Curved Steel Headphone Stand

I first came up with the idea for this curved headphone stand after visiting the Design Museum in London and seeing the beautiful designs for curved wood furniture, and took inspiration by designing the bar of the headphone stand as a single piece of curved metal.

I was able to visualize my idea and finalize dimensions by designing a model in Autodesk Fusion 360 and creating the technical drawings directly in Fusion 360 from the 3D model using the 3D to Drawing tools, which made bringing the design to reality a very easy process. I printed the drawings and used them as reference when shaping the headphone stand. I would suggest printing off a version of the drawings to help compare when forging the bar.

This set of instructions will show you how to cut, forge and curve the metal properly and shape the wood. The entire project takes around 3 hours in total (1 hour in the forge, 2 hours in the workshop).

I've included all the dimensions in the technical drawing I made with Autodesk Fusion 360 at the top of this Instructable. The thickness of the final headphone stand bar is 2 mm (from a starting thickness of 3.3 mm) because of the compression from hammering the bar into shape.

Materials:

1. 3.3 mm x 20 mm x 650 mm mild steel bar (I cut down from a bar roughly 2 m of length)
2. 140 mm x 155 mm x 15 mm Meranti wood block (although you can use any wood you like, I just prefer the look of Meranti)

PPE: Heat resistant gloves, eye/face protection and heat resistant apron

Equipment for each Stage:

1. Cutting Metal: Metal Cutting Bandsaw or Angle Grinder
2. Forging: Gas, coal or induction forge
3. Metal Shaping: Anvil, hammer, pliers, 50 mm bar
4. Grinding and Sanding: Belt Grinder, sanding paper
5. Cutting and Shaping Wood: Saw, drill, chisel, sanding paper
6. Assembly: Clamp and Hammer
7. Wood Finishing: Boiled Linseed Oil

Mark the mild steel bar at 650 mm and cut out one bar at 650 mm. I used a metal cutting bandsaw to cut the bar to size, but alternatively you could use an angle grinder. Always be sure to wear the correct PPE (eye protection and gloves).

Preheat the forge to around 1000 °C (this should take around 30 minutes). I am using a gas forge but alternatively you could use a coal forge or an induction forge.

Place the metal bar into the forge so that it is halfway through for the middle of the bar to get hot enough for the initial bend (this should take around 5 minutes once the forge is hot enough). Be sure to wear heat resistant gloves and use pliers anywhere near the entrance to the forge.

To start, take the bar out of the forge and bend it around the middle using the curved part of an anvil to start to shape out the head shape. Once the two end pieces are parallel and the head piece has a diameter of around 160 mm, place it back in the forge for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, take the bar back out again and shape the two end pieces of the bar by gently tapping and pressing with a hammer and the flat part of the anvil until they are roughly 50 mm apart (it is useful to have a scale reference drawing to compare with, just make sure not to accidentally set it on fire!). After this return it to the forge again.

After heating for 5 minutes, take the bar back out of the forge using one set of pliers for each end. Twist each of the end pieces by holding the other end piece still until the end pieces are perpendicular to the headpiece and parallel with each other. By now the metal will have lost heat so place it back into the forge for 5 minutes.

After heating for 5 minutes, fix a metal bar 50 mm thick to the anvil to set the distance between the 2 endpieces by using a hammer and bending to fit tightly around the 50 mm bar.

Fix any imperfections by cross comparing with a reference drawing and hammering out until the metal is symmetrical and even. Once the bar is finished, remove it from the forge and leave it to cool for 20 minutes before the next step.

Use a belt grinder to grind away the scale (black flakey substance that forms on the outside of the metal) and remove imperfections. Some of the angles are hard to get due to the curves in the headpiece, so the headpiece will need to use different parts of the belt grinder to hit all the spots.

After belt grinding is complete and the headpiece is smooth, use sandpaper of varying grits to remove any other imperfections and smooth over the edges.

From a wood block (I used Meranti) of dimensions 140 mm x 155 mm x 15 mm, draw an ellipse of height 140 mm and width 155 mm. Remove the corners using a saw, then use a drill with a sanding bit to remove additional material near the corners to attain an ellipse shape.

To create the 2 mm x 20 mm slots that will connect the base to the headpiece, use a 2 mm drill bit to drill a series of holes in a 20 mm line 25 mm from the centre of the base (follow the technical drawings shown above). Then use a chisel to remove the material in between and connect the drill holes.

Once the slots have been added, use sandpaper of varying grits to make the base smooth before the next step.

To assemble the headpiece and the base, use a hammer to slot the end pieces into the slots in the wood made in the previous step. Due to curved shape of the headpiece, it is difficult to find a place to hammer, so attach a clamp very tightly about 30 mm above the end of the headpiece. Use a hammer to fit one end tightly into one of the slots, then reattach the clamp to the other end to fit it tightly in the other slot.

Ensure the base of the headphone stand is dry and clean, then gently rub boiled linseed oil (it must be boiled or else it will take very long to dry) all over the base. After 24 hours, the wood should be dry and the project is complete. Congratulations, you now have a fully functional curved steel headphone stand!

Thank you for reading this Instructable!