Make a Stylish Portable Speaker(from Scratch)

In this Instructable, I will show you how to make a Portable Speaker from Scratch, this portable speaker has Built In FM Radio, Aux Support, Sd card reader, Usb reader(can play music from a SD card or a USB thumb drive).

Why did I make this?
The main reason I built this portable speaker is because I always wanted a Portable speaker that would compliment my desk, Sounds well & has FM Radio. I always wanted this kind of "portable" speaker, I spent days searching on the internet for this kind of Speaker system but, sometimes the size was big, sometimes the reviews were bad or sometimes they were too expensive.
Then I decided, I will make IT!.

So, this was my first project where I used wood, YES! This is my first woodworking project & I am extremely happy with the results. :)




Update on my instructable account-
I know some of you might think why didn't I post any instructable for the past 2 months here's why, I am 15 years old and I am in 10th Grade So I had my Exams throughout September Then I fell Sick, I had High fever & Cold for around 1 week, During October and then my weekly tests began again at school, Yes I have a test every Wednesday, so it was really hard to work on a project. But now I have made a weekly plan(which I will try my best to follow) which will give me enough time to study as well as work on my instructables!

Enough talk lets get to work now! ;)

Step 1: Materials!

For making this portable speaker we are going to be needing a few things,
I made this portable speaker from scratch(Not absolute scratch) which brought the cost down of this portable speaker to 10$ from 15$.

0.2 or 0.3 cm thick MDF- since this was my first project where I was going to work with MDF I decided to use thin MDF because it would be easy to work with.
Two 3 Watt full range speakers
Audio Decoder Board(this one has Bluetooth,My board did not have Bluetooth)
Some 1/2 Inch Screws(I used around 30)
Passive radiator
1x1 wood( to make the enclosure stronger)
Pam8403 amplifier module
1 or 2 18650 cells(Depends on how much battery life you want from your portable speaker,the more the batteries the better the battery life.
TP4056 Battery charging module
A switch
Wires
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Tools & Skills-
You will be surprised to know that this portable speaker was made with simple hand tools with No power tools involved(except a soldering iron & Hot glue gun which are necessary).
Tools I used- Handsaw, Hacksaw, Screwdriver, Hammer, Sandpaper, Hot glue gun& Soldering Iron

Skills- Basic Woodworking skills- Since this was my first woodworking project I would say a beginner will be able to make this portable speaker.

Step 2: Prepare Your Design!

First we need to start by making our design.

How to start making the design?
Start by thinking about the enclosure, how it would look, where would you place the speaker, where would you place the audio decoder board etc.

First I thought how the front panel and the back panel would look like and then wrote down the measurements of the speakers, passive radiator & Audio decoder board. Then I started making the design.
My portable speaker is 28 cm in width and 8 cm in height. I have added the image of the design I made in this step(the last image).The top and bottom and the side panels are 4 cm thick.

PS-The measurements written on that paper were changed to 28 cm= width.

Step 3: Lets Start Working on the Enclosure!(Cutting Wood)

Now we have our design ready, It is just as simple as to draw the design on MDF with a marker or a pencil.
I started cutting the MDF with my hacksaw and made the front , back & side panels according to the design I made. Then I cut a piece of 1x1 wood which was 8 cm long.Then I used my hacksaw to cut that peice of 1x1 wood into two equal halves.

Step 4: Making Space for the Parts to Fit!

In this step we are going to cut holes for the speaker and make space for the audio decoder board, the switch and the passive radiator.
I used a pencil to draw 2 circles and a small rectangle in between the circles for the audio decoder board.
I used a hack saw blade with safety gloves to cut the circle and the rectangle and Then I checked if the speakers and the audio decoder board fit nicely into the cutouts. Which they did :).

Now it was time for the passive radiator, my passive radiator was originally black and it was broken so i decided to sand it off so it matched the silver and black color of the speakers.
Then I used superglue to fix the passive radiator.
Then I again used a pencil to mark the shape of the passive radiator onto the mdf & used the hack saw blade again to make space for the passive radiator.

when I was sure that everything was fitting nicely I decided to assemble the speaker enclosure!

Step 5: Assembling the Enclosure!

After Everything fitted nicely It was time to assemble the enclosure!
Remember the piece of 1x1 wood we split into two halves? I screwed them onto the corners of the front and the back panel with some 1/2 inch screws. I also used some scrap 1x1 to make the enclosure stronger,
then finally I Screwed the top panel, the side panel & the bottom panel.
The top and bottom were 4 cm thick and 29 cm in length & the side panels were 4 cm thick and 8 cm long.
I again used some screws to fix all of them!

After all the screws were in place our enclosure was ready!

Step 6: Adding Some Style!

Since we have prepared our enclosure in the previous step it is time to add some style to the enclosure!
Now you can use a variety of stuff to add some style to your portable speaker like using vinyl wrap, aluminium or acrylic paint.
I decided to use denim from a pair of old jeans which were to be thrown in trash because they were not in proper condition.
The denim I used were red & black in color.
I used a pair of scissors to cut the denim according to the size of the top,side and the bottom panel.
Size of the black denim I pasted on the top, side and bottom panels is- 5 cm width and 76 cm length.
To Start I got myself a tube of contact adhesive, I poured some glue from the tube onto the top panel first, then used a paintbrush to spread the glue onto the top panel, then I slowly pasted the denim onto the top panel.
Then I repeated the same step 3 more times for the side & the bottom panel!

Now it was time for the front and the back panel.
The steps are not different, they are the same, all we need to do is pour some contact adhesive and spread it evenly onto both the panels with the help of a paintbrush and slowly pasting the red denim onto the front and the back panels. I used a cutter to cut out the speaker holes, the space for the switch, audio decoder board & the passive radiator.

Step 7: Fixing the Speakers and the Components Onto the Front Panel!

Now we have spiced up the enclosure it was time to fix the speakers, audio decoder board & the switch onto the front panel.( Additionally I also added a DC jack at the lower middle side of the front panel because the DC jack gave a more finished look to me.

Now I used some super glue to fix the speakers & the audio decoder board onto the front panel.
Why super glue?
Because later on i realized that the MDF was very weak and adding screws in the middle could lead in a crack in the front panel which we don't want!
Then it was time for the passive radiator, Again I used some superglue to fix the passive radiator onto the back panel.

Additionally, I also filled the edges with some contact adhesive as shown in the photos!

Step 8: Soldering All the Components!

Finally Its time to solder Everything.
I could not find a nice site to make the schematic for my speaker. So I will try my best to explain all the wiring to you guys.
So the Power Input of the amplifier and the audio decoder board are connected together. the negative of the amp and the decoder board is connected directly to the 18650 cell, the positive of the amp and the audio decoder board are connected to one end of the switch, the the other end of the switch connects to the positive of the battery.
Now the input(5v Input) of the TP4056 charging module is connected to the DC jack in my case but you can place the Module in the front panel directly to charge the battery via microusb. The battery input of the module is directly connected to the battery in proper polarity.

Now all the solder joints were insulated with hot glue and the TP4056 was mounted in such a way that the LED's on the module face at the display side of the audio decoder board. So we can see how much the portable speaker has been charged Image has also been attached. The Audio Amplifier was hot glued directly onto the enclose as well as the 18650 battery. MAKE SURE YOU APPLY PLENTY OF HOT GLUE TO FIX ALL THE COMPONENTS!

Step 9: Finishing Up and Final Touches.

Now we are all set all that is left is to mount on the back panel and fold the excess denim on the top, side & bottom panel.

Start by screwing in the back panel into place. After all screws are in place it is time to fold the excess denim.
For Folding the excess denim I used some superglue. I applied a little bit of super glue on the inner side of the side, front & the back panels and folded the excess denim.
PS-Photos are provided in this step on how to fold the excess denim to understand better.

Next Thing was to find a way to hide the metal supporters the speakers had, they looked ugly so to fix that problem I made a small square kind of shape Shown in the photos attached in this step, and covered it with some black denim, I then used some contact adhesive to fix them in front of the speakers to hide those metal supporters.

Step 10: We Are Done!

Congrats!, you have successfully built your very own portable speaker!.
I had a ton of fun making it, and I hope you will too!
This speaker sounds really well & I am going to add a soundtest video on my youtube channel very soon.
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If you liked reading this instructable please Vote for me in the Speakers & Amps contest.

I have spent over 30 hours building the portable speaker so please leave some feedback so I can improve my future instructables!
If you have any questions or feedback please leave them in the comments section below.
and all the woodworkers out there please give me some tips! ;).
I hope to see you back on my next instructable!