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It took me awhile to get this project finally rolling mostly due to parts
availability, but it is finally here!
The old design did not have a proper charging ability, nor did it allow to use
headphones in passive wired mode. It only allowed an initial installation
and was too fragile for further improvement or even simple tinkering (we'll
try to fix that).
The list of tools and materials will be a little longer than for original build.
There will be also an additional step to prepare a PCB to house the BLK-
MD-SPK unit.
Parts:
• 1mm wire
• Single-sided PCB
• Soldering flux (preferably residue-free)
• Solder wire
• Solder wick
• Electrical tape
• Hot glue + dispenser (optional)
• 2mm LEDs (red x 1, blue x 1) (optional)
• Iron (III) Chloride or Sodium Persulfate
• Acetone or acetone-based nail polish remover
Depending on which parts you already have and which distributor you get
your parts from the total cost of this project may vary from as low as
$10.00 to approximately $20.00 in worst case (tools not included).
PCB for this project will be made using toner-transfer technique, but any
alternative(e.g. photoresist) will suffice.
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Step 2: PCB
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There are many ways to make a custom PCB at home. If you are an
electronics enthusiast - you probably already have everything at hand. If
not, you can easily purchase everything online including chemicals.
This was the first time I made a custom PCB, so I can tell from personal
experience that it is very easy. The entire process takes at most 40
minutes, so if you mess something up - you can always start from square
one.
• Laser printer
• Clothes iron
• Soldering iron
• Solder wick
• Small plastic or glass container
• Small drill or grinder
MATERIALS:
• Single-sided PCB
• Glossy paper (magazine page is your best option)
• Acetone
Basically the entire process consists of the following steps:
Before you start - make sure all paths on PCB are connected. Any small
flaws can be fixed with a thin black marker. Sharpie might be a bit too thick,
so the best option for thin path correction is a 0.4mm marker pen, which
you can get in any office supply store. Short-circuit spots can be corrected
with an XActo knife, scalpel or a regular needle.
Normally the entire process takes about 20 minutes. Faster if you have a
hotplate to maintain the temperature.
When etching is finished you can remove the toner with acetone and clean
the PCB afterwards with a paper towel or a napkin.
Then cover the surface with soldering flux and start covering copper tracks
with solder. Soldering wick is very helpful for tasks like these, because it
allows to spread solder evenly, without leaving significant bumps or
damaging thin copper lines with excessive heat.
You can solder a bluetooth module to PCB with either soldering iron or hot
air rework station.
To make things easier I've attached EagleCAD files and PDF printout of
this PCB.
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• t BT_Headset.pdf
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• e BT_Headset.brd
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• BT_Headset.sch
Download
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Step 3: Installing Volume Control Buttons
Elecfreaks website has a nice reference on BLK-MD-SPK module itself
and even has a simple diagram on how to connect buttons. That's what we
are going to use in our design.
As you can see, there are several button configurations we can use. I've
decided to make a simple 3 button configuration: VOL+, VOL- and
MFB(multi-functional button used for play/pause/mute).
The construction itself is very simple: I've used a leftover piece of
prototyping board and three 7mm pushbuttons.The only thing you need to
pay attention to is that volume and playback controls are triggered from a
1.8V source(pin 24) and MFB button is connected to VBAT(pin 12).
After that we need to drill three holes to match our buttons. The control
board is then installed and firmly glued to the earpiece cover. The end
result is seen on the third image. Looks nice, but we are still too far from
being done.
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Step 4: Final Assembly
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This time, in order to compensate for weight difference between left and
right sides I've decided to put a battery with Li-Ion charger into the left
earpiece, and the control board with bluetooth module into the right one.
Pulling additional wires might be tiresome, but having your headphones
constantly slide to one side during lengthy MMO session or a cool movie is
much more frustrating :)
Due to the fact that this time we are also connecting 3 buttons, 2 minijack
ports and a charge controller, there is gonna be a lot of things going on
inside of your headset. You can see a semi-finished result on the picture
above: it is going to get a lot worse! It is almost impossible to make a good
pictures or video of this process, considering the size of the work area and
the amount of connections we need to make, so I will include a detailed
schematic with some annotations.
There will be 2 pairs of wires going from left to the right side: one for power
and the other one for the left speaker. Optionally you can add another pair
of wires for a microphone (if you are planning on using one).