The Walls Have Ears

The Project prompt was to take an everyday 'working' object and rehouse the insides of the product. So for this, the product I chose to breakdown was my Sony MDR-V55 headphones. I did not want to buy another product for this project so I decided to go with something I already have and do not use. Hence the headphones.

I made this piece because I wanted to play on the words "The walls have ears" and catch the user's attention ny its very bright color and realistic looking shape of the ear. The Ear has a speaker taken from the Sony headphones and placed in the compartment behind the ear.

Step 1: The Teardown

The teardown is one of the two crucial process in the making of the Ear. We are to make sure that the speaker is not damaged while taking the headphones apart. If you have the Sony MDR-V55, the teardown images are attached.

Start by unscrewing all the screws on one side. All the components are easy to take out once unscrewed. Once the main speaker is opened, you will see that the components around the speaker will not completely come apart unless the wires connect to the PCB board is cut. Take a picture so as to know later which wire goes where. Now cut the wires and take everything apart. The main speaker component is glued to its plastic surrounding, but can be easily removed using a knife or any other sharp object.

Step 2: Solder It

Since you had to cut the wires, you will have to solder them back on. If this is your first time soldering, I recommend watching this attached link

Step 3: 3D Modeling and Printing

Once the soldering is done, it is time to print your ear model. I simply downloaded an ear file from grabcad and made changes like adding the chamber for the speaker at the back, a hole for the sound to go through, and extra fillets for smoother looks. It took me three hours on the CAD file and seven hours printing it.