Scarab Speaker

Scarab Speaker is part of the Egyptian inspired speaker series. I have posted the Anubis Speaker last month.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Handmade-Anubis-Ar...

"Scarab represents a significant body of ancient art. it is the symbol of the Egyptian god Khepri, amulets in the form of scarab beetles had become enormously popular in Ancient Egypt by the early Middle Kingdom (approx 2000BCE) and remained popular for the rest of the pharaonic period and beyond. During that long period the function of scarabs repeatedly changed. Primarily amulets, they were also inscribed for use as personal or administrative seals or were incorporated into jewelry." - Wikipedia

This speaker also has a strong reference to the band Journey. their logo is a scarab beetle with wild colorful wingspan.

I m always fascinated with Ancient Egyptian Art and My sculpture functions as speakers bridge the ancient culture with modern features.

For more of my Sculptures please visit www.yuesart.com

I designed the enclosure part with Autodesk 3DS Max. the design is fairly simple the Tweeter enclosure is a dome shape that represents the Sun. and the 8" woofer is a placed where the body/head of the beetle is. the wing case adds the volume for the bass. Though, I did not design the vent tube insert. the vent tube insert can be cut and trimmed once the inside is bonded with resin mixer. the wings are drawn in illustrator the scale is 1:1 . so tile print in letter size and glue to a whole big piece.

The arm is later added. its made of MDF board with 2 layers of foam board glue in front. I used Magic Sculpt Epoxy clay to bond the arms. the epoxy coating is brushed on after.

P.S. there are 2 flat objects in the design file. it is a template for the wooden plate. Convert the obj file in Pepakura then trace the template on plywood then cut with jigsaw.

the speaker compounds are bought @ parts express

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dc28fs-...

the woofer is

https://www.parts-express.com/hivi-m8a-8-aluminum-...

I specifically picked this woofer because the cooper surface really suits the color theme and the concave shape makes it really unique.

you will need 110/298gm cardstock to construct the body. foam board and MDF for the wing

I used five Golden Acrylic colors to paint the wings and the body. you can buy them in Art supply stores.

Ultramarine, Deep Gold, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red, Turquoise.

My background is in painting Golden brand Acrylic really bring out the vibrancy and have a good opacity. though, they might be a bit expensive. Any latex house paint will do the job perfect. I am sure Ancient Egyptians used different colors, but these are just my interpretation.

Last part is the 2 part epoxy coating for tables. it is a self level gel that cures to hard and very very GLOSSY finish.

these wings are a little over 2 ft tall. so I bought 8 20 x 30 foam board. to make two of them.

the very back is a piece of MDF painted in red on the edges. trace the outer most contour of the drawing on a piece of 1/4 MDF. then use a jig saw to cut, it doesnt have any jagged edge.

cut the outer most contour and this time trace the 2nd outer contour to a foam board. and use an x acto knife to cut it. then cut 2nd contour and trace from the 3rd contour. the tip is . most part of a layer will be covered by the upper layer so cut a smaller one inside a bigger piece. just make sure it can be all covered from the outside.

Once the drawing is cut to the last contour. align all the pieces and mark the colors on each of them. paint the visible area.

glue foam board together using a hot glue gun. then glue the board on top of the MDF.

Brush on epoxy coating and let it cure. Now the foam board should be very tough and wont be easily pierced with X-acto knife.

Once wings are complete.

Convert the Obj files in Pepakura to flat patterns. Cut and glue . the 2 flat plane objects should be cut on a piece of plywood. add a 1x2 beam in the middle to connect the two wings. also cut out the wooden plate to increase the Optimum cabinet volume.

Pour and brush on resin mixture. then sand and prime. this step takes alot of time and effort. do it in thin layers to avoid build up and sand with 40 grit to remove excessive buildups. proceed to 220 grit to finish.

the resin mixture I use clear epoxy casting resin that is mixed with calcium carbonate, silica fume, chopped fiber, dye color. the mixture resemble the texture of cream cheese once is fully mixed.

The Arms are very simple to make. I had a free hand drawing of roughly where the arms will be and cut the shape with pins on both ends. the pins can be just half inch wide 2 inch long with the 1/4 MDF thickness. then cut out the holes on both tweeter dome and the main body. I bond them with Magic Sculpt Epoxy clay that cures to 84D shore A hardness, it is a very strong bond, once is complete I would grab the piece from the arm. also make sure to drill a small hole on the back to run the wire from tweet to the body.

I placed a 2.5k Crossover inside the main body and the wire is coming out from the bottom . it needs to connect to a home stereo amplifier. the sound is amazing and very loud. only thing I would improve is to add a vent hole on the back that will make the speaker rattle less when I turn up the volume.

This sculpture was on display at the de Young Museum last year at a Keith Haring event together with the Anubis Speakers.

For more of my speaker please visit my personal site. www.yuesart.com

Practice and Enjoy