Introduction: Beats by Charlie and Emily (DIY HEADPHONES)
MATERIALS:
1. 2 Plastic Cups (any size)
Could be found at home or at any grocery store
2. 2 Neodymium Magnets (diameter should be around 2cm)
Can be found at any hardware store such as Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Orchard’s
3. 1 Headband
Could be found at home or at Target
4. At least 16 feet of 28 Gauge Insulated Copper Wire
5: Scissors
Could be found at home of at Staples or Office Depot
6: Wire Cutters
Any hardware store
7: AUX Cable
Can be found off old headphones, or any electronic store
8: Hot Glue Gun
Could be found at home or at Staples, Office Depot, or Michaels
9: Glue Stick
Can be found at home or at Staples or Office Depot
10: 1 roll of Electrical Tape (about 5 feet needed)
Can be found at any hardware store such as Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Orchard’s or at home
11: 1 piece of Sandpaper
Can be found at home or hardware store such as Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Orchard’s
12: Lighter
Can be found at any hardware store such as Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Orchard’s
OPTIONAL:
1: Paint
2: Glitter
3: Extra Magnets (louder sound)
The 3 main components in a a speaker are magnet, voice coil, and diaphragm. The magnet is important in the speaker because it provides a magnetic field. The voice coil is important because it provides an even stronger magnetic field for the magnet so that you could have good quality sound. The voice coil vibrates which is how it produces the sound and it vibrates because it is reading the frequencies from the device it is plugged into so that you can hear what it is playing. The third main component is the diaphragm because it causes the sound to travel and it amplifies the sound as well and pushes the sound out toward your ears.
Step 1: Step 1: Create the Voice Coil
Start by wrapping your wire around a glue stick bout 50 times, leaving about 2 feet of extra wire coming out of each end. Make sure to wrap the wire loosely so you can pull it off. Once you have removed the voice coil from the glue stick, wrap both ends through the loop to make it secure. The more wire coils you use in your headphones the better because it provides a better magnetic field which provides better quality sound and clarification.
The voice coil vibrates because it has an alternating current, meaning that the flow of electrons is flipping directions. Any current that flows through a wire will become magnetic, coiling the wires creates a strong magnetic field in the center. The alternating current will flip the polarity of the voice coil, and this attraction a repelling action will create the vibrating motion in the voice coil in relation to the magnet.
Step 2: Step 2: Sand the Wires
Use the sand paper to sand both wires about and inch, make sure to sand them very thoroughly.
Step 3: Step 3: Adding the Magnet
Place the voice coil in the center of the back of the cup. Put the magnet right in the middle of the voice coil, and tape them both down by crossing the electric tape over them tightly. It's okay if you smoosh the voice coil, it should create a louder sound.
Step 4: Step 4: Cut the Cup
When cutting the cups, they should be no more than 1 and 1/2 inches in width. Also note that making a curve in the cup may help make the headphones more comfortable. You can do this by making the top of the cup (closest to the top of your ear) shorter than the bottom of the cup (the one closest to the ground)
Step 5: Step 5: Attach the Cup to the Headband
Using a hot glue gun, glue one end of the headband to the back of the plastic cup.
Step 6: Step 6: Repeat
Repeat steps 1-5 for the other cup.
Step 7: Step 7: Connecting Wires to AUX
First make sure the ends of all 4 wires are sanded thoroughly. As for the AUX cord, strip down the rubber part using scissors and cut off any useless wires, leaving only the red and gold wires. Next you should take a lighter and burn both wires, make sure to only burn them for a second because if you leave them over the flame they will burn up. Now you should connect 1 wire from the left ear and one from the right ear to each of the AUX wires. Do this by wrapping the AUX wires around the headphone wires, make sure the sanded part of the headphone wires don't touch the other one.
Step 8: Step 8: Connecting Wires Cont.
Next wrap the other left ear wire to the other right ear wire using the same method. The two wires should connect on top of the headband, this will make a complete circuit. You can follow the diagram above to make this.
Step 9: Step 8: Enjoy
Plug your AUX cord into you phone and start listening to music! If your headphones don’t work first try to see if the sanded wires connected to the Aux cord are touching and if they are then that is why they are not producing sound. Once the wire is sanded it can only touch one source of metal and if the other wire is touching it then it would block the flow of sound. If that is not the problem try using more wire or stronger magnets, because the wire might have some issues like a little piece might have been cut, or you are using magnets that don’t have strong enough connection. Those are the top two reasons that the headphones don’t work. But most of the time it has to do with the wires and how you sand them, make sure you sand them thoroughly. Also try pressing on the voice coil, make sure the voice coil doesn't go under the magnet, and make sure the two wires connecting to the AUX don't touch.
