Beats By: Gina and Maori

(DIY Headphones)

Step #1 Materials:

~ 2 Plastic cups (Local store)

~ 28 gauge Electrical wire ( Home Depot or Michael's) (12 ft per wire & 1.75 in diameter)

~ Sandpaper (Home Depot )

~ Sharpie ( Staples)

~ Electrical tape (Home Depot)

~ Wire cutter (Home Depot)

~ 3.5mm stereo jack (Best Buy)

~ 6 Neodymium magnets (Home Depot or Michael's)

~ Headband (Target)

1. First, gather up all the materials.

2. Take the plastic cup and put 1 magnet in the outside and 2 magnets in the inside.

3. Then take the Sharpie and start coiling the 28 wire gauge around it.

4. Coil the wire around 80 times, and slide off the marker and secure the wire (by wrapping the wire around it).

5. Now sand about 2 inches off the ends of the wire.

6.Then, take the voice coil and attach it to the magnet; add electrical tape so it can stay.

7.Repeat the same process to the second cup.

8.Now sand the ends of one of the wires from the two wires and attach the two cups together.

9. Now attach the two wires from the cups to the aux plug terminals Make sure that the wires don’t touch. For even better sound wrap one of the wires onto the second terminals.

10. Now you should have your headphones ready and set, but….

- You might want to decorate, your headphones so that they look nice and professional.

-Now you can enjoy listening to music without the hassle of buying new headphones every time they break. (Why buy them when you can make them!)

11. Plug in the 3.5 mm stereo jack into your cell phone, and enjoy the music.

- About 2 inches of the electrical wire needs to be sanded in order for the electrical current to flow through. The electrical wire needs to be sanded until the copper wire is visible. The copper wire is a great conductor for electricity, so the copper wire allows the current to flow. The wire need to be coiled, because when the wire is coiled it creates a stronger magnetic field. Since the wire is coiled around an object, the objects domains align which creates a stronger magnetic field and current. For our headphones we choose 80 coils in total, because it improved the sound quality and durability. The voice coil in general is an electromagnetic coil of wire that goes goes around a conductor; and it is centered around the permanent magnet, which in this case the neodymium magnets.

- During our prototyping, we noticed that the more we increased the amount of wire the better the sound became. We also observed that the plastic cup produce better sound, the paper cup produced sotf sound, and the foam cup produce muffled sound. Lastly, we found that incorporating more magnets into the design we started to hear the music lyrics better.

- The right hand rule can be applied to find the direction of the current during the prototyping step.You can find the direction of the current by taking your right hand, and you thumb will tell you the direction that the current is flowing. Your palm represents the force coming out above, and your fingers represents the force coming into the object below. The electrical wire is considered the “temporary magnet,” because it is only magnetised until there is a magnetic charge, making its domains align. The alternating current helps produce vibrations, because it works almost like a slinky. The current moves through the voice coil which pushes on the magnets, producing sound to flow through the air. So, the alternating current makes the sound molecules, which pushes on one another until it bounces back if it is in an enclosed space.

- A permanent magnet is needed, because they have higher magnetic resistance than a “temporary magnet.” A permanent magnet, creates the electric field needed to generate the magnetism for a temporary magnet. It also repels other magnetic objects, polar direction. The permanent magnet needs to be the middle, so it can be the “core” and attract and repel the current flow. The electrical tape serves as an insulator, because the tape compresses the voice coil; slowing down the current flowing through the voice coil.

- During our prototyping process, we realized that adding 3 magnets; 2 on the outside and one in the inside; worked a lot better for our headphone design. For our diaphragm design we chose plastic, because it created a better echo of music, making the music more audible.

- You take around 2-3 inches of the electrical wire and sand it. You sand the end to allow the flow of electricity to flow. You sand until the copper wire is visible; the copper wire is a material that is one of the electrical conductors. The sanded wire needs to be connect to the terminals on the aux plugs, because the terminals have a positive and negative charge. So when the wire is attached to the terminals, the energy is flowing on both the negative and positive terminals. *Also make sure that the wires aren’t touching each other.*

- Sound waves are produced, by first having the sound vibrate. Which causes everything around it to also vibrate, which creates waves. So, the waves flow through the air and bounces back if it is an enclosed space. Or the can keep on traveling through the air, and these waves are called sound waves. The sound waves are produced like a slinky, the waves push the air molecules creating the effect constantly.

- If you can’t get sound to come out of your headphones, then you double check if the wires in the aux plugs aren’t touching.

- You can also try to make the coils tough the permanent magnets touch even more, and then apply electrical tape to keep them in place. If the other methods don’t work then you can try to re-sand the ends again even more thoroughly.