Introduction: Iteractive Audio Scrapbook (Teensy 3.6)

A scrapbook where you can narrate your memories. Each page has a "heart" that will play a sound file when touched.

The pictures above show the scrapbook and its two parts; the album and the electronics enclosure. Each page has a copper heart that will be touch sensitive. A sound file will play when touched thus narrating the special events pictured in the scrapbook. The video shows what happens when the "heart" is touched.

The following is a list of the parts needed to complete this project.

Electronics

  1. Program Control Board; teensy 3.6; www.adafruit.com/product/3266
  2. Amplifier; sparkfun Mono Audio Amp Breakout - TPA2005D1; www.sparkfun.com/products/1104
  3. Speaker; 3" Diameter - 8 Ohm 1 Watt; www.adafruit.com/product/1313;
  4. Power Converter; Verter 5V USB Buck-Boost; www.adafruit.com/product/2
  5. Battery Holder; 4 pcs x 1.5V AA Battery Case Holder with Leads; www.amazon.com
  6. LED; Blue
  7. Resister; 1/4 watt the ohm rating based on the LED
  8. Breadboard; Adafruit perma-proto small mint tin size breadboard pcb; www.adadfruit.com/product/1214
  9. On/Off Switch; Slide Switch; radioshack has some large ones that are nice.
  10. MicroSD Card; Anything will do for Sound Files
  11. Electric Wire; 22 AWG Hook-up Wire; www.adafruit.com or www.sparkfun.com
  12. Terminal Block; Set of 4 pcs - 2.54/0.1" Pitch Terminal Block 6 pin; www.adafruit.com/product/2134
  13. Break Away Headers - Straight - 0.1" pin spacing; www.sparkfun.com/products/116

Crafts

  1. Scrapbook; GnD Heart-Shaped Leather Cover Scrapbook DIY Photo Album; www.amazon.com
  2. Enclosure; IndiaArts Wooden Box 6 x 10 x 2.5 inch, hand carved flowers and vines design; www.amazon.com
  3. Mounting Surface; 11 in x 14 in non glare styrene sheet; www.homedepot.com
  4. Velcro Strip; 10 foot x 1 in Black Industrial Strength Extreme Tape; www.homedepot.com
  5. Copper Tape; sold in rolls of 2" wide x 50 foot long; www.sparkfun.com/products/11081
  6. Wood Screws; 6 pcs - #6 x 3/8" long; depends on the speaker and switch you buy; www.homedepot.com

Tools

  1. Soldering Equipment - Solder Station; Helping Hands; Electronic Solder; Wire Strippers
  2. Eye Glass Screw Driver; Flat Head
  3. Hot Glue Gun
  4. Coping Saw and Drill
  5. Computer
  6. Software; Free Arduino Software; www.arduino.cc
  7. Software; Free Teensyduino Software; www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_download.html

Skills

  1. Solder: The tricky part is soldering. With all the tutorials and pointers on the internet I was able to learn the skills needed quickly.
  2. Beginner Computer Programming: The computer code will be provided. However, the Teensy and Arduino environment has to be set up. The people contributing to the forum at pjrc.com (teensy developer) bend over backwards to help people. They are truly awesome.
  3. Scrapbooking: Hey, its not easy getting all those pictures to fit on one page!

Step 1: Cut Holes in the Enclosure

Cut 4 holes in the enclosure for the speaker, switch, LED and wires. The dimensions may be different based on the items you purchased.

  1. Switch - Cut a square hole based on your switch. My switch has two spots for screws. Do not cut the hole too large. The screws have to sink into the wood.
  2. LED - Drill a 0.25" round hole for the LED.
  3. Speaker - Cut a round hole 3.125" diameter for the speaker. Do not cut the hole to big. The screws must sink into the wood.
  4. Wire - Drill a 0.5" diameter hole in the front of the box.

I cut the large holes by using a drill then coping saw. Drill a key hole into the wood. Then disassemble the coping saw's blade. Reassemble the saw so the blade is inside the key hole. Continue cutting the hole to the correct dimension.

Step 2: Solder Hook-up Wires to the Speaker, LED and Switch

1) For each component solder two hook-up wires (see sketch). We will connect the other end later (i.e., teensy, battery). If you are unfamiliar with how to wire a switch and/or LED check out a tutorial.

  • The following are my pointers:
  • * Don't cut the hook-up wires too short. You can trim them later.
  • * Use heat shrink to protect the soldered connections.
  • * Speaker- Do not worry about the which wire is +/-. Solder a wire to each terminal. I use hot glue to prevent the wires from moving (see picture).
  • * LED - Follow the LED tutorials. You will need to calculate your resistor value. Note, the forward voltage for the power supply (i.e. teensy 3.6) is 3.3V.

2) Mount the speaker, LED and switch to the enclosure. Use screws to fasten the switch and speaker in place. Use a hot glue gun to secure the LED.

Step 3: Assemble the Other Electronic Components

In this step we need to assemble the amplifier, power converter, teensy, breadboard.

  1. Amplifier - Solder the break away headers and resisters. see photo and www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/392
  2. Teensy 3.6 - Solder the headers.
  3. Breadboard - Attach the terminal block and hook-up wires. This component makes it easy to attach the album to the enclosure later. It will be struggle if you skip it. This step is tricky if you are not familiar with how the breadboard works.
  4. Power converter - Solder the terminal block, header and USB port (see picture)

Step 4: Solder Wires to the Teensy and Votage Converter

Solder one side of a wire to pins on the voltage converter and the teensy. Once the hook-up wire is soldered to the pin, then add heat shrink.

  1. Teensy - The following pins will need a wire added:
    1. Touch Sensitive Pins - 0, 1, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 29, 30
    2. Pins for Sound - A22, GND
    3. Pins for Power - 3.3V, Analog GND
  2. Voltage Converter - One wire needs to be added to the ground pin (i.e. "G")

Step 5: Make the Connections

In this step we will connect all the loose wires. After the connections are made use hot glue to keep the wires in place. I used Velcro to keep the various boards in place.

1) Battery to Voltage Converter - The "+" from the battery pack will connect to switch then the "+" terminal on the Voltage Converter. The "-" from the battery pack will go directly to the Voltage Converter.

2) Teensy to Breadboard - The touch sensitive pins will all connect to your terminal block.

3) Teensy to Amplifier - The power pins from the teensy will connect to the amplifier, 3.3V to "+" and "Analog GND" to "-". The A22 wire connects to the "in +" pin and the "GND" pin connects to the "In -" pin.

4) Voltage Converter to Breadboard - Connect the "G" pin from the voltage converter will terminal block.

5) Speaker to Amplifier - Connect the speaker wires to the "out +" and "out -" on the amplifier. The order does not matter.

6) LED to Teensy - Connect the "+" wire from the LED to teensy pin 2 and the "-" wire from the LED to pin "GND".

Step 6: Make the Touch Sensative Scrapbook Pages

Each pages has a touch sensitive shape (e.g. heart). Cut the shape from the sheet of copper. Then cut the shape into two halves. A wire is attached to each side. One side gets a ground wire. The other side gets a wire that connects to the touch sensitive pin.

Cut 2 small holes into the page. Pull the wires through the holes. Mount one copper shape onto each page. You are limited to 11 pages.

Step 7: To Be Continued

I will finish the instructable soon. please leave your comments. let me know if any part needs clarification.