Portal Speakers

[d_stilgar]

A Big Bump.

I thought I had a thread with a part 2 of this build but I cant find it, so I'm just going to post it here. Enjoy the necro thread.

First, I will add one more video of the subwoofer. I had fun with this. I know you are all thinking that I should play “Still Alive.” I promise, it will come when the entire speaker project is over. For now, enjoy shelf shaking sub-brating goodness.



The speakers in the end are going to look like GlaDos Eyes. I hoped in the beginning that I could just find some spheres that were the right size and mod them, but I never found anything that looked like it was going to work. I eventually stumbled across this project over at partsexpress.com, which is where I got all the parts for the subwoofer. The project explained how he made the spheres. I calculated that with my 2.75inch speaker drivers that I would want the spheres to be between six and seven inches in diameter. Sadly, I could not for the life of me find a candle mold that size. This of course meant one thing, I get to make my own mold.

I went to Fred Meyer (I hate Wal-Mart) and got a ball. I came home and mixed up some paper mache, which consisted of 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup water, and 4oz of Elmer’s Glue.

I then ripped up the day’s paper and put about five layers on. This was fun and messy.

After it dried I made a template for a rim that would go around the circumference of the sphere.

And cut it out and glued it around the middle.

To add strength as a mold, I then put fiberglass over what I had.

Here are the two halves after the fiberglass and rims are added. They are only clamped together, they are seperate halves. Eventually I will cut a hole in one and it will be the hole through which I slush cast some Tufcal, which is a plaster which is fiber reinforced to reduce chipping. The speakers will eventually be mounted to the plaster spheres.

Next up I have one of the speakers on top of the mold for a size reference. I will compare this to one of GlaDos’ eyes and perhaps you can get an idea of the eventual final product.

[d_stilgar]

My TufCal arrived and I went to slush cast some speakers. Sadly, however, I could not get my homemade mold water tight. I had clamps and vaseline and a shower liner ring cut out to help, but it didn’t work. Plaster spilled everywhere. I was irritated and took a week off to think about things. After that week I knew that if I had neoprine that I could make it waterproof, but I decided that I could go another direction.

I went back to Fred Meyer’s and got two more balls, each one the same size. I then proceeded to fiberglass both balls completely. Each ball would serve as its own mold completely and would then remain part of the final speaker. The ball on the left has not been cut open yet.

The ball on the right was cut open with a 2.75inch hole saw. I removed the ball and glued in some PVC pipe. The plaster will be poured right into the opening. I calculated that ~5 cups of plaster will yield me ~0.75inches of plaster in the inside. That is perfect.

From this point I will be able to pour the plaster right in the opening and turn the sphere without having to seal the hole. The pipe is above the water line, so the plaster will never be able to pour out, even when the ball is upside down. Now I don’t have to worry about making the stupid thing water tight. The plaster will cure as I spin the ball, creating an even coat on the inside. This technique is called slush casting. I made a very fancy diagram showing how the ball can be upside down without spilling the plaster. Don’t laugh . . .haha.

Here is the TufCal. It’s a good plaster and resists chipping because of fibers in it. It cost about $75 shipped for a 50lb bag. I slowly sifted 2.5 cups of plaster mix into 2 cups of hot water, then stirred. About a minute later I poured the plaster into the mold and began to spin. It worked. No spills, just drips. The results were great. It set up in under 10 minutes. Hot water does the trick for a quick set.

Just like normal plaster.

The next two pics show one ball with the plaster cast and set, and one without. The plaster adds a few pounds. I’ll measure later. You know what they say; if it is heavy, it must be expensive!

A closeup of the inside. Nice and even!

After completing one shere, I quickly did the other. It went equally well and I am pleased. The artsy part of this, the fun part, will be equally difficult I fear. From here on out I have to make this thing look good. Wish me luck!

[d_stilgar]

After using fiberglass for the first time, and having a less than perfect time of it, I was worried about bondo. However, almost all modders talk about how easy it is to use. I hoped for the best and mixed some up. It went on well enough. It was horribly uneven, but it’s supposed to sand relatively easily, so I didn’t worry. Here’s a pic of one of the speaker enclosures with unsanded bondo, and one after being bondoed and sanded.

After sanding both spheres, I decided that I needed more bondo to fill in the valleys. I hoped that I would get a more perfect sphere the second time around. Here are the sanded balls ready for more bondo.

I sanded the balls again. The results were nothing short of amazing. Making a sphere is hard, and these aren’t prefect yet, but I am now confidant that they are perfectable. With much work these will become two of GlaDos eyes. I’m excited, and I should be. One more month ’til completion? That’s what I’ll aim for, but it could be two.

[d_stilgar]

I uploaded these videos to youtube last week and, like the busy person I am, am only now posting them to the site. I still can’t find the camera I used to take progress pics. I’m sure it is at my parents house somewhere. I’ll find it when I go home again. For now, I just have some videos of the speakers and subwoofer together. I’ll do a video tour of the speakers, sub, and new apartment soon. For now, enjoy the videos.

A triumph.


Outkast. The song is called “Intro” from the album “Speakerboxx”


I’m open to requests. Have any?

[d_stilgar]

In 2011 I finally got back to this build after a three year break. I got married at the end of 2008 and lost the camera that had some important progress shots on it (Sculpting the sides). My wife and I moved three times in our first year of marriage. We didn't have any money and I didn't have much space to work on anything.

But in 2011 she said I should finally finish them. We had bought a place and it was summer vacation from University.

The first thing I did was cut some pieces from sheet styrene for the attachment bits on the morality cores. These were sculpted freestyle and needed to mask some imperfections in the spheres, so there was no point making a precise template.

I glued them on the speakers and filled in the gaps with model putty.

From here I painted them. Sorry, no big progress images of that, but here's an image of the speakers completed.

And here they are up on my desk at the time of completion (2011). The sub was on the desk just for the photo. It's normally on the floor.

And here are some videos:

[OvRiDe]

Nice job! Glad to see you got a chance to finish them up. They look great!

[TheMainMan]

That was one pretty EPIC saga! Thanks for sharing the final results, I remember following along back in the early parts so it was nice to see the final result.

That makes me think... I think I have a few worklogs myself that I should finish up. Hmmm.