Soundwave Bluetooth Speaker

Ever want your music-player in the shape of your favorite music-playing bot? You aren't alone! Can't afford the one Hasbro just released? You still aren't alone! Decide you might as well just make your own? Well, you are in the right place my friend!

This is a bluetooth speaker, modeled after the iconic Decepticon communications officer Soundwave. I made this project for my Principles of Engineering class, and to make something cool inspired by one of my favorite Transformers character.

This project is meant for those with at least a little experience in CAD. No electronics experience or coding required.

All character licensing goes to Hasbro. Please don't sue me.

Hardware:

1. 4 Ohm Speakers x2
2. Bluetooth module x1
3. 18650 Batteries x2
4. Battery Holder x2
5. Charging Board x1
6. Boost Convertor x1
7. Push Buttons x1 (5 individual pieces needed)
8. Side switch x1
9. M3x10 screws
10. M3 lock nuts
11. Jumper wires
12. Power jack

You can use other parts instead, but these are the ones I used. It is highly encouraged to buy a different boost convertor, however. Mine sucked. If you do end up buying the same one, look through the reviews for help on getting it to actually work.

Make sure your bluetooth module needs to support button functions if you want to be able to control the songs you play on the speaker itself. If you don't care for that, any bluetooth module will work. It'll definitely be cheaper. If you use non-rechargeable batteries, you do not need a charging board.

After I ordered and assembled everything, I realized that the bluetooth module output (50W) is actually higher than the speaker output ratings (30W). This does cause some audio and performance issues, and is probably damaging to my equipment, so when buying your materials please keep that in mind.

Software:

1. CAD program: I used Fusion 360, however any other program (ex. OnShape) will work just fine
2. Slicer program: Use whatever is compatible with your 3D printer

Machinery/Other Supplies:

1. 3D Printer: everything outside of electronics is 3D printed in this project. I used a Prusa MK4, but any printer that has a big enough build plate will work
2. Soldering iron
3. Solder
4. Wires
5. Heat shrink (use electrical tape as replacement if needed)
6. Voltmeter/multimeter
7. Hot glue gun

First plan out how big you want your speaker to be, and make sure it can fit all your electronics. My speaker ended up being 8cm x 20.5cm x 11.5 mm, with a bit of extra space for more breathing room. Plan the layout of your electronics early, so you have an idea of where to make all the cutouts.

Start by making a basic rectangular prism for each face of your speaker. From there, add the cutouts for all the components you need.

The cutouts I made:

1. charging port (back)
2. power switch (back)
3. speaker (side)
4. push button pins (front)

Then, add screw holes on each plate. Make sure they all connect and line up properly. Make an assembly file first and check their positions if needed.

Below are the files I made.

This is where the creativity starts! You can add whatever details to your base plates. This project just happened to be modeled after Soundwave, and a mix of many versions of him at that. Just make sure that whatever details you add don't cover the screw holes, and that you have screws long enough to still reach the connecting plate.

Note that this is in no way "good" CAD practices. I don't know how half of my sketches are defined and there are a lot of dimensions. I apologize for that.

Here's how to add detailing to your plates:

1. Create sketch on the surface you want to add details to
2. Draw whatever detail you want to add. You can use the spline tool or arc tool for curves, but for my design I mostly had straight lines and boxes, so I mainly used the line tool.
3. Extrude areas that you want protruding or indented. Two to three times your 3D printer's layer height is a good value for small details. Obviously don't follow this rule if you are adding on to your base plate instead of detailing it. The value I mostly used was 0.4mm.

Once you are happy with your design, send it off to your 3D printer. Apply glue to your build plate to prevent warping, especially as rectangular prisms are not the most warp-friendly shapes.

These are the designs I ended up with. If you want to remix my design, going off of the base plates will probably be easier for you.

There are multiple sections of random rectangles and borders on the bottom base plate. Those are slots for electronic boards, to hold them in place. However, hot glue will also work nicely.

Transformers did start as a toy line, so I decided to make my speaker a bit more fun by adding some features, including his sound canon and his chest cavity, where he holds his cassette bots.

The cutouts for these parts are included in the completed design files. The sound canon is inserted through the hexagonal hole on the top plate. The trigger mechanism goes through the slot on the front plate.

For the cassette tray, insert two pieces of 1.75mm filament into the hinge hole, then press it into the front plate. Push the trigger mechanism all the way down, close the cassette tray, then pull the trigger mechanism back up to secure the tray's position. If your tray doesn't open or close easily, try sanding the top edges down a little bit, afterwards it should close smoother.

You will need a 3D printed spring for the trigger of the cassette tray. I recommend JMakes3D's customizable spring, which is also what I used. I created a little box for the spring below the inserted trigger using cardboard and attached everything with hot glue. You can definitely edit the front plate file to make a box of your own, but I got lazy, so cardboard it is.

The buttons are just covers for the pushbuttons that will control your audio output on the actual speaker.

The files I used are attached below.

This project involves zero code, and everything is connected and secured with soldering. I had minimal electronics experience before this project, so there are probably more efficient ways to do this. However, this method works, so that's at least something.

I wanted the speaker controls to be on the front of the speaker, so I took off the original push buttons attached to the bluetooth module. The buttons will be connected in the Final Assembly step.

Before we get started, a few safety notes:

1. Keep your room ventilated when soldering. Use a fume extractor if you have one
2. Do NOT be an idiot (like me) and solder near flammable materials
3. Put in batteries AFTER you finish soldering. Take them out after you finished testing voltage. Your soldering iron is very much conductive and lithium ion batteries are not like AAs
4. Use common sense. Don't burn yourself, try not to blow a board, etc, etc.

The above safety notes are definitely not compiled based on personal experience.

The components I bought all had their inputs and outputs labelled clearly. I put my two 18650 batteries in parallel, and connected both wires to their respective pads on the charging board. From the charging board output I connected wires to the boost convertor. Once again, use the customer reviews to help you figure out how to use the board if you get stuck. Before you connect to the next board, use a multimeter to measure the output voltage. Adjust the output to anywhere between 8-20V by turning the brass screw on the blue box on your board.

Once your boost convertor has a steady output voltage within the correct range, connect the negative wire of the power jack to its corresponding pad. Connect a wire from the positive output pad to one outer leg of your power switch, then connect the positive wire of the power jack to the middle leg of the switch. Measure the output voltage of your power jack to make sure your switch actually works (To measure: positive lead inside the power jack, negative on the outer wall).

Plug your power jack into its connector on the bluetooth module, ensuring that the positive wire is towards the middle of the board, and the negative wire is closer to the edge of the board. If you look at the board from the connectors side, your red wire is towards the right and the black wire is towards the left.

Connect your speakers to their respective slot on the bluetooth module. If your wires are too thin to be secured properly by the screw terminals, directly solder them onto the exposed pins on the bottom of the board. Make sure your soldering onto the right pins.

Once all connections are done and secure, put in your batteries, flip your switch, and hope, I mean see, your bluetooth module light up and beep! You should see your board pop up on your phone, under "Other Devices" in Bluetooth. Mine showed up as shaibang. Connect your board and test your speakers.

This is mostly an intermediate step before you start painting. Assemble all the plates you printed out first, testing to see if your holes line up in real life, if your tolerances worked out, and whether or not the size and design of your speaker is to your liking. If some parts don't line up, go back and change your files now. You want to make sure everything is a-okay before you start pouring your heart out when painting.

Ignore the painted sides in the attached picture. It's a bad example.

More time for creativity to shine! Paint your Soundwave in Blaster colors! Make it Shattered Glass Soundwave! Make it rainbow! Anything goes! You can completely forgo this step if you like the filament color you used, or if you used an AMS to print it in multicolor to begin with.

For those who did decide to paint, here is what I did.

I used acrylic paint and a paintbrush, both of which you can get from your local arts and crafts store. The colors I used are:

1. Royal Navy (000080)
2. Primary Blue (0000FF)
3. Slate Grey (708090)
4. Red Flash Rogue Brilliant (5126CA)
5. Venetian Gold (B39142)

I chose to not sand my surfaces, and I also did not use a primer. Instead, I took a spare color of paint that I did not need and applied a few coats onto all the surfaces I wanted to paint. Try using a lighter base paint to make your life easier.

I used a Legacy toy line Soundwave as a color reference, painting the majority of the body royal navy and slate grey, then applying further details with the other colors.

I then designed a G1 inspired Decepticon insignia, which I made into a sticker and printed on a Roland SG2-540. You can paint his insignia on, or draw it on a piece of paper and then stick it on. The results did look quite like the reference, and I was happy with the colors.

If you printed the additional playable features, make sure to paint those as well.

Assemble just your front and side plates together first. Then, attach your speakers to each side plate, using lock nuts to secure their positions. Load all remaining electronics onto the bottom plate, then slide the bottom plate in between the half-box you already created. Secure the bottom plate.

Now comes the sketch parts. Have your soldering iron on hand in case a connection breaks. A good way to make sure you know when something breaks while you're assembling is to keep the speakers on and playing while you work, so if a connection breaks you will know.

Carefully insert pushbuttons through the front plate and into the pins. Attach a wire to each push button pin, and connect them onto the pads corresponding to each button function on the bluetooth module. Make sure the wires are on the diagonals of the pad. Test your buttons before finishing assembly.

Hot glue your power switch onto its corresponding cutout. Screw in the back plate, making sure that the charging port is aligned with its cutout. Then install the trigger mechanism, and finally the top plate. Insert your cassette tray in, then glue your button covers onto your pushbuttons.

After assembly, test everything again to make sure nothing broke on the way.

Congratulations, you now have a Soundwave speaker! Enjoy getting brainwashed by the... sound waves!

This project was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot along the way. There was a lot of trouble shooting involved in the electronics portion of the project, but eventually finding the issue and getting the circuit to work was rewarding and satisfying. I'm excited to be using this speaker when I go out with family or friends.