Vinyl Voltage

Inspiration

Music will forever be nostalgic. For every generation, a new love for music is born. We aimed to create a music box that reminds people of what their lives were like during that era or what it could’ve been like. It’s a product to bring the community together and end the toxic mentality: “Music was better in my time!”

What it does

Our gramophone record player, Vinyl Voltage, plays 4 #1 hit songs from the 80s, 90s, 00s, and 10s with the hit of their respected button. When the song plays, the title and artist will be displayed on a screen and the vinyl will spin with the music. Like a real gramophone, the music will be heard through the horn.

How we built it

The product’s design was done through 3D printing and laser-cutting (carpentry). The horn and vinyl was made using Fusion 360 software and the box, where the horn and vinyl sit on, is made of wood. Concealed inside the box are the circuits. It is through Arduino software that we were able to produce audio, display screens, and press buttons. When necessary, we soldered wires to components such as the speaker and used a perfboard to attach buttons for a person to press on.

Challenges we ran into

Soldering, 3D printing, and code execution were the main challenges we faced. Soldering wires with buttons that barely peek out the perfboard was tough and it took a lot of restraint and patience to finish. When we got to the last soldering piece, we burned the copper padding and could no longer solder it together.So instead of playing 5 songs in which the last song would be from 2020s, we had to modify our initial plan by playing 4 songs. 3D printing software takes practice to get used to and although we ahd initial designs, we couldnt’ go through with it because it would take too long to print, something we can’t afford. So instead of 3D printing the box, we decided to make it out of wood instead. Executing the right code also posed as a challenge only because there were many functions we wanted to have in our musicbox.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The gramophone horn was a big accomplishment because there were no issues printing and the speaker fit nicely in the horn. We also managed to remove the support inside the horn which could’ve potentially damaged it if we weren’t careful. We successfully soldered wires to teh speaker that wer elong enough to come out of the horn so it can easily connect with the circuits concealed by the box.

What we learned

For our first hackathon, we learned a lot about 3D printing, soldering, lasercutting, circuits with components, and time management. SInce we have such little time to work with it, we had to work efficiently and modify our project along the way when we faced obstacles. Overall, we enhanced our hardware experience.

What's next for Vinyl Voltage

The initial design of Vinyl Voltage is to play the top song from a certain decade but it doesn’t have to stop there! With some change in code, Vinyl Voltage can play any instrumental! We do want to keep the theme of songs from past decades but these record players can be made up of a specific genre such as Vinyl Voltage: Rock Edition, Vinyl Voltage: Pop Edition!, and Vinyl Voltage: Rap Edition! Each gramophone will come with a different design that fits that genre/theme.