00:00:09dollar really is too good to be true if
00:00:11you’re trying to make it with aluminum
00:00:13foil and a penny there’s a better way to
00:00:15do it
00:00:16so in this project we’re going to figure
00:00:17out exactly how to get this paper plate
00:00:19to make some noise the idea of making a
00:00:36speaker out of a paper plate is
00:00:38intriguing and to do it for under a buck
00:00:40is even better but first we have to
00:00:42understand how a speaker works i’ve
00:00:43still got these 8 ohm speakers from a TV
00:00:46i salvaged in previous video and i’ll
00:00:48sacrifice this one in the name of
00:00:49discovery i’ll use a utility knife to
00:00:52cut the cone away from the surround
00:00:53exposing the basket as well as this
00:00:55yellow diaphragm known as a spider I’ll
00:00:57cut through that and snip these two
00:00:59wires and I’m impressed at how simple a
00:01:01speaker really is the bottom of the
00:01:03basket is attached to a strong ceramic
00:01:05magnet with a hole just big enough to
00:01:07allow this voice coil to vibrate in oK
00:01:09we’ve got the basics now let’s see if we
00:01:11can make one we can use a foam bowl for
00:01:13the basket an 8 and 1/2 inch paper plate
00:01:15for the speaker cone 6 button magnets
00:01:18and a piece of printer paper to form the
00:01:20voice coil this brings our prorated cost
00:01:22to about 80 cents for the soon-to-be
00:01:24speaker but what about insulated copper
00:01:26wire that can be expensive and where do
00:01:28we get it well almost anything
00:01:30electronic will have some you just have
00:01:32to know where to look I know there’s
00:01:33some inside this old TV but I don’t have
00:01:35a sledgehammer to bust it open so I’m
00:01:37gonna have to get creative
00:01:41okay I’m down to the circuit boards and
00:01:42there’s the piece that I’m after a small
00:01:45audio transformer these things are
00:01:47packed tight with the perfect wire for
00:01:48this project I’ll use my pipe wrench
00:01:50pliers rip that off the board then use
00:01:52my bench vise to correct the ceramic
00:01:54casing off I’ll peel off the insulating
00:01:56tape and voila we’ve got ourselves a
00:01:58nice roll of insulated copper wire for
00:02:00free okay we’re ready to start building
00:02:02so let’s make the voice coil first start
00:02:05by cutting a few strips of paper and
00:02:06rolling them around the stack of magnets
00:02:08once we have a couple layers taped in
00:02:10place we can use a hot glue stick to
00:02:11help unravel some wire wrap the wire
00:02:14about 50 times and then use some hot
00:02:15glue to keep it in place when that’s
00:02:17cool we can pull the magnets in the
00:02:19inside layers of paper out leaving just
00:02:21this shell the voice coil is done but
00:02:23it’s too long so let’s snip it to size
00:02:25and then hot glue it to the bottom side
00:02:27of the paper plate while that’s drying
00:02:29we can cut some holes in the sides of
00:02:31the bowl to make it look more like a
00:02:32proper speaker basket the next step is
00:02:34to hot glue our magnet stack to the
00:02:36bottom and slide the coil over top to
00:02:38see how it fits it moves freely because
00:02:40of the gap we made earlier and it’s
00:02:42looking good
00:02:42so now we can hot glue the plate to the
00:02:44bowl and hit it with a little spray
00:02:45paint for aesthetics when the paint
00:02:48dries there’s only one thing left to do
00:02:50and that’s remove the coating from the
00:02:51ends of the wires so I’ll do that with a
00:02:53lighter okay it’s ready for a test so
00:02:55I’m hooking it up to my TV with some
00:02:57alligator clips to see what happens well
00:03:00there you go
00:03:00our $0.80 speaker is working and if a
00:03:03paper plate speaker for less than a
00:03:04dollar really is too good to be true
00:03:06then we can call this part of the myth
00:03:08on busted but it’s not very loud the
00:03:11magnets are cheap and weak so let’s try
00:03:13something stronger I’ve got a super
00:03:15strong one-inch and 48 neodymium magnet
00:03:18I just got in the mail we can roll that
00:03:20up and add some 26 gauge wire that came
00:03:22out of a sump pump motor and hot glue to
00:03:24secure it the magnet and inner layers
00:03:26come out and the paper gets trimmed to
00:03:28size hot glue that to the plate and glue
00:03:30the lead wires right about here this
00:03:32time let’s use another plate as our base
00:03:34and these markings are for some supports
00:03:36we’ll need to build those can be made
00:03:38out of a third plate just by trimming
00:03:39out the bottom fold
00:03:41accordion-style and cutting into two
00:03:42pieces I’m gluing them to our base plate
00:03:45with the feet facing inward and these
00:03:46will act as a type of shock absorber for
00:03:48the speaker plate now we can add some
00:03:50glue to the tops and join them to the
00:03:52plate making sure the coil is over top
00:03:54the magnet a quick manual test and it
00:03:56seems a suspension on this is perfect
00:03:58I’ll burn the coating off the tips the
00:04:00wires and now it’s time to test this one
00:04:02out I’m disconnecting the external
00:04:03speakers from my TV and using these
00:04:05alligator clips to connect the leads to
00:04:07our plate I’m anxious to see how the
00:04:09paper plate does with a stronger magnet
00:04:12for this project I’ll meet my neighbor
00:04:15Trevor gave me these okay I pick up
00:04:17anything that’s pretty impressive I’ll
00:04:19use this one raising to think that all
00:04:20that sound is coming from this flimsy
00:04:22little plate but it is just for fun I’m
00:04:25gonna pour in some water to see what
00:04:26happens
00:04:33and that’s probably the coolest thing
00:04:35I’ve seen all day
00:04:36well that was a fun project we
00:04:38unbustable living room that’s it for now
00:04:42if you like this project perhaps you’ll
00:04:44like some of my others check them out at
00:04:46the king of random calm
00:04:52[Music]
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