Introduction: Beer Pong Alarm Clock

So im just going to start off with telling everyone why i made this project. having an alarm clock beside my bed just wasnt cutting it, i would hit the snooze button so often that i was late for almost everything. and this is exactly what i did to solve every teenagers problem, with a little style as well. 

Ladies And Gentlemen....

THE FIRST EVER BEER PONG ALARM CLOCK!

with video demonstration at the end! :)

****and just so everyone knows all of the pictures for each step are in chronological order :)



Step 1: Parts and Tools

Tools:
screw driver
Dremel Tool w/ metal cutting wheel
Drill w/ Step bit
Marker
Pencil
No more nails adhesive
Carpenters glue
CNC machine
Glue gun
Soldering iron + solder
Wire cutters
Exacto knife



Materials:
(2)  3x2 ft MDF
3x3 ft Felt
Mini beer keg (bubba keg)
(3) Plastic red drinking cups
4ft PVC pipe ½” diameter
(2) 90deg.  ½” diameter elbows
2.1 surround system (1 subwoofer + 2 tweeters)
Glass Heineken bottle
1Watt white L.E.D.
Speaker Wire
Electrical Wire
White glove
Sleeve (from jacket coat shirt etc)
Easy to trigger switch

Step 2: Tear Down of Electronics

this is where the real work starts. take the 2.1 surround sound system and take apart using a screwdriver and a set of wire cutters. it doesn't matter if you damage the original speaker/electronics enclosure because you wont be needing them. the all-in-one surround sound system I purchased came with the electronics detachable from the main amplifier. (you can use any size of system with any number of speakers, I just chose a 2.1 for simplicity)

when you are detaching wires from the speakers, label them with some green tape and a sharpie,  it really helps.

Step 3: Preparing the Speaker Enclosures

so i didnt just want to make a alarm clock, i wanted to add some style to it. so i decided to make it a heineken themed alarm. it uses a heineken mini keg, a heinekin bottle (used later) and 3 red cups (2 for the tweeters and one for the snooze button)

tools youll need: sharpie, dremel tootl, step drill bit, drill

cut the necessary sized holes for the sub, volume knob, aux. input and subwoofer. as well as a large hole in the bottom for the main amplifier to fit into as seen in the pictures. solder wires to rocker switch and sub woofer. attach volume wires and aux. input wires to amplifier. Cut one of the power cables to the main power and attach two wires as seen in the schematic below each about 4ft in length.splice the subwoofer wire and add a set of wires onto it, youll need both of those later.

once everything is wired up fit everything into place and seal up with "no more nails" adhesive paste. i know what you're thinking, its going to look terrible with the no more nails showing, but that will all be covered up!

!!!!!IMPORTANT!!!!! make sure you have 4 sets of wires coming out of the bottom hole. one for each of: left tweeter, right tweeter, spliced subwoofer and external power wires

Step 4: The Base

alright, this is where my computer generated part of the project comes into play. I wanted this project to look as neat as possible, so decided to CNC an MDF sheet so that it would hide all of the wires under the mdf. there are grooves in the bottom of the board for the wires and those groves lead to components of the system. i used Google sketch up to design the layout for the system.

once the mdf was created i layed a 3x3ft piece of felt over it and attached it with carpenters glue, make sure there is at least 6" of overhang on each side. when it was dry i used an exacto knife to cut out a hole for the center cavity, the arm hole and the led hole, part of the mdf is showing through the felt on top because I have to attach items to the mdf. i didnt cut holes for the tweeters because i am just feeding wires through them.

the next part of this step is take the red cup tweeters and feed the wires through the holes, glue and weigh them down.
next take the LED and attach it to the spliced sub woofer wires so that when there is a strong bass pulse the LED dances to it. glue the LED down into the MDF once wired. then cover it with the heineken bottle and use "no more nails" to secure it. the next part is take the mini keg and secure it over top of the center cavity so that none of the felt is showing outside of the edges of the mini keg. (if that was too many words use the last picture in this step as a visual guide). once all of the speaker enclosures are scured on to the base, wire all of the components to the amplifier (except for the external main power wires) and protect with tape, or hot glue.

lastly take the other sheet of blank mdf and use carpenters glue to glue it on to the other "component holding" mdf to hide all of the messy wires :)




Step 5: The Arm and Hand

this is probably the simplest part of the entire project.

to make the arm just take (2) 90 degree elbows and (2) 15" PVC pieces. and put them together in the configuration seen below. to make it actually look like an arm, get an old long sleeve shirt or suit jacket and cut the arm of and put it over top. then fill it with some cotton from an old pillow to give it some dimension.

next is the hand:  unfortunately neither myself or anyone even close to me has a 3d printer this would have been incredibly helpful. but since I didn't have the technology i had to do this...

trace your hand on a piece of paper then bend a few coat hangers in the shape of your hand. then attach the bottom (wrist) of the hangers together to make one hand. next take the white glove and turn it inside out to fill the fingers with cotton, then turn it back to normal and insert the hand shape you made. then fill the glove (with the hand inside of it) with more cotton to make the palm of the hand. the next step is to bend the wire inside the glove to hold a red cup. 

Step 6: The Snooze Button

the snooze button is very simple as well. just a lightly activated switch with an extended are glued onto it. solder the two external main  power wires from earlier to either end of the switch. so when it is triggered it cuts power to the entire system. Simple, But very effective. then cute a rectangle shaped hole in a red cup and attach the switch to it in the same way as it is displayed in the picture below. 

next, you will need the glove/hand you created in the last step. cut a hole in the center of the glove for the wire of the snooze button to run through. then use no more nails to adhere the cup to the glove and wrap medial gause around it to keep them pressed together so that a secure adhesion is made.

next use the 6" exess felt attachted to the base, fold it under the bottom of the base and glue it down using hot glue.

NEXT IS FINAL ASSEMBLY AND DEMO! :) :) :)

Step 7: Final Product

to finish up the project just attach the glove/hand holding the snooze button to the arm and position it in a way that someone would be holding it. and there you have it people a fully functional and stylish heineken themed beer pong alarm clock and stereo.

to shut off the alarm simply throw a ping pong ball into the cup from your bed!   Total Cost: $120    Total Hours: 50

if you make one you will be the envy of every college student in the world. except for me, cause i have one to :)


DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS!!!! -------> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTBtGbE8_KA
                                                       -------> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb_kGJzARzg&feature=relmfu




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