Portal Cube DIY Bluetooth Speaker

As a personal project of mine of making a DIY speaker, I decided to take a turn and make my speaker into a cube from the video game: Portal 2. The base is 3D printed, spray painted, and finished with a clear coat for uniformity.

Supplies:

1x Battery charger module

1x Bluetooth receiver amplifier

1x AC adapter battery charging cord

1x Female Barrel Jack

1x 3.7v 2000mah lipo battery

1x Boat rocker switch

2x 3w 8ohm speakers

22 gauge wire

Heat shrink tubing

PLA or other 3D printing filament

Hot glue

Soldering wire

Optional supplies:

Female/Male Wire connectors

Breadboard

Wire Lever nuts

Fine sandpaper

Paint and primer

Painters tape

Scissors

Sacrificial sock

Tools:

Soldering iron

Wire strippers

3D printer

Hot glue gun

Carefully reading the polarity as it is stamped on the boards, solder red and black wire to their respective slots on the boards.

Ensure the solder only contacts the solder points on the boards and not any other components.

On the barrel nut, the large pin with a metal base is positive and either of the 2 smaller pins can be negative.

On the switch, the polarity does not matter

*For both the switch and barrel jack it is recommended to have longer wires (6ish in) to allow you to solder them easily later on. The rest of the component wires can be closer to 2-3 inches long.

Following the diagram above, solder the components to each other, using heat shrink as an insulator. It is helpful to slide the heat shrink on the wire before twisting and soldering them together.

For the battery, its recommended to use the wire connectors and not clip the stock wire as it is a delicate and small gauge wire, you can just cut off or tuck away the 2 unused wires on the clip.

The speakers can be plugged directly into the wifi board as long as the polarity matches what is shown on the board, so no soldering is needed.

The soldered components should look something like the attached picture.

*IMPORTANT: avoid soldering the female jack and the switch to the circuit until it is inside the cube, otherwise you wont' be able to screw on the nut or snap it in to keep it in place.

Either using lever nuts, a breadboard, or some other temporary soldering for the barrel jack and switch, try to turn on and test your circuit. Its possible some components may not be attached correctly, or that the polarity was swapped for a certain point, etc.

If you have everything hooked up correctly and the switch is set to ON, there should be a BLUE light illuminated on he wifi/amplifier board. Plug in the charger into the adapter to see if a RED light illuminates on the charging board, this indicates that your battery is charging, and also see if you can hear the turning on and connection audio that should be playing from the board.

A common mistake is made where the switch is placed in the wrong part of the circuit and causes the circuit to not work, so this may be the first area you look if it wont charge or turn on.

If any or all of these prompts or lights aren't happening, double check the circuit to ensure all positives are connected in the correct orientation and everything has a solid connection through the solder. If your speaker still won't illuminate a blue light and the circuit is 100% correct, you may have a busted board, and may need to get a new one.

Using the attached STL files, slice and print out the cube and it's lid separately. (It should take about 18 hours depending on infill, supports, and your specific printer)

Supports are recommended for the very bottom of the print and a skirt or a raft is recommended to help adhesion. About 20-30% infill is enough to create a solid structure that you can still see the respective board's LEDs through, though you can do more if you have the time to print a 24Hr print.

*printer used is a Prusa MK3s with PLA fillament

-Prep the cube by sanding off any rough edges with a 220 grit sandpaper and wipe off any dust with a wet cloth.

-Using an automotive "filler primer", spray down the entire print in 2 light coats.

-For detail work, use masking or painters tape to mask off any areas you don't want painted before spraying

• For this particular print i recommend using a utility knife to outline the fine details when masking
• You may need multiple coats depending on the lightness of the paint, generally the directions on the can can tell you how long drying times are and how many coats you'll need.

-Touch ups can be done by spraying the paint into a paper plate/bowl and using a paintbrush for small areas

-Clear coating the entire print is recommended but not required.

• You will probably need multiple coats and it takes longer to dry than regular spray paint.

-Make sure it dries in a well ventilated and close to room temperature room, otherwise adhesion could suffer.

-If you want to make it look a bit more "ruined" take a piece of newspaper or other material to the layer of detail paint after spraying but before it dries

To improve looks and quality it may be worth it for you to install some speaker fabric onto the exterior of your speakers before installing them into the cube.

The fabric itself doesn't have to be anything specialized, as you can find a find a old, thin and stretchy sock or pair of compression shorts to do the trick. Just make sure the speaker part itself is fully covered and that you will still be able to attach the speakers to the cube.

Slide in the switch and barrel jack unconnected to anything into their respective slots, hot glue them down, and finish soldering them to the rest of the circuit

Being careful to not get any material on the actual drum of the speaker, line up and hot glue the box of the speaker to one of the large openings in the cube. Repeat with the other speaker and wait to completely dry.

Leaving the battery to be the very last part that is slid in, tuck in all the wires and circuit boards, trying to get the wifi board to rest on the bottom of the cube, and the battery charging board to rest between the switch and speaker.

Tuck the battery in, and try to get the bunched wires level or slightly above the top of the cube's body.

*It is a good idea to double check once again that everything is working properly before you seal up the cube.

Either using hot glue, superglue, or some other type of adhesive, align and glue the lid to the body of the speaker, sealing it.

If you want to leave it open you can use a less permanent type of adhesive such as double stick tape or glue dots.

You have now created a working bluetooth speaker that resembles a portal cube! Enjoy.