P1 Beats by Carter Anderberg and Alexis Gonzalez (DIY)

Materials:

Old Pair of Headphones Plastic Cover from Old Headphones

28 gauge Copper Wire (3 meters) Neodymium Magnet (½ inch)

Electrical Tape

AUX Cord (3 feet)

MP3 Player (5 in x 2 ⅓ in)

Directions to Create a Voice Coil and Assemble Speaker:

First, wrap a post-it note around a glue stick Then, cut about 5 feet of copper wire and wrap the wire around the glue stick in a circular motion until there is roughly 2 inch of wire on both ends(3 meters of wire should = about 30 coils of wire) Slide coiled wire off of post it and tie both sides of excess wire around the coil until coil will not unwind. Sand the ends of the excess wire so the bare copper is visible. You have now created your very own voice coil. Using a neodymium magnet, place the magnet on one side of the plastic cover of the old headphones. On the other side of the plastic cover, place the other magnet so the magnets will be attracted to each other but cannot touch because of the plastic cover between them Place the voice coil on top of the exposed magnet(not the magnet outside of the cover). Using electrical tape, tape down the coil on top of the magnet and the cover. Using an AUX cord, connect it to a MP3 Player(phone, laptop, etc.), then wrap the exposed copper wire tips around the other side of the AUX cord. CONGRATS! You have created your own speaker. Choose a song and press play!

Troubleshooting:

If you’re headphones do not work, try recoiling your wire. Additionally, you may try to press the copper wire down on the terminals of the AUX cord but make sure the two wires are NOT touching each other.

Why should you use 50 coils?:

When creating your voice coil, you normally want to create a lot of space for the vibrations of your speakers to go through. Having more coils creates that room and allows your speaker to sound louder.

Summary:

The three main parts to a speaker that determine whether or not the speaker will work would be the voice coil, diaphragm, and the wiring. The voice coil is essential to a speaker’s working because it creates a funnel for the vibrations to travel to the diaphragm through. Without it, the vibrations in the magnetic field will not be carried to the diaphragm and therefore, sound will not travel correctly. The diaphragm is one of the most essential parts in a speaker as well. The diaphragm carries vibration out of the speaker and into the air which is transitioned into the sound we hear via longitudinal waves. Finally, the wiring of the speaker to an AUX cord is very important. If your wires are not sanded or burned correctly, you will not be able to output a connection from your speaker to an MP3 Player. Additionally, if your wires are touching each other on the terminal of the AUX cord, your speakers will have a spotty connection or may not work at all. Finally, my partner, Alexis, and I revised our initial design where we used paper cups instead of the plastic covers from the headphones we are now using and suggesting you use too. Our spotty connection and low-quality sound from the paper cuts has been transitioned into high-quality headphones and have almost perfect connection!