PROJECTS: CHLADNI PLATE
makezine.com/16/chladni
MAKE IT.
BUILD YOUR
CHLADNI PLATE
START>>
Time: An Afternoon Complexity: Easy
1. TEAR DOWN THE SPEAKER
The first step is to tear apart a speaker to get at the good bits. We’ll need the magnet assembly and the
former, which is the cylinder that the voice coil wraps around.
1a. Cut through the speaker cone
around its outside edge and around
the dust cap in the center. Remove
the cone.
1b. Cut the outside edge of the
“spider,” the flexible ring-shaped
fabric membrane under the cone
that runs between the former and
the speaker’s frame.
1c. Lift the spider and former out of the ring magnet and speaker.
At some point you’ll need to snip the braided wire that leads into
the coil.
1d. Gently untangle, extract, and unwind all the old wire from the
former. Carefully prod the former into good shape. If the former
has rough spots, sand them down. If it’s bent, unbend it. If it’s
sticky, rub on graphite powder to seal it.
126 Make: Volume
16
