Make an iPod Speaker from a Hallmark Music Card

Step 6: Secure speaker, seal box and rock

Run a small amount of glue along the beveled edge of the speaker and quickly attach it inside the box. Hold it to give the glue a chance to dry. Secure it by adding some spots of glue along the top and bottom edges of the speaker where it meets the box. Try not to glob it on so that you don't add more weight. I ended up using way more than I should have, but it didn't make the box unstable.

Finally, glue back together the top and bottom of the box as it was originally sealed, connect an iPod and kick out the jams.

Comments

[4lifenerdfighter]

So are the headphones just used for their TRS plug and the card just for its speaker? This Instructable is a bit hard to follow.

[Adambowker98]

Yep.

[TheRyleeAnn]

hehe this seems simple. i always TRY stuff like this, and fail miserably. but i think if i come across some old headphones, and someone gives me an audio greeting card, i'll do this ASAP (mainly to stop my siblings from playing it day and night. it gets annoying.)

[lwatson51]

Or for stereo, just get another Hallmark card for a second speaker, keep both wires from the headphones and get another cereal box or maybe a small milk carton to complement the cereal box!

[cherishcherub]

love the idea!!!

but the whole cereal box idea is a bit flismy, something more sturdy would be nicer

[charlie.nourse]

I'm putting mine inside of the iPod box that it came in.

[ph34r3v1l]

im making one and im going to cut the dimensions in ply wood scraps layin around and find a way to attach them to the box

[Johenix]

Hallmark makes a small line of three part, two speaker, STEREO cards for about $6.

The giant $10 cards (like the one that plays "Chicken Dance") use a totally different type of speaker. It is a small cylinder about the size of a die (half a pair of dice) that when held by the leads in free air is silent, but can turn any object into a speaker. I put it against my head and had a bone conduction speaker. It is marked 32ohms 1 Watt.
 
(Any one want to try to make a headset from these or give your deaf dalmation a taste of sound?)

Sound cards are a great idea for anyone who has a blind friend.

[Cor822]

Could you post a picture of the type of speaker that you used to get the bone speaker effect and a picture of the card? i got 1 of the "chicken dance" cards you talked about and heres the picture. if this is the type of card you got could you reply? thanks!

[robotalamode]

the bone speaker is hilarious and raally cool

[Freak_09]

Oh, my freaking God! You are a genius! Both cereal and milk, that would be so cool and cute!

[its2l8men]

would it make the iPod overloaded

 

[kolao4]

Great instructable. I ended up dissasembling my Thinkgeek speaker shirt and using it for a louder effect.

[dan_o_89_rs]

I'm gonna try this as a cheap fix to my radar-detector's lack of sound... and yes, it does have a headphone jack. not sure why though. I'll let ya know how it turns out.

[dan_o_89_rs]

well I ended up replacing the speaker by disassembling the radar detector. however the Hallmark speaker was just too big to not interfere with the detector going back together properly... after pondering i got the idea of finding and using a speaking from one of my daughter's toys that she no longer plays with. viola, the perfect sizes speaker came from a little vibrating/singing pig toy... either way I kept the Hallmark 'guts' and will surely use it for somethign. Thanks for the idea!!!

[Jak1fan]

I used two speakers and one big cereal box and it works great.

[ecuazfinest3295]

my parnters and i did this projectt. and i workedd. jahh diqqszx.! qet at mehhh! *;

[destructables28]

i could make cereal box surround sound yes!!!

[AnthonyB2012]

Yepp, nice and simple, just the way I love Instructables. You could house this speaker inside of anything you want, I plan on trying to make a clay sculpture and house it in that. it should be really cool, if it works.

[Tonytacoma]

Great Instruct. I'm jammin as I speak. The leftover foam covers from the headphones make great speaker covers as well.

[drchucklesme]

The only problem with this speaker is it will only play one channel - this will often leave the vocals or other instruments missing. If you want both channels to play through the speaker, don't remove one of the ends of the headphone cable. Instead, splice the corresponding wires from each end of the cable (that is, the wires from the cable that used to connect to the left headphone and the wire that used to connect to the right headphone) together. For instance, if the two ends of the headphone cable each contain a white and a red wire, you should solder/tape the two white cables together, then do the same with the red cables. THEN use the spliced wires as you wouldh ave used the single red and white cable from the one end of the headphone as explained in the instructable.

[StrangeRover]

True - but you'll usually only notice the missing stuff on extreme-stereo mixes like the Beatles stereo mixes (the mono mixes were the only ones they really worked on). Just make two of these speakers and you're golden!