DIY Headphones Project

Hello and welcome to Joshua and Lemuel's DIY headphones project.

2 Sandpaper

175 cm of 28 Awg Copper wire

9V battery

3.5mm phone stereo plug

2 magnets

Paper Cup

Pencil/Sharpie

Electric Tape

Step 1: Gather materials

When making headphones, you’ll need the materials listed above. In your headphones, you have your diaphragm. Inside of your diaphragm is a voice coil that is in front of a permanent magnet. When your headphone is plugged into your phone or computer it sends electricity through your headphones. This electric current turns the coil into a temporary magnet or electromagnet. When the electricity flows through the wire, the electromagnet will either attract or repel the permanent magnet. This makes the coil move back and forth, which pulls and pushes the diaphragm. This movement in the diaphragm creates vibrations, which create the sound waves your ears receive when listening to music. The more coils you have in your headphones, the more the magnetic fields are strengthened. The more the magnetic fields are strengthened the more the diaphragm is pushed and pulled by the voice coil, creating a louder volume. In the speaker, the spider allows the vibrations to only go two directions and the dust cap protects the inner mechanics from dust and other materials.

Step 2: Start coiling

Wire coiling is a major part in headphones. The coil needs to be formed into a circle, to have a space for your magnet. A way to do that is to wrap the wire around a pen, pencil, or sharpie, depending on your magnets size. We wrapped the coil around the sharpie about 120 times for a larger sound. After the coil is wrapped around the sharpie, pull it from the wire slowly off the side of the sharpie, so that the wire remains in its circular form. Make sure the coil is tight, so that the vibrations are stronger. After you are done coiling, sand at least 4 cm on each end of the wire. Sanding is an important part in this process because it conducts the electric current when put through the terminals. This method may need to be repeated a few times for prototyping, each time, using something with a different diameter.

Step 3: Attach the coil to the cup with tape and a magnet

The coil needs to be attached to the back to a cup in order to produce a noise. It moves the vibrations into a controlled area. The way to attach them it to tape the coil to the back of the cup, underneath it, with a magnet in the center of the coil. A magnet should also be placed inside the cup, so that the headphones are properly magnetized/magnetic.

Step 4: Connect wire to the phone stereo plug

When connecting the wire to the plug, you want to get the wire through each of the terminals. The wire should be wrapped around it at least two times. This enables the electricity to flow through the wire and create sound waves, producing sound.