Introduction: Retro Bluetooth Boombox

Entirely the convenience of the 2010's, all the style of the 90's- this bluetooth boombox is the life of the party. With a 3D printing machine and some time spent finishing with the proper colour scheme, you too can political party like it's 1991.

All the parts are 3D printed or optical maser cut, but you could do everything with a 3D printer. The bluetooth speaker is a deconstructed BOSEbuild, but some bluetooth speaker system components would work.

Learn a live demo of this project! Check out this video on of the webinar I hosted on July 11th 2022 to watch Maine design and render the style of this boombox in Fusion 360.

Step 1: Tools + Materials

3D Printing

  1. I expend a Prusa I3Mk3S for only about everything. It's the best slap for your shoot, in my opinion- very well made, 3D printable replacement parts, precise and reliable.

  2. Filament: I used ASA for this project, but PLA will work just fine.

Paint + Finish

  1. Spray Paint: I victimized Montana Gold, but any spray paint will do. You could also just manipulation colored PLA.
  2. 220 Gritstone Sandpaper: This is used between coats of rouge to start out a smooth show u

Electronics + Hardware

  1. Bluetooth Speaker system: For the bluetooth speaker I used a BOSEbuild Cube because they gave us matchless to play with and IT sounds really good. Any bluetooth Speaker will make out Eastern Samoa mindful A you're volitional to design the enclosure so that it fits the parts.
  2. Barrage: I added a 12V rechargeable shelling as a power source. It charges fast, the charger has an LED indicator to let you know when information technology's charged, and it drives this sturdy speaker with no trouble.
  3. Male DC Power Terminal: This connects the power line from the battery to the bluetooth Speaker controller.
  4. Female DC Poer Terminal (elbow): This part connects the bluetooth loudspeaker controller to the barrage fire pack. The design has the controller facing frontward with a photographic plate in front of it, so this will motive to be clipped down to fit.
  5. M3 Political machine Screws: All of the fastening is through with with M3 10mm machine screws. You can probably find them cheaper connected Amazon, just I used McMaster Carr because information technology's so easy to insert the simulation into Fusion and order it there.

Step 2: Contrive

To design anything, you've got to start with precedents. I remembered the boombox I had when I was a kid- boxlike, big speakers, retractile handle, controls on the front... I was nowhere near as air-cooled American Samoa the kid in the painting below, but this is the theme I'm going for. I spent some time looking around online for pictures of old boomboxes and got a comprehensive idea of promotions, shapes, features, etc.

Wild Way

Source

There's no point in just making a copy of a 90's boombox and putting bluetooth components in it. Why would it be that large-scale? Why not just bowel an old one and set the parts in it? Where's the playfulness in that? I wanted to conception something myself.

The next thing I needed to get a handle on was graphics and colors. Two sources came to mind as the authors of the quintessential 80's-90's aesthetic.

Keith Haring

Prototype credit: The Keith Haring Foundation

This roast was a seriously prolific, seriously prestigious creative person at the time. You've seen his work all over the place without knowing it. Lots of the great unwashe were influenced by him, and his trend quickly became the criterion of art, graphic design, and all kinds of media.

Memphis Group

Origin

Lastly, the Memphis Group gets the credit for creating the quintessential design aesthetic of the 80's and 90's. Bright contrasting colours, busy patterns, arbitrary shapes, and a general sense of sport and playfulness are the general theme here.

I started with few quick sketches to get the general idea down. Bose gave us a BOSEbuild cube to play with, so I know the design would have a single speaker.

Step 3: 3D Molding

I did the whole thing in Fusion 360 (just like everything other I design and make). I'll be doing a live webinar along molding and interlingual rendition this project if you neediness to learn more. Check our Facebook foliate for updates!

  1. .F3D Files: These are Fusion 360 archive files. To usage them, click upload in the Information Panel in Fusion and they bequeath open as a native file away.
  2. .STL Files: These are ready-to-mark exported parts. You'll need to black and white the "inside cover" split up doubly- these are the caps that sustenance the handle connected to the shell.
  3. .DXF Files: These are the 2D vector files for the front and back covers. You can use these to laser cut these parts OR cut them past hand if you desire, but I've also included STLs of these parts if all you've got is a 3D printing machine.

Step 4: 3D Print

The parts whol fit on a Makerbot Replicator 2 progress plate. I used Simplify 3D to slice the models. Whatever slicer you use pee-pee sure to turn on support structures for the shell part.

The size up of the largest take off (the trounce) is 250mm X 140mm X 100mm.

I laser cut my front and back covers, just you can do these on a 3D printer using the STL files I enclosed for them.

Step 5: Prime the Parts

Now for the finishes! This is usually the nearly time consuming part of a project. The first stone's throw is e'er to prime the areas to be artificial. Primer gives you a neutral base color to work with (white in the case) and it gives the spray paint a surface to adhere to. Ever peak first!

As you can see in the video, I've put masking tape over that parts that I Don River't want to paint. These include the inside of the vanquis, the cavities on the inside of the handle, and the inside cover pieces except for the little fleck that will be seen when the handle is up.

I utilize MTN Gold spray paint for pretty much everything because it's piddle based (keep your VOC's, thank you very much) and the colors look awesome.

I used "Dolphins" (teal) "Unclouded Magenta" and "Shock Cowardly". These pay back a triadic colouring material scheme meaning the three main colors used are equidistant from each other connected the color wheel. This color scheme was finished the place in the 80's-90's.

I also old Chrome for the shell and the sides of the handle to bring IT back to the illustration metallic finish happening the old boomboxes.

Step 6: Paint First Coat

As with priming, I try to use best practices to dumbfound a nice even coat. Here are the rules of thumb:

  1. Hold the can 6"-10" away from the surface when painting. If you get too close the rouge will pool and ruining the land up. If you get too far aside it will turn into sticky junk happening the surface.
  2. Blusher in a sweeping motility, start the spray away from the part, end the spray away from the part. Sometimes when you thrust the tip, the paint will splatter a trifle in the beginning because of excess rouge being in the tube or happening the nozzle, so you want to make sure that splatter doesn't progress the part.
  3. Allow the paint to dry earlier sanding or applying additional coats. Sanding adhesive paint will ruin the surface, and painting wet blusher will make the key coagulate and make the surface rippled.

Step 7: Guts

I used 220 sand between coats for this project, but if you want to eff wish a pro, stride up in the grit size between coats. Start with 220, then 300, then 320, then 400, etc. If you take your time with this, you can get unbelievable finish quality.

Step 8: Paint Second Coat

With the flatware paint through, I practical many making tape over the silver sides of the handle so I could practice a two-tone last thereon. I secondhand a razor blade to get clean edges between the colours.

Step 9: Glue Handle Parts

First, the handles need to be fastened to the plate. To practise this, I just removed the tape on the in spite of appearanc covers, slid the handle onto the casing, and then glued and clamped them to the cavities on the inside of the handle.

Step 10: Assemble

  1. Punt Plate
  2. Front Plate Lower
  3. Bezel
  4. Battery
  5. Presence Plate Upper berth
  6. M3 X 10mm Screws
  7. World power Cable
  8. BOSEbuild Speaker
  9. BOSEbuild Speaker Control
  10. Chassis + Handle

The husk is designed with nut pockets on the movement, but the holes are small enough that you can just thread the screws into the plastic. I secondhand a 3mm tap to tap the holes to make sure the screws had good purchase.

The utterer and comptroller come in side-by-slope with the speaker connected the right. There's a adjourn in the shell that keeps the parts in place. The bezel has two holes in it that let the backs of the utterer and controller poke out. The cable has to be blocked into the front end of the control earlier the bezel is screwed connected.

The cable is the only part that's soldered. The male terminal has screw terminals on IT and the female elbow joint terminal has solder terminals. I left off the moldable address for the female terminal and cut off the longest part of the + solder terminal so it would fit behind the front panel.

Next, I added the electric battery and the plunk for panel. The battery has an input and and output built in, soh I just plugged the output into the cable from the controller. The charging input goes into the hole in the back panel. I used a olive-sized hot glue to livelihood it in place, and I used double-sided tape to maintain the battery in put down. The battery has a switch that I made a hole in the panel for as well.

The front panel is pretty straightforward except for the buttons. The easiest means to suffice this is to press the slider onto the slider on the accountant first- information technology will stay in situ. The buttons should be inserted into the front cover charge and held in place while the covers are arranged happening the shell. They will be held in situ by the buttons on the restrainer.

Step 11: Adorn and Rock Out

I made any vinyl stickers supported Keith Haring paintings to pull the design in concert.

Overall it sounds great and people bang the look. The hole in the front lets you connect an AUX cable just in case you want to listen to your Walkman.

1 Person Made This Project!

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