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New projects - 3D printed monitor, solar power 12v

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Hemisphere View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hemisphere Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: New projects - 3D printed monitor, solar power 12v
    Posted: 04 July 2017 at 2:17pm
Hi,

I've been working on a whole bunch of projects recently, some of which may be of interest.

They've not been fully documented (partly time issues, partly tech issues), so to gauge relative interest before doing that I've compiled a brief summary, and archived up several gigs of raw/unsorted design documents, so as to open source their development.

All work is released under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 4.0 License, so you're welcome to use them accordingly - If you're not sure if your application is reasonable either PM me or e-mail jonathan at padr co uk. 

You may need an up-to-date version of Photoshop or 3D Studio Max to open some of these files.

Disclaimer: These are not production ready design files or anything close. They're flawed, work in progress designs in need of the attention of eyes and minds more expert than mine. They haven't been prototyped, only simulated. If you attempt to develop, modify, or assemble anything purely on the limited information provided here, I accept no liability for any WOFTAM.

Let me know if you're doing or thinking of doing anything similar to any of these. It'd be great to talk about it.


Projects
'Sunflower Stereo'
A high fidelity, high efficiency portable PA system. 
Dimensions/Weight: 22x38x90cm, 14kg. 
Tech specs: 250w 126dB SPL@1m -3dB points 58hz-20kHz 35w solar panel
Components used: 2x PHL 900 ND bass, 20x Sica 2,5 H 0.8 SL in stereo columns, 
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: 10-12mm plywood core (6mm on the midtop modules), compression moulded rubber exterior, steel or aluminium perforated grilles, acoustic foam + steel bar handles.
Project links:
 
'Aphelion'
A reference monitor.
Dimensions/Weight: 31x31x60cm, 24kg, 40kg including stand. 
Tech specs: 250w/500w with DSP, 112/115dB SPL@1m, -3dB points 30Hz-40kHz
Components used: Seas L26RO4Y 10" bass, Tangband W4-1337SDF 4" midrange, Fountek CD3.0 ribbon tweeter.
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: 3D printed composite panel construction, steel stamped grilles with CNC milled aluminium sheet edging and compression moulded rubber baffle edge protection.
Notes: Makes use of a proprietary technique in development for 3D printing at a much lower cost, allowing for relatively affordable large format printing of complex shapes. Sealed tapered tube loading on the midrange (100cm long tapered tube covering the 100Hz-4,000Hz band), as seen in B&W Nautilus.
Project links:

'Peapod'
A pocket sized, high output personal audio device with an expandable/modular design.
Dimensions/Weight: 15.1x7.3x3cm, 245g. 
Components used: Sica 2,5 H 0.8 SL
Tech specs: TBA
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: Early versions will use 3D printed parts, later versions may use injection moulded plastics, rubber and cast aluminium details.
Notes: Design files lost in disk crash. 
Project links: N/A

'MicroBass System'
A bass system to supplement the Peapod.
Dimensions/Weight: 33.5x20x13.5cm, 3.5kg. 
Tech specs: 5.25" driver, 93dB/1W@1m, bass extension to 60Hz, 100w, 113dB SPL@1m
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: 3D printed composite panel construction.
Notes: Design files lost in disk crash. 
Project links: N/A

'SystemLink'
A USB DAC and wired connectivity set.
Dimensions/Weight: 8x2.2x2.2cm, 20g. 
Tech specs: TBA
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: Early versions will use 3D printed parts and laser cut/engraved metal parts, later may use injection moulded rubber (TPA).
Notes: For portable speaker link-ups. Based around an Android/iOS powered USB soundcard hub.
Project links: 

'Eightball / Eightball Duo'
A low cost, DIY friendly solar powered mobile party speaker.
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: CNC cut plywood or MDF, screwed and glued
Project links:

'Ghostbuster Sub' (+ nested columns)
A full output PA system suitable for transportation by bike or handcart.
Dimensions/Weight: Varies, but generally about half the weight for the equivalent sized wooden box 
Tech specs: Varies 
Notes: Part of an ongoing series of experiments into fibreglass shell and foam core composite construction methods for loudspeaker enclosures, as well as the nesting column and horns arrangement featured in the Sunflower Stereo. The name indicates the unusually light weight of the cabinets.
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: Foam core and fibreglass shell composite construction
Project links:

'PA de Resistance'
Similar to the Ghostbuster system, only with larger events in mind.
Tech specs: In standard arrangement (two double bass bins, 7 splayed columns per stack), reaches 145dB per stack with bass from 35Hz.
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: Foam core and fibreglass shell composite construction or CNC cut plywood/mdf
Notes: Doubled up bass bins and large splayed column arrays for the mids and a central column for the high end. 
Project links:

'Li'l Jammer'
High fidelity, high output lightweight busking amp.
Dimensions/Weight: 32x16x9cm, 4.2kg. 
Tech specs: 113dB total output, bass extension to 80Hz.
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: Early versions may be 3D printed, later injection moulded plastic. Rear panel in CNC routed aluminium sheet.
Notes: Design files lost in disk crash. Polemount receptacle for suitability as a personal monitor or compact PA system. 
Project links: N/A

'3D Printed Coaxial System'
Installation friendly minimalist PA system.
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: 3D printed composite panel construction.
Notes: 8" Volt coaxials on rear ported tapered sphere enclosures and an optional 18" subwoofer to supplement the low end. A relatively easy project for anyone with access to an FDM 3D printer.
Project links:

'One Sheet Solar Cinema'
A mobile PA system + cinema.
Dimensions/Weight: 15kg. 
Tech specs: 250w, 100w solar panels, 35ah battery
Materials / Manufacturing processes used: CNC cut 6mm plywood or MDF, screwed and glued.
Notes: Powered through batteries and solar power. 
 Incorporates subwoofer, two polemounted stereo tops, screen, and waterproof lockable transportation and storage box, cut from a single sheet of 6mm ply or MDF (doubled up to 12mm on the sub).
Project links:

There's no documentation provided with this release. It just hasn't been practical at this time to put it all together as a presentation. There are more projects of interest not yet listed, due to a disk crash a couple of years back where several years worth of design documents were lost (a motor failed inside the disk). Recovery is possible, but expensive!
 
If you find this content useful or informative, and would like to see these projects developed further or see more like this in the future, consider donating to the fund for recovering that data, and for renewing/upgrading various software licenses and hardware so that work may continue. A more comprehensive and regularly updated description of these works along with further background info and image galleries is available on the funding page. https://www.gofundme.com/creativemaintenance

If you'd like to see more of anything in particular, or know more about any element of these projects, let me know specifically which and I'll expand as best as I'm able.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VECTORDJ Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 July 2017 at 7:40pm
Hi, Tried fiberglass over stiff foam to make  a 8 " speaker box. Came out messy and was a lot of work. DIY rubber, poured in rubber, or roto molded box??? Anything but plywood. Ideas?   VECTORSONICS 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hemisphere Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 July 2017 at 10:09pm
Quote Tried fiberglass over stiff foam to make  a 8 " speaker box. Came out messy and was a lot of work
Yes, that's been my experience as well (a 2x12 + CD horn box with 25mm XPS and 2 layers of 200gsm glass on each surface).

It isn't anything to look at, but it performs brilliantly despite the mess and the workload. There are some spectacular (and very well documented) builds on the Talkbass forums, (the 'Zaclite' cabinet and some others). I tried making a little 1x5" + dome box with the same method and it was fiddly and didn't work out so well.

The sheer efficiency and output of a proper 2x12 cabinet in under 10kg is more than worth it for the flexibility. Stick it on a cart (or just a carry handle) and take it anywhere.

I'm a novice builder but I found the foam and glass had a really high fudge factor. Perhaps it was easier because I was making a very large box. Expect to do loads of sanding and filling, and over-invest in safety equipment and disposable gloves, disposable brushes, etc. One of the hardest parts is mounting the driver. You can either insert a plywood ring to the baffle or there are some screw thread options, which are really fiddly.

There's a lot of room for improvement and optimisation in foam and glass build methods, but it's always going to be a labour of love for a personal application or one-off specialist commission. If you build it well it'll last forever. It's a popular method on the Talkbass forums because they're mostly gigging musicians there, and they want a 2x10/12/15 cabinet which they can lug around with them to gigs. 

Quote DIY rubber, poured in rubber, or roto molded box???
A box entirely made of rubber or coated in it? I don't understand the question. Roto molded boxes are interesting, but the tooling costs are astronomical. I was looking at some by Bell Acoustics at Prosound+Light 2016. At first I thought it was a foam/glass construction they were using!


The way I see rubber being useful in cabinet design is as a shell to add over the top of the plywood, as a more durable alternative to paint. It would need to be applied in at least three segments for a square box - a top part, a bottom part and a wrap around the edges. The cost is theoretically comparable to premium coatings like Line-X. Depends how you do it and in what quantities. There are lots of ways to do rubber. I've heard compression moulding tooling costs are low and produce quality results, but certainly not DIY low. There may be viable DIY options but not that I'm familiar with.

One of the biggest obstacles with any sort of large rubber moulding or casting is tolerance. At the size of a speaker box, the tolerance could be 1cm +/- or more. A possible workaround for this is to take advantage of the elasticity of the rubber. To router grooves into the surface to be coated, and mould corresponding tongues into the rubber, and to physically force the parts to mate together.


Edited by Hemisphere - 05 July 2017 at 10:17pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote darkmatter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 July 2017 at 11:34am
Really interesting projects and thanks for sharing. I want to ask a load of questions but most of them could be answered by me installing 3DS and Photoshop, so I won't ask them since I'm just being lazy LOL


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hemisphere Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 July 2017 at 11:47am
Don't let that stop you. The actual files are a nightmare to find anything in, and I need to document these more thoroughly. The question will probably be something I didn't think of or forgot, or that I wanted to talk about anyway.

Edited by Hemisphere - 06 July 2017 at 11:48am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote darkmatter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 July 2017 at 12:32pm
Cool, just didn't want to bore you with menial questions as you've clearly put a huge amount of work into this already!

I'm interested in the bass loading in the sunflower - are they reflex or is there something fancy going on? Do you already have an idea of what battery, PSU (if required) and amp/DSP you'd be using? I've played around with similar design ideas in terms of the mid-tops nesting inside the sub, though I was erring towards more 'default' mid tops rather than a 'mini line array'. I ended up reaching the conclusion that something like the Eightball configuration was probably more optimal so never really developed the idea.

In the Aphelion, which driver is which? Just curious as it looks like the ribbon is off the vertical axis but I might've misunderstood the configuration.


Edited by darkmatter - 06 July 2017 at 12:32pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hemisphere Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 July 2017 at 1:27pm
They look something like this inside. It's the same sort of loading used in the Beyma SB12, but scaled down (Not literally scaled down! Properly modelled in Hornresp but I haven't got the sims to hand). That's what I based it on, then tweaked the internal layout and sims until it worked.

The PHL 900ND is the key to making it work, which is unfortunate because it's very expensive for a 5" driver. 165 Euros with MOQ of 6 pieces. You can get them for 147 if you buy 10, and perhaps further discounts available still for higher numbers. They rate their xmax very conservatively, they used to have a graph up on the spec sheet which they took down, which showed it should be good for 9mm of excursion (18mm peak to peak) per the optimistic figures most manufacturers publish. 

The drivers can take around 110w each before going beyond that limit, if you high pass at 60Hz 

It models as 102.5dB/watt@1m at the most efficient point, with a -3dB point at 58Hz (102.5dB is +3dB). The internal volume is around 40 litres. Realistically you'll struggle to get more than 96-97dB/watt in the bass range with a 58Hz f3 in a 40 litre reflex box. You could get 99dB with two drivers but you'd lose low frequency extension. The 5 inch drivers also allow for a very slim profile box (20cm at the slimmest dimension). Although the SD of the drivers is low, they're at the high end of 5", almost 6", and the high xmax makes up for it. It works out equivalent to two 10" drivers with 3mm excursion.

Being horn loaded it also benefits greatly from boundary walls.

The 126dB assumes a pair of TPA3116 amps in PBTL (and 4ohm drivers, which aren't typically available so it's very theoretical). That's a lot of Watts for a battery system but I think any application which actually needs 126dB can also rustle up a larger external battery. 115.5dB with 20w would be very satisfactory for most applications though.

I've not given so much thought to the electronics, just enough to determine theoretical viability. There's an approximate layout and feature set for a rear panel. The difficulty with the electronics in that design is that there's very little space allocated for them. You can see it in the layout image I posted, it's a triangle of around 11.5x7cm, 17.5cm high. There's potential space for slim cell battery extensions on the underside.

So there's not a lot of flexibility for casual DIY if you want high power output, unless you want an external power box. The design could be adapted to be more DIY friendly if you didn't mind it being a bit larger.

Quote In the Aphelion, which driver is which? Just curious as it looks like the ribbon is off the vertical axis but I might've misunderstood the configuration.
The top 'driver' is a front firing bass port, the mid and high frequency are to the sides (HF on top). It just has a grille on the port to be confusing. Technically the tweeter is off the vertical axis by about 2cm, which isn't enough to cause any issues. It's an eccentricity resulting from the design balance (the three small grilles form a right angle - it just looks nicer like that).

It's looking like the ribbon tweeter may be off the cards anyway, due to Baffle edge diffraction issues. I hadn't accounted for the tweeter chassis itself being a 4" circular baffle which is a disaster for diffraction. It may be replaced by a ~1.5" dome behind an oversized grille with substantially transparent surround. That could be shifted a couple of cm to be perfectly on axis if it helped.


Edited by Hemisphere - 06 July 2017 at 1:38pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote darkmatter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 July 2017 at 5:44pm
Cheers for the additional info. Been interested in that Beyma design since seeing it in their design book but I never got round to simming it.

Seems you've struck a really good balance there. Whenever I look into the TI boards I get tempted by the higher power models e.g. TPA3251 / 3255. I have no eletronics knowledge so I'd be looking to use something like this as the basis - http://www.ti.com/tool/PMP11769. However it's very hard to justify the additional complexity (in terms of extra supply rails/PSU/battery requirements etc.) especially considering the downsides such as higher quiescent current. Always a case of rapidly diminishing returns. It generally seems that because of this, adding sensitivity is easier/more optimal than adding amp power.

Shame those PHLs are a bit pricey!

I came to the conclusion that using larger bass drivers in a dipole config (as per eightball) was generally better as you can use them to cover a wide bandwidth, making the most of the large sd drivers. That layout usually allows more space for electronics, plus construction lends the cab natural rigidity while also cancelling panel vibrations / the walking cabinet effect.

See what you mean about the ribbon. I can't think of a way to solve that without ruining the aesthetic (and obviously aesthetics are more important than SQ ha Wink).
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hemisphere Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 July 2017 at 6:42pm
Quote obviously aesthetics are more important than SQ
Obviously!

I think a lot of new design and manufacturing techniques are going to become more economically viable as time goes on, and there will be a lot of DIY potential there too, so it's good to think about how to use them and have the potential of each technique in mind, because occasionally that opens up possibilities which might not have been apparent when thinking with traditional methods.

3D printing FDM has fallen dramatically in price recently - I've seen it as low as 5p per cm3. If you have access to a printer yourself then the price could be even lower still. That's still 50 quid per kilo which is hardly cheap, but costs will fall further as the tech matures, and there's a lot of scope to be inventive - to use less printed material and bulk it out with cheaper post-processing materials, with wall cavity arrangements or treatments (fibreglass layers applied or Line-X surface spray, etc), so we could easily see a scenario emerging where people can print their own speakers, and other large complex objects, to whatever design they can find online, or create their own from a set of easy to follow guidelines, and to produce it economically, ecologically and durably, with minimal DIY experience.

Ecology is the biggest obstacle to address, as there's a sacrifice of economies of scale to make something yourself, when a factory could produce the same parts en masse using a much tighter method, but if you spend a little extra and put a little time to make what you're building personal, high quality enough to repair and maintain, and specified exactly to your needs, then even if it's twice or three times as wasteful a process, in the long run it works out better.
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