Introduction: An (almost) Entirely 3D Printed Speaker

This isn't just a mass produced speaker in a 3d printed case, but instead the speaker itself that has been 3D printed. Over complexity has been avoided to make a fun, simple, and sturdy little speaker. When connected to an Arduino, it pushes out a decent amount of volume and sound quality for its size. .STL files are included in the last step.

Materials List:

  1. Very thin magnet wire, 30+++ gauge
  2. Six 6x32 half-inch machine screws, two 6x32 nuts
  3. Three 3x12 mm neodymium magnets
  4. 3D Printer :)

How it works

Three neodymium magnets create a permanent magnetic field. When an electric current passes through the coil, it creates a temporary magnetic field of its own which attracts the permanent magnet's magnetic field. If the current tot he coil is fluctuated over sound, it cause vibration which in turn is what we perceive as sound.

Step 1: Connect the Base or Go Simple

This speaker has two versions:

Simple version

A simple speaker box that lays flat on a table. The wire is routed out the side of the box.

Parts needed:

  • Lower speaker box (shown in blue)
  • Upper speaker box (shown in white)

Cooler version

The speaker box is attached to the base with the two machine screws and nuts. The wire will be routed out of the back of the speaker box through the white stand.

Parts needed:

  • Lower speaker box ( shown in blue)
  • Upper speaker box (shown in white)
  • Aesthetic speaker girl that goes on the upper speaker box (blue)
  • Base stand (shown in white)

Step 2: Wrapping the Coil

  1. Leave six inches of wire at each end of the coil. You may want to use some masking tape to temporarily hold the magnet wire taut so it doesn't unravel.
  2. Wrap a few hundred times until the total resistance is above 10Ω

Step 3: Secure the Wire

Fish the speaker wire as shown below in the first photo. Sand off the enameled wire and connect (solder if you can) the magnet wire to the speaker wire. Tuck the wires as best you can as shown in the third picture.

Step 4: Attach the Upper Speaker Cover

Carefully add the top speaker cover and the optional cool looking speaker grill :)

Step 5: STL Files

Files Descriptions

Everything — contains all the STL files for the fancier version

BasicSpeaker — the bare minimum to make a speaker; upper and bottom case

BlueParts — the blue pants of the speaker

WhiteParts — the white parts of the speaker