Beats by Luke and Jason O. (DIY HEADPHONES)

Hello everybody, this instructable is about how to make a headphone, or a speaker. Hope everyone enjoys!

Step 1: Gathering Materials

A cup, (preferably plastic)
Scissors
An mp3 player or mp4
28 gauge insulated copper wire
Elmer's Washable Glue Stick
Sticky notes
Scotch 35 Blue Vinyl Electrical Tape
Sand paper
2 neodymium magnets and 2 super strong but small magnets ( 2 cm thick) *can be bought at a home depot near you!*
Auxiliary cord

Step 2: Making a Voice Coil Procedure

Gather materials to make a voice coil which is 28 gauge copper wire, electric duct tape, wire cutters or scissors, a glue stick, post-it notes, ipod/mp3 player, aux cord, sandpaper, a plastic cup and two small strong magnets.
Take the glue stick and hold it firmly while you wrap the post-it around the glue stick so that the smooth side is on the outside.
Take 3 meters of copper to make your voice coil.
Cut the amount of piece that you need off with the wire cutters.
Leave about 11 cm at the start and the end of your voice coil so that you will be able to sand the ends of your voice coil.
Wrap your voice coil in a circular pattern around the glue stick which should give you a 2cm diameter.
After you are done wrapping your voice coil and have your two loose ends, make sure you tape the voice coil using about 6 cm of electric tape onto the glue stick on opposite ends.
After that, try to slide the post-it note off of the glue stick.
When you do that make sure that the electric tape is still connected to the post-it.
Cut the post-it on both sides until there is just enough tape on each side to fold in and secure the voice coil so that it won’t unravel.
Tear the tape that is left on the post off on both sides of the post-it BUT NOT OFF OF THE COIL.
Gently pull off the coil of the post-it but make sure that you hold it together so that it won’t slip off and apart.
When you do that, fold the two pieces of electrical tape inward onto the inside of the voice coil so that the voice coil is secure and tight BUT MAKE SURE YOU DON’T TAPE DOWN THE TWO PIECES STICKING OUT!
After it’s compacted sand the 2 ends of the voice coil that are sticking out
You have your voice coil!

Step 3: Gathering Materials for Your Voice Coil

Gather materials to make a voice coil which is 28 gauge copper wire, electric duct tape, wire cutters or scissors, a glue stick, post-it notes, ipod/mp3 player, aux cord, sandpaper, a plastic cup and two small strong magnets.
These are the materials that are needed to proceed to make your voice coil.

Step 4: How to Wrap Your Voice Coil

Take the glue stick and hold it firmly while you wrap the post-it around the glue stick so that the smooth side is on the outside.
Take 3 meters of copper to make your voice coil.
Cut the amount of piece that you need off with the wire cutters.
Leave about 11 cm at the start and the end of your voice coil so that you will be able to sand the ends of your voice coil.
Wrap your voice coil in a circular pattern around the glue stick which should give you a 2cm diameter.

Step 5: How to Remove Your Voice Coil From the Glue Stick

After you are done wrapping your voice coil and have your two loose ends, make sure you tape the voice coil using about 6 cm of electric tape onto the glue stick on opposite ends.
After that, try to slide the post-it note off of the glue stick.
When you do that make sure that the electric tape is still connected to the post-it.
Cut the post-it on both sides until there is just enough tape on each side to fold in and secure the voice coil so that it won’t unravel.
Tear the tape that is left on the post off on both sides of the post-it BUT NOT OFF OF THE COIL.
Gentle pull off the coil of the post-it but make sure that you hold it together so that it won’t slip off and apart.

Step 6: Securing Your Voice Coil Together

When you do that, fold the two pieces of electrical tape inward onto the inside of the voice coil so that the voice coil is secure and tight BUT MAKE SURE YOU DON’T TAPE DOWN THE TWO PIECES STICKING OUT!

Step 7: Sanding Your Voice Coil

After it’s compacted sand the 2 ends of the voice coil that are sticking out.
When sanding the two ends of your voice coil, make sure that you sand 3/4 of the wire to make sure that when you connect the two wire together later on, it will increase the probability of sound produced.
When you finish sanding, the part you sanded has to be golden.
You have your voice coil!

Step 8: Assembling Your Speaker/Headphones (Procedure)

Gather all your materials that you need.
Go to a place that you are comfortable to stay in to make your headphones.
Take the bottom of your cup and use enough electric tape to wrap around the cup at the bottom.
Use the two small strong magnets and place on of them on the inside bottom surface and one on the bottom surface but on the outside of your cup so that the two magnets will stick next to each other in place.
Take your finished voice coil and take the two ends that we left hanging out so that you will be able to sand the two ends of it.
After you’re done with that, place your plastic cup upside down and put your voice coil in the middle of your two magnets.
Use the electric tape to tape down the voice coil to your cup.
Make the two ends of your voice coil to point up towards the sky.
Unscrew your aux cord from the protection that it is screwed into.
Tape your aux cord and connect your two sanded wires to the opposite ends of your aux cable.
When you loop that through, give enough room when you thread it through so that you can fold the wire to each other and twist it together to increase the probability of getting sound produced.
Take your ipod/mp3 player and connect it to the aux cord.
Pick a song that you like. Higher the volume to the maximum.
Hold your speaker to your ear and play the song and hope for the best.
Hold your speaker to your ear and play the song and hope for the best.

Step 9: Assembling the Speaker/Headphones

First thing is first, gather all the materials, and go somewhere peaceful, like outside so there aren't any distractions. Take the bottom of your cup and use enough electric tape to wrap around the cup at the bottom. The reason behind this is to keep the vibrations in one place. Use the two small strong magnets and place on of them on the inside bottom surface and one on the bottom surface but on the outside of your cup so that the two magnets will stick next to each other in place. The magnets are there to make the vibrations in the song. Take your finished voice coil and take the two ends that are left hanging out so that you will be able to sand the two ends of it as we did in making the voice coil.

Step 10: Repeat Steps 1-9 to Make Another Speaker

Step 11: Videos to Help Make the Headphones/speakers

If these videos don´t respond, then try the links below...

Step 12: Troubleshooting That Might Have Occurred

If sound is not heard on one of your headphones, make that the ends of your wire are sanded properly. Make sure that there is NO red on the wire and that there is only gold showing.
Try pushing down the voice coil onto your head phones to make sure that the voice coil isn't loose or detached off your plastic cup.
Make sure that when you tie any of the wires together you twist the gold part only together instead of just pushing the wire together.
If the raw wires are touching, then that is what is preventing the sound to be heard.
Make sure everything is tight and secure

Step 13: Why We Chose to Use the Amount of Coil

We chose to use 30 voice coils, because it worked the best out of the rest of the test we did. Even if the 50 wrapped voice coil should´ve worked the best, the 30 wrapped had the best quality, and was a tiny bit quieter than the 50. We also put in the factor of how big it should be inside the headphones.

Step 14: The 3 Main Components in a Speaker

The first main component in a speaker is the voice coil because it strengthens the magnetic field inside of the coil (current moving through wire becomes more magnetized) is the source of vibrations for sound waves. The second main component in a speaker is the magnet because it provides a permanent magnetic field and also it attracts and repels the voice coil to make it vibrate. The third main component in a speaker is the diaphragm/cone which lightweight material over the spider/voice coil used to push sound waves to your ears. In other words the diaphragm is important because it is used to produce the sound in your speaker.

Step 15: Why Do Voice Coils Vibrate?

Voice coils vibrate because it is being used as an electromagnet for the magnets on the speaker/headphones. Also because the magnets are polarus of each other, so that means that the north and south poles are attracting to each other and flipping the magnetic field so the voice coil does not keep going in one direction which makes the voice coil vibrate. In which making a magnetic field with the voice coil.

Step 16: How Do Vibrations Turn Into What We Know As Sound?

The voice coil acts like an electromagnet, because the magnets are pushing it away from them. By doing so, the voice coil is making the vibrations, and making it into sound. When the voice coils vibrate, the vibrations turn into sound waves because of the vibrations giving off the voice coil, and since vibrations don´t contain matter, those sound waves travel straight to your ear which is what we know is sound. The only way sound travels is through air,

Step 17: Results of Testing (How Vibrations Affect Quality or Loudness of Sound)

The results of the testing came out that the more wrapped coil there is, the louder the sound is, but the quality is average. The voice coil that worked the best for us was the 30 wrapped voice coil which sounded the best, but was the second loudest compared to the 50 wrapped voice coil. We could've messed up on wrapping the 50 voice coil, but the 30 sounded perfect to us, and was the most efficient.