IPod Dock

Everyone needs a speaker in their room to listen to music. Rather than looking to buy one that suits you; design and make it yourself.

Step 1: Design

The design is based on an Art Deco style and is made from multiple layers of plywood to give a striped effect to the outside edges of the dock.

Acoustics

After brief research into design features that could improve sound quality, I found that an elongated sound path may help.To follow this I attempted to replicate the Bose wave-guide technology by creating convoluted tubes throughout the dock from the back of the speakers

Power

The dock is made to be portable and used either in your room or anywhere else. It therefore utilises a 9v battery that is recharged via USB, enabling it to be charged in a wide range of ways e.g. laptop...

Step 2: Making

Cutting

To create my design it was helpful to have access to a laser cutter since I'm not too accurate using (or have much patience for) hand saws.

The burned edges from the laser that will be left exposed are sanded down. The inside of the larger circles and smaller surfaces are sanded using a rotary tool and the larger surfaces with an orbital sander when all the layers were glued together

Components

All components are contained internally,the speakers were a little loose so needed to be held in place with hot glue.

The 30 pin dock was originally intended to be located on the front face, but proved to difficult to incorporate wiring alongside other internal components so was relocated to the top which I believe looks better than originally designed.

To secure the dock into its respective layer I first tried resin, but this didn't work and destroyed the connector! As an alternative I used Sugru which worked brilliantly and provides greater flexibility to reduce the chance of any damage to either my phone or the dock when connecting/removing it.

Sticking together

I engraved layer numbers and cut holes for dowels in each corner to help get all the pieces in the right order and straight edges aligned when gluing

Step 3: Finishing

To add a finish to the wood I applied multiple layers of beeswax to give a smooth polished appearance and to give some protection against any moisture it may come into contact with. Rubber feet were also added to raise it from the surface it is sat on.

The front is cut from clear acrylic and spaced from the face using polished aluminium tubing at different lengths to give a tiered effect when screwed on. The acrylic is countersunk so the screws are flush with the front surface.

Step 4: Final Product

Overall I think that the dock has turned out well. I had also incorporated a handle in the back to help the aspect of portability.

Improvements

• It could be a lighter if I removed some material that is not essential from within the layers
• A aux input jack could be added to widen the range of devices it can be used with