DIY Cardboard Headphones

Hello,

This instructable will describe the process of making fully functional cardboard stereo headphones. Speakers used in headphones usually have resistance from about 8 ohms to 600 ohms. Here I used 8-ohm speakers.

And I'm sorry because of my English I'm not a native speaker.

Cardboard

Speakers

Audio cable with 3.5 mm jack

Miscellaneous: (hot glue sticks, super glue, wire)

Tools: Utility knife Hot glue gun Soldering iron and some solder

Before you start building the frame prepare a small piece of wire (or something springy), this wire will be inside of a cardboard frame and she is there simply to make the frame more springy and durable. In my case, I took about 1 meter of small diameter wire and I cut it into smaller pieces (about 33cm each) and then I twisted them together. Before you start making the frame measure your head :D, from ear to ear, and use those dimensions for the length of the cardboard strip (make 2 of these) that would become the frame (mine strips were about 3 cm wide).

Before you glue the wire onto the cardboard strip make some splits in it, the reason for this is simply to make it easier to bend into reversed U shape. Once you make some slits on a cardboard strip glue a previously prepared piece of wire onto it and start bending it into U shape.

To complete the frame make two smaller strips and glue them onto the U strip one from each side of the wire ( so it is a small strip of cardboard then wire then again a small strip of cardboard). Before you complete the frame place in the frame two wires ( these are for speakers) and glue the strip of cardboard onto those two small strips you made before.

This maybe looks confusing at first but it is a really simple process once you look at the photos explaining them.

To complete the frame I wrapped mine with paper (this cardboard paper was inside of the cardboard box). I was planning to paint these headphones, but later I dropped that idea.

You can skip this step this is just for aesthetics At this point you should end up with a completed frame with two wires coming out of each end, once again these 2 wires are for speakers.

This step is pretty straightforward cut two small pipes ( from a bigger pipe for example pen), and then if you want glue some cardboard paper on them. These 2 pipes should be some kind of an interlude section between frame and earbuds.

One end of the audio cable has a 3.5 mm jack, and then the other end has 3 wires. It is important to know which wire goes where (It is important to know R, L, and GND). This can be found with trial and error or an even easier way would be to use a multimeter.

In this step Start by making 3 circles that are bigger than your speakers and in 2 of them cut 2 holes, those 2 holes should be the same width as the speaker.

Repeat this process once more (2 speakers 6 circles).

Before you start assembling earbuds solder two wires on the speaker (those are the same 2 wires that you prepared in the frame). The Schematic is simple Speakers have two contact points (+ and -) each, solder minus points together, and then attach GND from the audio cable. Then on the + pole of the right speaker connect the right wire of the headphone jack, and on the + pole of the left speaker connect the left wire of the audio jack. ( I explained this in one of the previous steps if you don't know which is left and which is right you can easily check it with a multimeter or by trial and error).

In step before you made 6 circles (3 for each side L and R). Start by gluing one circle on the back of your speaker, and then glue one circle without a hole on the speaker magnet, and then the last circle goes on the front side of the speaker. Repeat this process for another earbud.

Prepare two cardboard strips, wrap them around earbuds and glue them.

Make sure that those two strips are wider than earbuds.

Make some final adjustments.