PureTone: Hacking a Radio for an Enviromentaly Aware Student

     The main property of the pure tone radio is to be as sustainable as possible. The reason for the large body size is to allow a low powered speaker to be amplified without extra electrical power. The body acts as an acoustical amplifier and because of this the sound is amplified to great effect.
     Another key factor to this design is the hand powered dynamo that is used to charge the battery within the device. This feature works much like the one that can be found in wind up torches. The components and materials used to design and manufacture this device will be recycled and mainly sourced from a sustainable

Step 1 Manufacture Overview

Tools Needed:

4 x Small Hand Clamps
1 x Small Panel Pin Hammer
1 x Chisel
1 x Roll of Duct Tape
1 x Bottle of PVC Glue
1 x Hand Drill
1 x Coping saw
1 x Epoxy Resin
1 x Epoxy Hardener
Selection of Wood Files
Selection of Drill Bits
80 grade Sandpaper
230 grade Sandpaper
Access to a Pillar Drill
Access to a Ban Saw
Access to an Industrial Sander
Access to a Hand Sander


Materials Needed:

200 x 300 x 5mm Pine Plywood x 2
750 x 180 x 1.5mm Pine Plywood x 1
600 x 30 x 20mm Pine x 1
110 x 90 x 5mm Pine Plywood x 1
*Plus Other Sourced Components

Comments

[gedearshan]

Great piece of work!

[joshuaw97]

This is just amazing. I have a radio, a "DIY" Emergency Radio from Smithsonian. You don't do anything except put like a transistor or two in the circuit board and make the case. I might, if i figure out how to make circuit boards work, transform it into one of these. I hate circuit boards, and i will until they make sense and do what i want them to. (I'm new to the world of electronics). But good job! Did the design already exist and you put a wood and ecofriendly twist on it, or did you design it?

[Finlay Page]

The Radios circuit was taken from an already existing radio and i just attapted it for use in this radio. i made the radio body and ecofreindly twist myself without any existing components.

[joshuaw97]

what i meant was did the puretone design exist previously or did you create it?

[Finlay Page]

if you mean the branding then yes i did create it myself. although it is unofficial

[Rteen]

Same here circuit boards are like another langue to me too.
Any one have some tips for beginners?

[Azzurro]

and, why is it earth-friendly? really.

[Finlay Page]

The speaker within the radio is a very low powered one and therefore it doesn't use much power to operate. the radios body is built with an acoustical feature to amplify the speaker to a level of volume that is usally delivered from a standard speaker (higher power speaker). the radio is powered using a hand operated dynamo that charges a battery. this is a renewable source and therefore dosent require batterys or any equivalent.

[Azzurro]

very nice :)

[sconner1]

It is earth friendly because you won't be throwing out batteries on a regular basis.
Although you still have the old radio case as waste but perhaps the plastic will recycle.
As an art project it's great.
A great many radios of the first half of the twentieth century were made in cabinets of this type of construction. Things of beauty, like fine furniture some of them. Then came Bakalite. *aack* (personal opinion)
Add some detail accents and a fabric grille and you have a 20's Deco style radio (without the vacuum tubes).
Replace the 1/2" to 1-1/2" speaker with a little larger 2"-4" you scrounged from something and get a little fuller warmer tone.
Or even take the transducer out of one of those sound-playing greeting cards and mount it on the wood into a speaker itself instead of just a resonator.

[Finlay Page]

Thank you for the advice.i will take it on board :)

[smalcolm]

Not to be a pain here but, how is this "earth friendly"? A tree was killed for the wood to make this.
Hardly earth friendly, as I understand the definition anyway.

[paqrat]

I think it is earth friendly in that trees are a potentially renewable resource unlike the petroleum products most likely to be used in plastic cases.

[Finlay Page]

That is Exactly right, Thank you for seeing the point of the wooden design. :)

[Finlay Page]

Thanks for the comment, but the radios form is actually loosly based on an acoustic guitar. This is due to the fact that this particular shape has one of the most efficient acoustical propertys. However yes I do see the resemblence to a old school pencil sharpener. :)

[paqrat]

Accoustical or not its very cool looking. Congratulations.

[efalco]

You are an artist!

[jbrecken]

Was the shape inspired by an old-school pencil sharpener?

[Javin007]

LOL! I know exactly the ones you're talking about!