DIY Projector and Speaker

MEDIAART 1A03 - Project 2

Jude, Johnathan, Beatrice

Introduction

Our idea for our low-tech multimedia tool is to create a homemade projector with a speaker implemented using household items. The usefulness of the projector is meant to enhance an image or video, which would be projected onto a screen or wall. For the speaker, it amplifies the sound which is coming out of the technology. As a group, we recognized that it was not difficult to create these objects, though there were not many projectors which contained a speaker. Although most projectors have a speaker built in, the quality and sound is not as good as regular speakers. The idea was to take these technological items, and combine them to produce this projector with a speaker.

Idea and Inspiration 

The images above are the designs our group referred to for inspiration when coming up with our prototypes. There were no existing DIY projectors with a speaker to amplify the sound, allowing us to come up with the unique idea to combine the two.

Attempt to Replicate

Mini projector 1080HD. Amazon - $81.47

Fast Wireless Bluetooth Speaker. Amazon - $115.57

Our team's intention is to replicate the functions of the technology shown above, but at a much lower cost and with the use of commonly accessible materials.

Materials Used

Projector

• Smartphone 
• Marker 
• Magnifying glass ($1.25)
• Show box (x2)
• Knife 
• Hot glue gun
• Tape

Speakers

• Paper towel roll 
• Solo cups (x2)
• Knife 
• Marker

Total cost = $1.25

Step Process: Projector (Part 1)

Step 1: Break apart the magnifying glass to retrieve the magnifying lens

Step 2: Cut off the outside flaps of the shoe box

Step 3: With a marker, outline the size of the magnifying lens

Step 4: Cut out your outline from the previous step with a knife

Step 5: Hot glue the magnifying lens to the box on top of the cut out hole

Step 6: Cut out a sliver in top of the box for accessibility

Step Process: Projector (Part 2)

Step 1: Now to add an extension to the projector, make sure to have a second box of roughly the same width and height as the first box

Step 2: Cut a hole in the front of the second box 

Step 3: Unfold the lid of the first box and ensure that the triangular flaps at the back of the box are pointing outwards. This should result in the back of box #1 to be open

Depending on the type of box you are using, you may instead simply cut the back of the box off. If so, ignore the next step.

Step 4: Cut two sides at back of the box #2 for the triangular flaps to pass through

Projector Final Results

Instruction Manual

• Before inserting your phone into the projector, ensure that:
• Phone brightness is set to the maximum
• Phone orientation is set on lock
• Entertainment is open and put on pause
• Next, insert your phone through the open slip at the top, and set your phone at the back of the second box with the phone oriented upside down.
• To adjust the focus of the projected screen, you may have to slide box #1 forward or backwards depending on your distance. 
• The further the projector is from the wall, the closer the lens will have to be to the phone and vice versa. 
• Finally, hit play and enjoy!

Demonstration

Step Process: Speakers 

Step 1: Cut out holes in 2 solo cups (roughly the size of the circumference of the paper towel roll)

Step 2: Cut out a sliver in paper towel roll (roughly the length and width of the base of the smartphone)

Step 3: Insert both ends of the paper towel roll into the solo cups

Demonstration

Problems (Trials)

1. The cardboard was difficult to work with

    Due to the design of the shoebox, cutting into the shoebox was more difficult than anticipated. We had to work around the flaps and cut deep enough to pierce through two layers of cardboard. Especially since we were cutting out a circle, it was a tedious process to ensure that the hole was big enough for the glass.

2. Gluing the magnifying glass

    We used hot glue to secure the magnifying glass in place during the projector's construction as additional protection. Working with this type of glue is messy and we had to be precise to where we wanted our glass to go. We really had to take our time with the glue, ensuring that the box and magnifying glass were stuck together.

3. Box size 

    When testing out our projector, one of the main issues was the size of the shoebox we were using. Through many trials of moving the phone at different distances from the lens, and moving the projector at different distances from the wall, our image was never clear enough to make out what was being projected. This forced us to create an extension to the projector using a secondary box. In doing so, our projector could finally produce a clear image, but as a result we were forced to put the phone sideways instead of up straight, which in turn stopped us from integrating our speaker with the projector.

4. Brightness

   When testing our projector, an issue we encountered was that the brightness on the projected screen wasn’t as high as we had hoped. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do to solve this as this greatly revolved on the capabilities of the smartphone itself, and less on the actual design of the projector.

Conclusion

Our objective with this project was to create an easy to replicate, and affordable version of a high end projector with integrated speakers. During our creation process, we were able to effectively create both the projector and speaker individually, but our heavy adjustments to ensure that our projector worked made it so that our speaker could not be integrated with our projector. Our team tried to explore alternate ways in which we could integrate the speaker, but ultimately none of our attempts resulted in sound that was louder than the smartphone itself. In the end, we were still successful in creating a more affordable alternative of a high end projector and/or speaker. In the future, we hope to continue to refine this project so that we may create an efficient product which holds the characteristics of both the projector and the speaker.