I attempted to make 3 different kinds of speakers using the same format for my project. I made these blocks on the tables saw to cut the grid like shape into the surfaces.

The first  (top left), I used conductive ink and painted it in a spiral pattern between each of the grooves. However, the ink was hard to manage and would bleed over into other paths making it difficult to keep from shorting my fuse. I tested this one and I’m not sure if it is shorting somewhere or it is too quiet to hear.

The second piece I made (bottom), was using copper tape. I spiraled it around using the grid blocks once, until I realized that I could make a second spiral along the opposite side of the channel. Theoretically this could function as 2 speakers but I only tested it as 1. This one does make a sound if you listen very closely, but not very good quality.

The last speaker I made (top right), I used conductive thread. I managed to wrap the thread once around each individual block on the grid before moving to the next one. To my surprise, when I tested this one, it made the loudest and most clear sounds of the three. However, It was still very quiet…

The wood that I used was 3/4 of an inch thick, which seemed a lot for a magnet to reach through, so to compensate for that I cut pockets in the center of each of the speakers to try and allow the magnets to get closer to the face. Unfortunately this only made them slightly more audible.

Although none of the speakers are not as loud as I’d hoped, I found the project to be interesting and learned that it is not so simple to make a speaker from wood, but they are kind of pretty! 😉

This week for the reveal, I wanted to make a tiny smiley face appear in a big piece of black paper. For the paper, I used black pigment and transparency. Then, I sewed a tiny smiley face on a piece of felt paper. When I hooked up the circuit, you can gradually see a tiny face appear in the black paper.

This week, I made three speakers using fabric. I did not use the conductive thread to sew. I used normal cotton thread to sew over the conductive one to adhere it to the fabric.

One is made of a square of softer fabric and conductive thread.(fig.1)

fig.1

One is made of a square of softer fabric and conductive yarn.(fig.2)

(fig.2)

Because it’s said the stiffness of fabric will also affect the volume. Too soft ones will absorb the vibration. I thought the fabric I used for the 1st and 2nd was too soft, so for the 3rd one, I changed to a square of stiff fabric. It is made of a square of stiff fabric and conductive thread.(fig.3)

(fig.3)

For this week’s assignment, I created a speaker using cardboard and copper tape, I made the speaker in a shape of ghost.

However, I didn’t have a chance to test the speakers yet.

I made three speakers using conductive thread. I tested the first one I made to make sure it would work, but didn’t test the other two. These speakers ended up being pretty small because the conductive thread kept getting tangled and ripping apart.

I want to make speakers for two people to hear the music so I decided to create a cylinder shape speaker with plastic sheets and tied them with plastic loops. In the three swatches, I also want to experiment the lengths of the speakers whether there is a difference in sound or not.

To check if there is a short circuit I tested with a light bulb and a battery, and it worked, so hopefully, it will be a working speaker when we test in class.