Hello first post here. I wanted to share my experiences in making a 3D printed magnetostatic speaker.
I started this project about 2 months ago after watching some videos about audio amplifiers and the guy mentioned planar speakers. I had to look them up after hearing about them and found they seemed somewhat easy to DIY.
Some of the desire to do this DIY project is around wanting to use a 3D printer. Learning a little about CAD and just a passion for electronics and sound.
I started this by watching several videos in this channel on youtube YouTube
using some of the principals from this channel I started designing my speaker and acquiring the parts needed (it is very difficult to find mylar and aluminum wire)
my first designs used channels for the magnets to sit in, after seeing how powerful the magnets I got were I thought it would be better to use something more similar to tunnels. This design would ensure that I would have no problems with the magnets moving around.
after 3D printing a few prototypes and making a few mistakes with both my design and 3D printer I finally got a frame that would work. Some of the 3D prints did not work because they warped. There is only a 1 millimeter gap between the top of the tunnels and the outside of the frame and even a small amount of warping made the frame unusable.
I used a contact cement to glue the mylar to the frame and so far have not had any issues, seems like the mylar is pretty well attached.
I had a really hard time winding or lacing the wire onto the frame. originally I was going to wrap the wire around posts on the outside of the frame but, I changed my mind and tried to put the wires through holes in the frame almost like lacing a shoe. I think I will go back to the posts but I feel like there is some better way to do this.
I also ended up breaking the wire while lacing the wire onto the frame. I was going to put around 100ft of 22 gauge aluminum but probably only got 30 ft or so. I was figuring the 100ft would give me about 5 ohms impedance but I measured what I did get on at only .6 ohms so I put a small resister in line with the wire.
The tunnel design made it rather easy to put the magnets into the frame, simply slide them down the tunnel. I tried to 3D print some stoppers to hold the magnets into the frame but they didnt work right, the PLA used in 3D printing shrinks a lot which makes it difficult to make things that will fit just right. I ended up just using some small nails in the end of the tunnel to hold them in.
I got it all put together and hooked it up to my HT receiver and almost to my surprise it worked!!!
I also posted a video on youtube talking about it. YouTube
you can also find my design on OnShape at
Onshape
also feel free to ask any questions
I started this project about 2 months ago after watching some videos about audio amplifiers and the guy mentioned planar speakers. I had to look them up after hearing about them and found they seemed somewhat easy to DIY.
Some of the desire to do this DIY project is around wanting to use a 3D printer. Learning a little about CAD and just a passion for electronics and sound.
I started this by watching several videos in this channel on youtube YouTube
using some of the principals from this channel I started designing my speaker and acquiring the parts needed (it is very difficult to find mylar and aluminum wire)
my first designs used channels for the magnets to sit in, after seeing how powerful the magnets I got were I thought it would be better to use something more similar to tunnels. This design would ensure that I would have no problems with the magnets moving around.
after 3D printing a few prototypes and making a few mistakes with both my design and 3D printer I finally got a frame that would work. Some of the 3D prints did not work because they warped. There is only a 1 millimeter gap between the top of the tunnels and the outside of the frame and even a small amount of warping made the frame unusable.
I used a contact cement to glue the mylar to the frame and so far have not had any issues, seems like the mylar is pretty well attached.
I had a really hard time winding or lacing the wire onto the frame. originally I was going to wrap the wire around posts on the outside of the frame but, I changed my mind and tried to put the wires through holes in the frame almost like lacing a shoe. I think I will go back to the posts but I feel like there is some better way to do this.
I also ended up breaking the wire while lacing the wire onto the frame. I was going to put around 100ft of 22 gauge aluminum but probably only got 30 ft or so. I was figuring the 100ft would give me about 5 ohms impedance but I measured what I did get on at only .6 ohms so I put a small resister in line with the wire.
The tunnel design made it rather easy to put the magnets into the frame, simply slide them down the tunnel. I tried to 3D print some stoppers to hold the magnets into the frame but they didnt work right, the PLA used in 3D printing shrinks a lot which makes it difficult to make things that will fit just right. I ended up just using some small nails in the end of the tunnel to hold them in.
I got it all put together and hooked it up to my HT receiver and almost to my surprise it worked!!!
I also posted a video on youtube talking about it. YouTube
you can also find my design on OnShape at
Onshape
also feel free to ask any questions
I did make a video of it in action YouTube
I did not take any measurements of it yet, while I would like to know some of its performance characteristics I have other directions I would like to take it.
I would like to get rid of using regular wire and replace it with aluminum foil traces of sorts. This should make the diaphragm much lighter as well as making the whole thing look a bit prettier.
I need to learn/figure out how to use OnShape better but I would like to also make the speaker curved a bit. The current speakers sound is very directional and I am thinking some slight curves would help this
I did not take any measurements of it yet, while I would like to know some of its performance characteristics I have other directions I would like to take it.
I would like to get rid of using regular wire and replace it with aluminum foil traces of sorts. This should make the diaphragm much lighter as well as making the whole thing look a bit prettier.
I need to learn/figure out how to use OnShape better but I would like to also make the speaker curved a bit. The current speakers sound is very directional and I am thinking some slight curves would help this
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