Barrel Speaker

Regular Saturday morning at town's car boot sale/market, my friend noticed nice wee barrel as he was looking something nice to make a saving money bank. I've had to change his mind :) Cost me only £5.

I have decided to make amplified speaker out of it.

Next stage was to plan and collect necessary parts to make it look and perform properly.

Stereo unit had been taken from iPhone docking station. It's embarrassing unit had no bluetooth connection.

Bigger speakers were selected instead of original ones to meet the diameter of the barrel.

Wee rubber feet were needed in order to keep barrel steady. I took them from pc 2.1 sound system sub woofer that was no longer in use.

I was pleased to see that the speaker grill (mesh) was exactly same size as needed. I thought it would look nicer if I cover them with black fabric which I took from other speakers. Yea.. I have plenty of those lying about...

Some rings used from vintage Russian Zenit camera as well as spare jeans' buttons.

Power switch had been replaced with toggle switch which has led light in it, unfortunately unit voltage was 6V only and it wasn't enough to make it glow properly. It was decided to replace original blue led with bigger red led bulb, which I thought would look better with varnished wood surface when speaker was complete.

For up/down volume control buttons I have used Diesel perfume spray caps as well as some springs and other plastic and rubber bits.

As the barrel was sitting god knows where for some time, it had signs of rust so it had to sanded.

Then I've had to plan where holes had to be drilled. Had to think of the main stereo unit layout inside barrel. Holes drilled for speakers, for air to come out, power switch, led bulb, AC and aux lead outputs, 4 rubber feet and volume control buttons. 13 holes altogether.

As they say - "preparation is the key!" I agree. The barrel had to be varnished before continuing. Metal parts had been covered with masking tape. Spanish mahogany color varnish used to make surface nice and shiny. 3 layers applied altogether and left overnight to dry after each time.

The main stereo unit inside barrel had been fitted using very tiny screws. Prior to screwing, wee holes were made using the awl. It took me a while till I figured out how to make AC and aux outputs to stay in place. I used piece of metal plate with two holes in it and a pair of screws to hold it tight.

Volume control buttons had to be accessible from outside the barrel and it was quite tough job to do.

As mentioned earlier on, volume buttons had been made out of spray caps, springs, plastic and rubber pieces that had been put in place and glued together. The volume control buttons had been fitted using screws and a small metal plate. Toggle switch and led bulb were also put in place.

Before speakers were fitted, one final test had been carried out to ensure everything worked ok.

Speakers' corners had to be cut down to fit the barrel. Holes for screws were made using awl. Wires connected, and speakers fitted.