Category: woodworking

Bluetooth Speaker – Update

Bluetooth Speaker Project

We need a bluetooth speaker for the outside by the pool and I have also wanted one to use inside the house as well. This one is 90% complete and since I have two speakers I am sure another one will follow. I still need to find what I am going to use for front and back grills. I may settle for some black material on a frame for the front and some aluminum grill for the back. In the meantime at least it is ready to go!

IMG 9806

My bluetooth speaker

IMG 9665

cutting up the sides

I had a long scrap of wood from another project, so with the power miter saw I made quick work of the sides. 

IMG 9669

With the sides and square inner pieces cut it was time for some gluing. I used a couple of brads to help hold it together while the glue dried. 

IMG 9674

A little sanding to smooth things out. I also had to use a little putty to fill in a couple of small gaps. 

IMG 9711

I used my rotary cutter to make the hole for the speaker. It needed a little help to get the speaker ears to fit in just right. I have no idea what that PVC pipe is up there for, save the fact that I was working on the pool at the time. 

IMG 9731

Here I have things wired up. I didn’t have any barrel power connectors or even screw down terminals, but I didn’t have the parts from an old Apple Airport to get 12V power to the amp/USB board. As for the bluetooth/amp board there is no outstanding reason for picking it. I did some research on them as there are quite a few out there. I need something that would obviously deal with Bluetooth, again all of them were pretty much about the same, but I expected that. This board had the TI TPA3110D2 as the amp chip. I dug up the data sheet on it and it seemed to fit the bill for what I was looking for, a good amp chip and being able to deal with up to 20W for the speaker. 

IMG 9735

With a few brass standoffs, I mounted power plug and the board to the back of the speaker. The parts do face out the back of the speaker. In my thinking it makes it easy to replace anything if it were to burn out or I wanted to replace it. And I didn’t want the magnet to interfere with the board. 

Somewhere in here I stopped taking pictures, oops. In leu of pictures I will give you a quick wrap-up. I stained all of the parts with 2 coats. It didn’t come out as quite as dark as hoped, but it still looks good. Then I mounted the speaker on the front wood insert I made. I connected the wires to it and secured the back panel. 

It works well! It is not audiophile quality, but it has a nice sound all around. The Chinese lady’s voice they used to tell you it is on and connecting still makes me giggle a bit every time I use it. 

A.D.D. has kicked in

I have been busy with 4 different projects, one done and the rest coming along. I seem to bounce back and forth as I ponder over some design flaws and possible solutions. Which usually leads to a “hey let’s do this too” moment, I like to call it my Shiny Penny Syndrome. It works for me. 

Click on the project title to to the that projects link if you wish. 

Bluetooth Speaker

We need a bluetooth speaker for the outside by the pool and I have also wanted one to use inside the house as well. This one is 90% complete. I still need to find what I am going to use for front and back grills. I may settle for some black material on a frame for the front and some aluminum grill for the back. In the meantime at least it is ready to go!

 

IMG 9806

Volumio Case

While the Volumio is up and working in the family room downstairs, I am still working on the case for the setup. I have the idea firmly in my head. I have the case hollowed out. I need to find a way to get down to the bottom and clean and smooth the bottom. it is too small to work it with any chisel I have. I was thinking of upping the RPMs on my drill press and using the drill bit to clean it out. We’ll see, I still have a little research to do on this one. 

  

IMG 9863

Arduino CNC experiment

My goal here is to have a larger CNC mill, a real one, that can handle wood and soft metal like Al and brass. While I usually like to jump into a project with both feet, I have learned and bit by over enthusiasm in the past. I have read quite a few builds using old DVD drives, the LM293, and an Arduino to make a simple X / Y potter (the Z axis raises and lowers the pencil). I have the X axis works, the Z axis servo works when it feels like it (so much for the cheap micro servos in the intro kit. Time to scavenge from an old RC car tonight). The Y axis just grinds at me, so I need to dig into it here tonight and get it moving, literally. 

IMG 9871

RetroPie

This is one that was downloaded, installed, configured, setup with 2 controllers, an old LCD monitor, and it has been hard to find to time to play with it myself. That is OK it is being well used. I have an audio DAC for the Pi 3 some old monitor speaks to mate with it. I have been searching for a case idea. The cases one can purchase are well – so so, do in a pinch, rather not spend money on one, will the HAT fit? As I pondered and searched, I stumbled upon an old Game Cube for sale on eBay (9 bucks right now, don’t bid on it please) and it looks like it will do the trick quite nicely. Integrated power supply, spaces for controllers / USB ports, and about the right size. I hesitated when I click on bidding for it, but as time goes and I read some, it should work quite nicely. Stay tuned for where this one ends up. 

Tempest Spinner

Since the RetroPie is up and going, I have been playing some Tempest, my ALL time favorite arcade game; but it just isn’t right playing it with a controller, keyboard, or mouse. One really must have a spinner for the real experience. I have looked for them online, but they are rather pricey (upwards of $70.00) so I have been looking into making my own. I have the box of parts and my notes in line. I will find some time one night when nothing else interests me 😉 I guess you will just have to check back on this one to see how it goes. 

 

 

 

Bluetooth Speaker

Bluetooth Speaker Project

We need a bluetooth speaker for the outside by the pool and I have also wanted one to use inside the house as well. This one is 90% complete. I still need to find what I am going to use for front and back grills. I may settle for some black material on a frame for the front and some aluminum grill for the back. In the meantime at least it is ready to go!

IMG 9806

IMG 9665

IMG 9669

IMG 9674

IMG 9711

IMG 9731

IMG 9735

Divine Muse

I have been dragging around these chunks of cherry for more than I care to remember, but I have been keeping them for a project. I have bee stewing about a case for mi Pi Audio Streamer. 

I had the garage door open a few days ago and pulled these out and started to look at them. Huh, a cherry case would be nice, look classy, and with a custom volume knob and single power light. . . ideas started to flow. How thin to cut the sheets? Joint them? Glue them? 

Fullsizeoutput 99eFullsizeoutput 99f

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up grabbing the skinner of the two. It has some interesting grain to it. 

IMG 9542

I cut three sections from the good end of the chunk. I still have the rest as there is some solid wood hidden in there and it might come in handy yet. Sorry the color is a little off but it was getting to be later in the afternoon. 

Fullsizeoutput 9a0

 

I have my sections of wood and I have the inside of it drawn out. My plan is to hollow out a section for the Pi and knob, I will get the drawing posted up here soon, but until then. . . 

A pleasant distraction

About a week ago an idea stuck in my head of what to do with some of the spare Jimmy wood I had laying around. Jimmy is a brother of mine who works at a manufacturing shop here in town. The wood he gets comes from the tops of the crates which they receive their parts. They are pretty nice (really nice considering they are free) and I had used most of the them to panel the walls in the basement, but I become distracted. 

Since I had some left over and always looking for new spaces to put books, I figured why not a bookcase! Alright, game on. I stewed over the idea that night. Goal one, a bookshelf, goal two, use the wood on hand, goal three keep it simple and sturdy. Simple is important as my table saw is down for the count. I still have the circular which served me well. After that I admit to working on the fly. 

IMG 9142

I made the size simple, the length of the longer boards I have for the outside frame, and the shelves. I cut shorter sections of boards to go in between the shelves. I wanted to add some strength and give it a look of bulk and sturdiness. 

IMG 9143

IMG 9144

It took most of the morning to finish. I still need to sand off some of the marks and peal a sticker I have missed, but not bad looking. And best of all, ready to display a little more of our library. 

IMG 9146

IMG 9150