Gramophone - Hand Crank Melody Music Box

A couple of month ago I was searching for a mechanical device, which produces classic sound and I found this amazingly surprising product that are being widely getting sell around these days.

Today you can see in many online stores, these Hand Crank Mechanical Movement Music Boxes of different music themes are getting sold dramatically, which are only packed inside a laser cut box, so I thought why not make the box something different.

So that It can be a Home decor item as well a Classic music producing item.

Then it comes to my mind to fit the Mechanical device inside this Retro beauty. No other than a Gramophone model can be the best choice for it.

So, I made this Hand cranked mechanical Gramophone music box, where you can put your desired melody device and enjoy.

So, before we drive into this project, I want to share some basic information about this Phonograph or Gramophone and the Mechanical MIDI (Melody) Tune Generator.

A Phonograph, in its later forms also called a Gramophone or since the 1940s called a record player, is a device for the mechanical and analogue recording and reproduction of sound.

The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a spiral groove engraved, etched, incised, or impressed into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc, called a "record".

The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison. After this several improvements were made in the 1880s and introduced the Graphophone, including the use of wax-coated cardboard cylinders and a cutting stylus that moved from side to side in a zigzag groove around the record.

In the 1890s, Emile Berliner initiated the transition from phonograph cylinders to flat discs with a spiral groove running from the periphery to near the center, coining the term Gramophone for disc record players. The disc phonograph record was the dominant commercial audio recording format throughout most of the 20th century.

Learn more about Phonograph from the wikipedia page here.

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Hand Crank Mechanical Movement Music Box which produces this melody of different themed tone. But how does it works?

Well, this device has a Rotating Drum that holds various pins around it and a Comb like piece of Steel, which acts like a Tuning Fork. The Longer Teeth produces Low Frequency, whereas the Shorter Teeth produces High Frequency.

It contains 18 teeth, each teeth is a node. When the drum rotates, the teeth vibrates, which produces the sound.

Then there is a mechanical handle called Crank attached to it, so that when we rotate the crank it eventually turns the Drum and the Fork Teeth produces the melody on it.

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So, this was the working of it, now let's see the making too.

There are many small things that are needed to make this one, but then also its you can always use an alternate. So, below I'm listing some of the Tools and Materials that I personally used to make this product.

TOOLS

• Mini Hacksaw
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Clamp
• Rotary Tool
• Drill bits (1.5mm)
• Sandpaper
• Carving Tools

MATERIALS

• Flat Wooden Bead
• Corner Wooden Bead
• MDF Board
• Wood Dust
• Thin Bamboo Sticks
• PVC Sheet
• Hard Paper
• Heat Shrink Tube (1.5mm)
• Wood Glue (fevicol)
• Superglue (feviquick)
• Finishing Coat (varnish)
• Color (golden)
• Paint Brushes
• Print out of Vinyl Record

COMPONENTS

• Mechanical MIDI Tone Generator (happy birthday tuning)
• Plastic or PVC Pipe (different diameter)
• Copper Hose (from female electric plug)
• Bamboo Stick
• Neodymium Magnet (5mmx1.5mm)
• Nails
• Bolts and Screws
• Metal Rod (1.5mm dia)
• Electrical Wire (silver and copper)

Now on, we will start our making process. There is no big science behind this. I have captured images of every steps in very easy to understand way. So, just follow the pictures, they are self explained.

First of all I took a Gamari wooden Bead (as it is soft and easy to carve on it) to make our primary Box. You can choose any size of your choice, but should not exceed the crank handle size.

I made the box square in size and cut the sides accordingly. Then I glued the parts with regular wood glue and kept for drying.

Here I used MDF boards to make the Top and Bottom cover plates of our Primary box. The bottom plate is the exact size of our box, but the top plate is slightly bigger to match the looks.

Then, I glued the Bottom plate only and kept for drying.

After the glue dried, I took the measurement of the position of our Crank handle and cut on that side, so that the handle get easily inserted and fit & rotate comfortably.

In this step I used Corner wooden Beads to make our base structure. It is slightly tanned in color to give a contrast with our Primary box.

So, I cut 4 pieces at 45 degrees on both the sides and glued on the base of our Primary box.

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Note: also use some wood dust on the edges, it will cover all the gaps and when sanded after dried it will give very clear finish.

Here I used small wood pieces to make some Hinges in order to join our Top cover plate to our Primary box, so that it becomes flexible to open & close the lid whenever needed.

Carefully place the Hinges it their position, as slightly misalignment will break the aesthetic of our Box.

Firstly I thought of making some real patterns on the Vinyl Disc, but didn't have the right tools to do so or may be the right idea. So, I jumped into the direct print-out idea.

For making the Disc, I used some PVC sheet, cut according to a size and then I make print out of different Vinyl Record images and pasted on it.

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Extra: Watch this video to learn How to make PVC Sheet from PVC Pipes.

Here I used few mix of materials for making the Tone Arm. I took a thin Bamboo stick for making the Arm, then some wood piece for making the front stylus and some more wood for making the Counterweight base or stand.

Then I used the tip of a very small pin as the Stylus Needle. And glued all together.

In the Top plate I dig a low depth with 8mm drill bit at one corner for fitting the Tone Arm.

Also I made a hole in the center of the plate and fixed a Nail head. So that our Vinyl Disc can easily be installed and can be rotated too.

As commonly, if I left the Top cover as it is, It gets opened easily if I tilt the box. So I needed to set up a locking mechanism to the Primary box.

Therefore, I used a small Neodymium Magnet on the Top plate and a piece of Iron on the Primary box to set up a Magnet Locking System.

Now it won't automatically open & close on tilting the Box.

For making the Potence (back bracket) I again used a piece of small Bamboo stick. I made two holes on it and attached 2 piece of Aluminium rods on it so that it can now be easily mounted on the back of our Primary box.

Then for the Coude (elbow), I used some Plastic pipes of different diameter to fit one into another. I cut then at an angle to rise a little bit and then at the top I used a piece of Brass pin, (which I found on a electric plug) to hold our final Horn.

For the making of this beautiful Horn, I used some Hard paper (found from packaging boxes). I made some print-out of the parts of the Horns and glued to the Hard paper.

Then I cut 12 pieces of it and carefully glued one with another using some Superglue. And it eventually turned into a beautiful spiral Horn.

In this part I made some design patterns to every side of our Primary box. Here I used some wires to make Inlay patterns on wood.

I used regular electric wires for getting the silver and copper color wire.

Next, I draw some pattern on the box (it can be any design or a brand logo), then I carved some depth following the lines using some carving tool and fixed the wires into the depth using superglue. Lastly I sanded the part nicely to make the surface level.

I made different patterns for every side to make the box look little better.

Here I smoothly sanded over, on every part, sides and corners of our box and other items.

Finally I applied Varnish as a finishing Coating agent to every part, It protects our wood as well enhance the beauty.

Then for the Horn and Elbow part I used some Golden color so that it looks different and bit shiny.

Now is the time for installing our Hand Cranked Mechanical device into the Primary Box.

I screwed some M3 bolts to mount the device inside the box. Also a small piece MDF to raise the platform a little bit.

And finally sealed the gap above the handle with a piece of wood and finished accordingly.

Now, all our parts are ready and dried to fit.

Just fit the Elbow parts one into another and mount the Horn onto it.

So, we have completed every part, now is the time time for assembling them together.

I used small pieces of Aluminium again to join the Top cover with the Primary box's Hinges.

Then, I Installed the Back-bracket in the backside of our Primary box and also fixed with some super glue.

Next, I fixed the Tone Arm into the Top plate and finally installed the Vinyl Record disc.

Hence we have successfully made our Product.

So, this is our final finished product with some brass inlay designs on it. Now you can easily make one for yourself and put the melody as you like.

My plan was to spin the disc as well with turning the Crank wheel, but I didn't get enough time to make that mechanism. Though I think of making a updated version of it with the rotating disc mechanism in future. So, stay with us.

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Thank You Everyone!

Hope, you all have liked this Instructable and learnt something as well.

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