Build your own smartphone speaker - unpowered mobile phone boxes

• Mobile soundbar from cups and toilet paper roll
  • material
  • Tool
  • Bastelanleitung
• Chips Can
  • material
  • Tool
  • Manual version 1
  • Manual variant 2
• For craftsmen: mobile soundbar made of wood
  • material
  • Tool
  • ingredients
  • sketch
  • building instructions
  • decoration
  • Unlimited possibilities

Not always the speakers of the smartphone are as powerful as you would like. Here are a few powerless ways to boost the volume of your phone, and also in pretty low-cost options.

If you do not have a Bluetooth boombox or the battery is dead, here are a few other options for building your own cell phone speakers.

From beginners to experienced craftsmen there is something for everyone.

Mobile soundbar from cups and toilet paper roll

For this small craft work, there is no prior knowledge and hardly manual skill required.

material

• two plastic cups
• a cardboard roll (kitchen paper or toilet paper)
• Decoration material, washi tape

Tool

• Carpet knife, cutter, scalpel, craft knife
• scissors
• Nail, thick needle
• Adhesive tape, hot glue gun

Bastelanleitung

Step 1: Measure the width of your smartphone and select a suitable cardboard tube. If the cardboard core of a toilet paper roll is no longer sufficient, the core of a kitchen roll also works. The cardboard roll should be at least 8 cm wider than your cell phone.

Step 2: Mark the center of the tube and record the width and thickness of your mobile phone and then cut it out with either the cutter or a pair of scissors. Test if the phone fits in this gap - it should not have too much play for it to stand stably in it.

Step 3: Next, transfer the diameter of the cardboard tube to the side of the two cups.

Step 4: Cut the hole in a star shape. The resulting tabs give the tube later a stable grip and prevent slipping out of the tube.

Tip: With the nail make a hole in the middle of the drawn cutout, then you can better start with the scissors for cutting.

Step 5: When you have finished the cuts in both cups, the tube is now inserted into the respective hole. The cardboard tubes should be pushed in to about the middle of the cup. Make sure that the cut-out gap points upwards on the cardboard tube.

Step 6: Turn on the music on your smartphone and insert it into the cut out opening of the cardboard tube. After you're done looking forward to the great performance of your little DIY amplifier, you can now push the tube back and forth in the two cups to find the best sound for you.

Step 7: As soon as you like the sound, you can now fix the two cups on the cardboard tube. This can be done with hot glue, tape or decorative washi tape. On the one hand, this prevents the cups from falling off and, on the other, prevents the cardboard tube from twisting or tipping over with your mobile phone.

Tip: If you have a larger and therefore heavier smartphone, you should definitely pay attention to the stable and solid state of these speakers. You can attach the cups to a cardboard base (glue or staple gun).

Chips Can

material

• empty clean chips tube
• Corks or clothespins
• optional: decorative material

Tool

• ruler
• pen
• Cutter, craft knife or scissors
• Glue, hot glue

Manual version 1

Step 1: You cut a slot along the length of your chip box, according to the width and thickness of your smartphone.

Step 2: Remove the bottom of the can. Glue over sharp edges.

Step 3: Attach at least 4 feet to the can. To prevent rolling away.

Step 4: Now you can turn on the music on your phone and put it in the slot.

Tip: With two large yoghurt cups or yoghurt buckets, you can also replicate the speakers from above in a slightly larger size.

Manual variant 2

Step 1: Hold your mobile phone to the bottom of the chip can. Record the strength of the phone.

Step 2: Cut the marked strip as wide as your phone is wide. The phone should be easy to plug in.

Tip: When transferring directly (scrolling) with the ruler, add about 50% of the length. With a vernier caliper you can transfer the measure most accurately.

Step 3: Now attach the clips (alternatively also pieces of wood or Lego blocks, blocks of glued together ice sticks or old pins) to the bottom of the box so that it can not roll anymore. We took two clothespins as they are easy to attach and remove. So you can put these, after use in the can - cover on it - wrap up complete "Soundbar" and take with you.

optional Step 4: Decorate the can still according to your ideas, for example, make a holder for lighter or bottle opener to the side.

For craftsmen: mobile soundbar made of wood

material

• 3 equal sized wooden boards, the strength of one should not be much stronger than your smartphone
• wood glue

Tool

• Pencil, compass
• Jig saw / fretsaw / scroll saw / band saw
• Bench drill / drill / cordless screwdriver
• Hole saw / peeling drill
• File / Sandpaper
• Screw clamps or stable adhesive tape
• Safety equipment (glasses, ear protection, respiratory protection and possibly gloves)

ingredients

In essence, our cell phone soundbar consists only of components.

• Handyhalterung
• sound channel
• Loudspeaker opening

These three parts apply to connect:

Handyhalterung
The bracket needs to be wide enough for the widest smartphone to use it to fit comfortably. Be so deep that your phone has a good fit and does not tip out.

sound channel
The sound channel begins under the bracket and leads curved conical (funnel-shaped) to the speaker opening. Due to the curved shape, the sound waves reflect, which leads to their amplification and is the real secret or functioning of our "amplifier".

speaker
The speaker is actually just a circular opening, a hole into which the sound channel ends. Here comes out the "amplified" sound.

sketch

Step 1: These questions should be answered in advance.

• How wide is my phone ">

  Tip: For most cell phones, the speaker is either on the bottom or on the back also below. This part must be located in the housing of the current-free loudspeaker and ideally near the sound channel.

  Step 2: Decide which board the visible side, the middle part and which serves as a rump. So you can hide damaged areas or other unsightly places.

  Step 3: Make a sketch on a piece of paper and then transfer it to the board or draw directly on the middle part, because this is glued before you can see nothing more of the tracks later.

  building instructions

  Step 4: Lay the back side aside and place the middle one on the front board to protect it and tighten the two. Either with a screw clamp or fixed tape. For the next step, both boards must be exactly above each other and must not slip. This will give you a consistent hole and the drill edge will not fringe / break.

  

  Step 5: Drill a hole through both boards in the middle of the marked speaker opening, this will serve as a guide for the drill of the eg hole saw. With a standard hole saw, you should be able to drill through the first board completely and saw down the lower one. Then turn the boards and drill from the back through the opening. This will give you even holes.

  Tip: Pick up the cut parts if you need wheels for another DIY or DIY project.

  

  Step 6: Take the two boards apart again. Now cut out of the center board the other marked parts (smartphone holder and bell).

  

  Step 7: Deburr all parts and sand off the sawn edges with sandpaper so that no more wood fibers stick out.

  

  Step 8: Glue all three parts together with wood glue. Make sure that all boards are exactly on top of each other and then fix them with screw clamps.

  Tip: Always apply the glue first to the middle part because it only consists of the parts that need glue.

  Remove excess and leaking glue immediately and then allow the wood block to dry for the time prescribed on the glue.

  

  Step 9: When everything is dry, you can open the clamps again and do the first test run with your mobile phone. Please do not be scared, because the sound sounds a bit different. The sound quality is of course not comparable to a power amplifier, but the sound is already louder than that of the smartphone. And the bass and bass come out a little bit more.

  

  It is here that the individualism of the object, the DIY-feeling, the joy of home improvement and the knowledge of an energy source are less dependent on life.

  decoration

  Step 10: Now you can paint your paintbar, paint it, decorate it with a brandy paintbrush, pickle, spray, glue, transfer with the Potch technique images and sayings on the wood or just leave it as it is and look forward to how the wood evolved over time, through use, its own visual character.

  

  Unlimited possibilities

  You can let your imagination run wild while developing a concept. Every electroless wood amplifier for smartphones always consists of at least the three main parts. It also works with two loudspeaker openings, here then just two sound paths must be created.

  

  Tip: You can also use cut-out parts as a foot, for stabilization, or as a decorative element.

  We have shown you here only one of the simplest and probably fastest ways. With appropriate tools and experience you can create quite different shapes.