This is called ferrofluid, basically, tiny nanometer sized particles coated with magnetite
and suspended in a transparent liquid.
And since they are magnetic, we can attract the liquid with a magnet and look how cool
is that.
So for today’s project I want to combine ferrofluid movement with music.
I’ve seen such a speaker online and I want to make one as well so we will have a Bluetooth
3D printed speaker with ferrofluid effects and futuristic look.
I will design and print the enclosure for the speaker, we select some good speakers
and we add a Bluetooth music receiver, we add some sort of supply and we also create
a simple circuit that will use the music to create magnetic movement and make the ferrofluid
dance and that should look awesome.
So guys, let’s get started.
What’s up my friends, welcome back.
For this project we have 3 parts.
Design and print the enclosure, select and make the music circuit with the amplifier
and all, and the third part is the magnetic control circuit of the ferrofluid.
So let’s start.
My design is made out of 3 main parts and some other smaller internal parts.
I’ve made my prints using the Ankermake M5 printer so I was able to finish the print
in half the time.
With my previous printers the printing time would have been around 24 hours for each big
part.
But using the fast mode of the Ankermaker, I was able to print the big part in less than
12 hours and the results are very good.
We have perfect layers and everything turned out as it should.
Oh, and by the way, at the end of each print I also get a cool time lapse automatically
made by the printer camera.
That’s cool to have, right.
Ok so the front part will have the ferrofluid.
I bought this fluid already with the bottle and that’s important.
But I also have this other one that comes only with ferrofluid but I don’t recommend
you try making your own transparent solution.
From what I’ve seen on the internet, Is quite difficult to get the perfect concentration
and for just a few more dollars, you can get the round flat bottle as well.
But don’t buy this other type.
Is not actually original ferrofluid, it looks more like iron dust inside some transparent
liquid and is actually very bad, and you can see how one looks like a liquid but the cheap
one looks like small bits of metal.
Is important for the bottle to be flat so it will fit better on my design and we could
see better the ferrofluid.
Through a round glass, there would be too much distortion so try using a flat bottle
like I did.
Around this bottle I’ve printed this part.
It is made out of translucent PLA.
That’s because I also want to add some LEDs inside so the light will also dance with the
rhythm of the music as well.
Then I’ve designed the middle part.
This will keep in place this electromagnet.
This is made to work with 24V and is quite powerful.
As you can see, when I connect it to voltage it will start moving the ferrofluid, so all
we have to do is to connect this to some sort of amplification circuit.
This electromagnet will go in the center of this 3D printed part.
This middle part also has spaces from two speakers, one on each side.
I’ve designed this in such a way that the speakers would have their own compartment
so the sound won't vibrate through the entire enclosure.
The other exit for the sound would be below here.
I’m not an audio expert so sorry if my speaker design is not the best.
Finally, the last main part will go on top and close the speaker enclosures.
As you can see, is made in such a way that these two parts are just a few mm off so they
will fit exactly on the speaker enclosures and close them.
So I have my design made out of these 3 parts.
The top part was printed using supports so make sure you activate the option when you
print it.
The Ankermake made an awesome job.
All I had to do was to slice the parts and send them to be printed directly from my PC
since this printer has a WIFI connection.
You can check the printing process from your phone if you want and when the process is
done, you get your time lapse.
As you can see, the parts look awesome.
And remember, this small part must be printed using translucent PLA so light could pass
through it.
So now I have the 3D parts, let’s check the rest of the parts that we need.
I went with these speakers.
Because I’ve used these modules for a previous 3D printed speaker and they work great.
As an amplifier I will use this one.
Is meant for dual channel and works with a voltage up to 26V so that’s great.
I want to supply this entire speaker with 24V because that’s the voltage of the electromagnet.
For that I have this supply of 24V but it can only deliver 2 amps of current.
The electromagnet would only use around 500mA so we still have 1.5A to use with the Audio
amplifier.
That might give me some problems and I might need to order a more powerful supply.
We will see.
To add light to the project, I will use these 12V white LEDs.
To make it withstand the 24V supply, I will take out the current limiting resistors and
add new ones with double the value so 24V won't burn out the LEDs.
It would be nice to have a 24V LED strip but I don’t have one right now.
To make the electromagnet controller we only need a capacitor, two MOSFET transistors,
a BJT transistor, some resistors and a good heat dissipator so the MSOFETs won’t get
too hot.
And finally, to receive music, I will use this small Bluetooth audio receiver as I’ve
done for some other previous projects.
Together with all this we need screws, thread insertions, maybe some glue, wires and so
on.
Check the full part list on my website.
But this is pretty much everything we need.
Let’s assemble everything starting with the ferrofluid part.
Take the front 3D printed part and some insertion nuts.
You should add these using a soldering iron but I just realized the holes I’ve made
are too big.
So I had to use epoxy glue for the insertion nuts.
Now we can use M3 screws and fit in place the transparent part.
Here is where we add the ferrofluid bottle.
I’ve laced some double side tape inside so it won’t vibrate.
Now we have to add the LEDs around and I first added them like this but since I didn’t
like how the light looked, I then separated them into packs of 3 LEDs.
Then I’ve glued them inside pointing towards the bottle and since the support is translucent,
the light will pass to the bottle and make it look cooler, right?
Now we can place the middle part on top and close it using 8 M3 screws.
Make sure you pass the wires from the LEDs to the middle part before you close it with
screws.
Now, in the middle we add the electromagnet and glue it in place using some hot glue.
I connect it to 24V and it looks like it works ok.
Then we add the speakers on the side using screws.
Pass the wires to the interior of the enclosure.
Then we could fill the small box with some special cotton so we remove some vibrations
and unwanted resonances.
Now get this schematic from below and follow it for the audio connections.
To receive audio I will use as before, one of these Bluetooth Audio receivers that only
cost 2 dollars on AliExpress.
I only need this small PCB with wires connected to the outputs, battery, push buttons and
charging input.
I connect the left and right audio outputs to the Audio amplifier left and right input
pads.
I also solder two wires to the on and off push button so we could place that button
on the exterior of the speaker enclosure.
Then I add a bigger battery to the receiver so it would last longer.
To charge the battery I add this small buck converter for 5V from those 24V and that’s
it, check the full schematic for all the connections.
For the main input of 24V I will use this DC jack so I add it to the back of the 3D
printed case.
Then I also add the main switch and connected cables between them so now we could turn it
on and off.
Finally, I solder the simple circuit with the MOSFETs on a piece of prototyping PCB.
To this PCB we have to connect one channel from the Bluetooth Music receiver.
I connect that circuit to the electromagnet and also connect the amplifier to the speakers
and now everything is as in the schematic.
Now, all the connections are made so we could fix everything inside, but not before we give
it a test.
Connect 24V at the input and flip the toggle switch.
I play music from my smartphone and check the results.
And it works as expected.
So we can close the entire enclosure and give it the final touches.
I add 3 screws and the project is done.
Connect 24V and toggle the switch and then press the binding button.
Once the LED is blinking connect with your smartphone.
And there you go, here is another test.
So guys you have the full part list, the design for the 3D printed enclosure, the circuit
that I’ve made and everything you need on electronoobs.com so check the links below
for the tutorial page.
I hope you like this project and that you have learned something new.
If so, give me a like or comment below.
Thanks again and see you later guys.