We’ve always felt that sections of PVC pipe from the home improvement store are a criminally underutilized construction material, and it looks like [Troy Proffitt] feels the same way. Rather than trying to entirely 3D print the enclosure for his recently completed portable Bluetooth speaker, he combined printed parts with a piece of four inch pipe from the Home Depot.
While using PVC pipe naturally means your final hardware will have a distinctly cylindrical look, it does provide compelling advantages over trying to print the entire thing. For one, printing an enclosure this large would have taken hours or potentially even days. But by limiting the printed parts to accessories like the face plate, handle, and caps, [Troy] reduced that time considerably. Of course, even if you’re not in a rush, it’s worth mentioning that a PVC pipe will be far stronger than anything your desktop FDM printer is likely to squirt out.
[Troy] provides links for all the hardware he used, such as the speakers, tweeters, and the Bluetooth audio board itself. The system is powered by an 1800 mAh 3S RC-style battery pack that he says lasts for hours, though he also links to a wall adapter that can be used if you don’t mind being tethered. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like he has any internal shots of the build, but given the relatively short parts list, we imagine it’s all fairly straightforward inside.
While this is certainly a respectable looking build considering it started life in the plumbing aisle, we have to admit that we’ve seen some portable Bluetooth speakers with fully 3D printed enclosures in the past that looked absolutely phenomenal. The tradeoff seems pretty clear: reuse existing materials to save time, print them if you don’t mind reinventing the wheel occasionally.
The main benefit of printing the whole thing is if you’re going to have custom acoustics or nonstandard layout.
there’s a rather interesting PVC and 3d-printed connector thingie in the background of the “fully printed speaker” link. I think that’s a good way to use PVC and 3d printing together.
This seems arbitrary, the PVC roundness gets in the way rather than being exploited – speakers are round…
The ends of the pipe have speakers on them in addition to the speakers that can be seen in the picture HAD posted.
Practically the same build as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOhqnu7CmTE
Bluetooth speakers are portable but not reliable. I think AC driven audio systems are better. I have a Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers which is ac adopter driven I am using it since 10 years. Can a Bluetooth speaker serve for 10 years?? Even analog audio is better I have a National Panasonic 1970s tape recorder and some cassettes working good still today. I think too much tech advancements has reduced relability of audio systems.
What in the world are you talking about?
YABS (Yet Another Bluetooth Speaker)