Orange Bluetooth Speaker

Today I'm going to show you how to build this Bluetooth speaker.

Using relatively inexpensive materials you can make a wireless speaker that will play your favorite music via Bluetooth!

- MDF
- Acrylic paint
- 2 x LED 3mm (charging and charged indicators)
- LED 5mm (connection indicator)
- Battery
- Wire for connections
- DW-CT14+ Module
- Charging module (to charge the battery safely)
- Speakers
- ON/OFF switch
- Old belt

Building the speaker box is the most difficult part of this project. I designed the box on the computer, printed it on labels and stick it on the MDF as a template to make it easier to cut.

You can download the template here: Template

MDF was not the best option because it is not very strong, I advise you to use solid wood of any type or plywood. MDF works but with another type of wood, work will be easier.

The box is glued together using also wood pins to improve the strength of the structure. The back of the box is not glued, it will be screwed in order to have the possibility of opening the box for repair or updating.

To fill the imperfections, make a mixture of sawdust with wood glue (if you follow the measures right you shouldn't have to use that much). For best results use the sawdust from the wood you are using for the box.

Drill a 5mm hole for the status LED and sand the entire box until smooth. If you used a little mixture of sawdust with wood glue, sanding will be easy, if you used a lot of mixture because you have a lot of imperfections in your box, then you have a lot of hard work ahead... I spent a lot of time sanding...

Time to deal with the back of the box!

In order to have access to the inside of the box after the speaker is finished, I decided to use machine screws and threaded nuts. It is in this situation that MDF is definitely not the best choice. When inserting the threaded nuts the MDF gave way ... I ended up solving it with a mixture of sawdust and wood glue ... Always learning ...

Drill the holes for the speakers and let's paint!

I decided to use acrylic paint, it might not be ideal for MDF but it was the type of paint I had in the color I wanted, fluorescent orange! MDF is very porous and for that reason I used white acrylic paint as a primer and it took three coats to have a homogeneous painting. To contrast, the back was painted black and in my opinion it looks good!

For the handle I decided to recycle an old belt that I cut to size and with a hole punch I made the holes for the screws. It is always good to recycle, but recycling in style is something fantastic!

For this speaker I used the DW-CT14 + stereo module which has 5 Watts per channel. I know it doesn't sound like much, but 10 Watts of sound is more than enough to hear loud music in a medium-sized room. Maybe to use outside the power is not enough, but for indoor use it is good! This module can be powered by a USB charger or a battery. I used a 700mAh battery that was intended for a DS4 but will power the Bluetooth speaker. This battery is likely to be replaced with one with a higher capacity...

I changed the smd status LED to a 5mm one to be able to see the status of the speaker on the front. I also replaced the smd LEDs on the battery charging module with 3mm LEDs.

I made a small MDF board where the on / off switch, the USB input for charging and the LED's charge indicators will be inserted.

You can use any type of speakers for this project, in this case I used car speakers that match the color of the box!

Let's assemble the electronic parts!
This assembly is very easy and does not require any special skills. If you know how to solder with tin and use a hot glue gun, you don't need anything else!

All connections are identified in the modules so I don't need to be explaining how to connect. Only pay attention to the polarities so you don't fry everything!

This speaker works great!
The range of Bluetooth is very good and the sound quality, although it could be better, is very satisfactory. I use it often and I recognize that the battery needs to be replaced with a higher capacity one.

In the video you can see all the steps of the construction of this Bluetooth speaker.

I hope you like this project and if you decide to make a speaker following this instructable please share!