Retro Wireless Speakers from Ikea Salad Bowls

Step 5 Prepping the Salad Bowls

Now, it's time to cut the holes for the speakers to sit in.  These particular speakers have 4in. woofers and 1&1/2 in. tweeters.

The tools needed for this step are:
A Drill
A 4in. Hole Saw
A 1&1/2in. Hole Saw
(If you've never used these types of bits before make sure you ask one of the hardware store employees to make sure you have everything needed to mount these bits into your drill)

Main Step:  Drill each of the holes.  I placed the Woofer directly in the center of the salad bowl and my tweeter about an inch and a half below that.  Normally tweeters are placed above woofers but since these speakers were meant to hang in trees above the party-goers heads I placed them below.  

When using the 4in Hole Saw make sure you don't press down to firmly.  To get the cleanest cut you want to ease the drill down lightly until you have a deep enough groove.  If you press too firmly then the bit has a tendency to get caught in the wood and then you have a bowl spinning out of control.

I then used a flat file to smooth out the inner rim of the hole and to clean up some leftover splinters that were still holding on.

When I cut these holes in my own salad bowls I learned the hard way about how firm to press down, especially with the 4in hole saw.  The ridges of my holes ended up a little jagged.  I believe with a more subtle amount of pressure you can get a pretty clean cut.  If it turns out jagged I would recommend a few passes of some different grained sandpaper.  From rougher to smoother.

Okay, now your ready to load in the speaker guts.

Comments

[Questor]

if your using a hole saw it's best to go only half way through, until the drill bit pokes out the other side.
Then flip the hole (pun intended) thing over and finish from the 'back side.
very few if any jagged edges that way

[egon77]

Cool! thanks!

[Questor]

Also . . . A question . . .
if these are stereo speakers . . .
shouldn't they be in two spheres of their own and separated.
preferably hanging near a hard, relatively flat, surface

[egon77]

Yes, that's a great idea, especially to keep the costs down. I was initially inspired by this speaker sphere: ( http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/06/spherical-speaker-array-provides-blaring-ball-of-sound/ ) which uses multiple speakers in a sphere.

So, I just ended up going that way. I built myself two speaker spheres so that meant that I bought two sets of wireless speakers. (The more expensive option)

I liked the idea that someone on either side of the sphere is hearing the music. I initially made them for a party where guests would be amongst the speakers. Plus, the speakers themselves have a switch which can set them to be left mono, right mono or stereo, which works well for my setup.

But a great, cheaper alternative, which would still be the same process is your idea of a single speaker in two spheres.

Thanks

[wobbler]

To cut holes in wood, rather than using an electric drill and these round hole cutter, for a quality hole go old skool use a brace and bit and an adjustable hole bit, which looks a bit (!) like this: http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/members/images/41395/Gallery/13-09-05_0114_2.jpg It's much easier to control the speed of the cut and get a really fine finish by going slow and gentle. A good sharp drill bit will cut really clean and it will also adjust any hole width instead of the standard sizes. I like this design though, they look really good and look just right for some outdoor speakers I want to make. Ikea here I come!

[egon77]

Thanks for the information!

[racastro62]

You're absolutelly right for the 11/2 in. hole. The bigger one takes a another kind of tool, that works under the same principle, but the bit is fixed in a bar. It takes more money as well.