Modern & Innovative Looking Passive Wooden Speaker

Welcome to my latest project, a Modern & Innovative Looking Passive Wooden Speaker.

This project is all about how music (sound) can be amplified through the repeating reflection of the waves. Imagine the effect you get if you place your phone into a glass or cup to make it sound louder. The sound waves from the speaker will bounce back and forth from bottom of the cup, expanding and growing as it moves up and out the cup. This same principle is applied in building this speaker in a better looking but also more functional version out of wood (Teak in my case). The inspiration behind this creation came from my design teacher when we were studying a woodworking unit. 

The steps on how I built it are below. 

DISCLAIMER: I can already say that this project is nothing for kids from 8 years down. Since this Project has the use of sharp and dangerous machines, I only recommend giving this project a try for kids around 9 and up with a knowledgeable Adult (18+) in supervision. I am only saying this to prevent any serious injuries from happening.

The goal of this project was to create a wooden speaker that works without the use of electricity, except for the phone’s charge. Whether you are a woodworker with basic knowledge or a pro, this project is accessible to be made by anyone over 13 years old (with supervision of an adult).

Throughout this guide, I’ll walk you through the entire process step-by-step, from gathering materials to the final touches. I hope you find this project as exciting to create as I did. 

Let’s dive right into it!

Handtools and Machines we will use:

1. Pencil (1x)
2. Printed Plans
3. Carpenter square (1x)
4. Ruler (1x)
5. Band saw
6. Disc Sander (Rough Grain)
7. Sand Paper (Grain: 180, 320)
8. Drill Press
9. Drill Bits
10. Hole Saw drill bits (Sizes: 83)
11. Hand Files for wood: Fine and Rough
12. Plunge Router
13. Straight Router Bit or Dado router bit

Materials and Resources we will use:

1. Teak Wood (Dimensions coming soon)
2. Wood Glue (Gorilla Wood Glue)
3. Wooden Dowels

Print out your 1:1 scale design plans for the speaker. The plans should be attached below this text box and for print available.

Cut out each of the 5 pieces of the design from the printed paper, so that you have 5 pieces of paper spread out across the same or 5 pieces of teak wood.

Lay your teak wood plank on a stable working surface.

Use double-sided tape or a simple glue stick to stick the cut-out design plans onto the wood plank or 5 wooden pieces. Ensure the plans are aligned, do not stand over the edge of the wood properly and fully stick to the wood everywhere.

Now that we have glued all the plans down we can get to cutting. This step only has to be done if you have glued all 5 pieces of plans on one single plank. If you have already glued them to separate pieces of wood you can go ahead, skip this step and go to the next section called Step 3: Sanding the Corners Round With the Disc Sander.

Take your plank and start with separating the pieces from the left side to the right with either a hand saw or if you are using a machine the band saw since the plank will not fit though the left side due to the machine being in the way.

Once you have completed separating all 5 pieces from each other, you can use the band saw again to get as much of the corners round all possible.

Go ahead and proceed to the next Step.

Great now that you cut and separated the plank into 5 pieces and cut the corners as round as possible on the band saw you can do the refining part on the disc sander. Before you start, check that you have a grid size of about 120.

Make sure to check in what direction the disc spins, usually it shows a small arrow above the disc on the casing of the machine.

Put the Board on the 90 degrees dialed flat surface, (My disc spins to the left down so I put my pieces on the left side), hold the board with one hand down and with one to push the board into the spinning disc.

Start sanding all four corners round on each of the 5 separate pieces.

Using the Belt sander you sand of the the remaining 4 sides (left, right, top bottom) on all 5 wooden pieces.

Sand them down till the belt is almost touching the paper templated glued on top of the wooden piece.

God Job now take the 5 sanded pieces to the drill press and get your Hole Saw drill bit with the size (size).

Use the chuck gear key, to fasten your hole saw drill bit tightly.

Check and pull on the drill bit to see if it is sitting tightly inside the gear chuck of the drill press.

After making sure everything fits find your 2 pieces of wood that have 2 black outlined circles on them.

Use how many clutch clamps you may need to fasten the first piece of wood directly aligned with the drill bit pointing down directly into the middle of the circle. A small trick I use to make the fastening part quicker is holding down the drill bit onto the piece of wood with the drill directly on the middle of the back circle, then using the clutch clamps to tighten down the piece of wood, since the drill bit prevents the wood from moving around.

Now drill the first and second piece.

Grab a fine sand paper to get rid of any sharp edges inside the cutout circles.

Set up your router to a depth of 1 centimeter since the wood you are using is 2 cm in total thickness. The Router bit you need to use for this is a straight long bit or a normal Dado bit. Make sure to wear safety googles since this might safe you from getting any wood chips in your eyes. The Router I used was very loud when used, so I used ear protection.

Carefully take out the areas in the 2 wood pieces listed in the photos above that require plunged chambers, following your design plans.

Ensure the chambers are smooth and accurate, allowing sound to accumulate effectively.

I used a chisel to refine any rough edges made by the router to give a extra clean look, you however do not need to do this, only for parts where later the outcome can be seen from the outside.

Using a frame saw, carefully cut out the front two pieces of the speaker. Ensure precise cuts to maintain the design integrity. Use a rasps to make fine adjustments until the rasps meet the line, I used a fine and rough rasp to make more or less progress of taking away just the right amount of wood to meet the paper line.

Use round and straight sharp chisels to take out that outer ring. Make sure to only go 1cm deep, this step can also be done with the use of the router and a straight router bit but it might make it harder since the router won't have a flat surface to work on. I would recommend using the chisel to take out the last remaining parts and then using a dDremel and a sanding bit to make some final touches. These are important so that the grill frame that will later be made with the laser cuter and put in the front to make the whole passive wooden speaker look more vintage and clean.

Use either normal wood glue or Gorilla glue that you mostly find in every woodworking store around the world. Any other wood glue should be fine too since this is a product you want to use inside.

Trick: Apply a thin, even layer of wood glue to the surfaces that will be joined. Be sure to cover the entire surface for a strong bond. There is a small trick to it, using Lightly sprinkle a small amount of fine grain salt over the glue.

A few grains here and there will do it, you don’t need to cover the entire surface. Carefully place the pieces together, aligning them as needed according to your design plans. The salt grains will create small, localized pressure points that prevent the pieces from sliding against each other.

Once the pieces are aligned, use the clutch clamps to hold them firmly in place. The salt will keep the pieces from moving as you apply clamping pressure.

Allow the wood glue to dry thoroughly (24hrs). The salt grains will dissolve over time and will not affect the glue's bond.

Drill Holes: Use a handheld drill to make holes for the two dowels positioned on the left and right sides on the bottom of the speaker.

Glue Dowels: Apply wood glue to secure the dowels in the drilled holes.

Placement and Fit: Using a marking knife or chisel, make sure the dowels are the right size for your hole ensure the dowels fit directly and flush into the drilled holes. Proper alignment will allow the music to project more effectively towards you when the speaker is placed on a desk or inside a cupboard.

Now that the speaker is almost done and you have full filled all the steps from the top down, you still need to make sure the speaker does not have any sharp edges or corners that might hurt or not look good on the finished end result like small scratches or marker lines in the wood. I took a Handheld Belt sander from Makita and a normal piece of fine 320 sand paper.

I used the OMTech 60W CO2 Laser Cutter Machine to engrave this type of radio looking like grill.

The STL File to laser cut will be attached to this step below.