fidelity for the higher tones.
Finally, a minor correction: copper wire is not, in itself, magnetic. It is one of the best materials for electromagnets because of its low impedance. Silver or gold wire would work better, but again, that's not exactly inexpensive or the sort of thing most people have just laying around. All in all, a great project and an impressive 'ible!
Thanks for clearing up the bit about the copper - the way I understood it was not that copper was magnetic, but that the coil became magnetic very slightly once electrified. I may go over that and see if I can clarify it. Thanks again!
1)I think you need to used enamel covered wire or any wire that has an insulation.
2 ) why not try placing the coil on the inside of the cup. When the coil energizes, it should move the cone better.
That is just my two cents.
And this is crazy.
But my case is awesome,
Fight me, maybe? ;)