by Matt Keeter
This page contains the latest revision of the Fab Boombox project, which originated as my final project for How to Make (almost) Anything.
The fab boombox is a portable boombox made with the tools and techniques of the fab lab community. It plays music off of a standard SD card, runs on a pair of AA batteries, and can be fabricated for under $100.
At the moment, the hardware and software on this page will not work without major hackery! This page is a holding area and will be gradually updated in my spare time. The first revision has been sucessfully field-tested with minor hackery to get everything working; start there unless you're tremendously ambitious.
PCBs are provided in Eagle 6 format with a Makefile that automatically makes PNGs for use in the fab modules. The Makefile requires PIL to properly combine different image layers.
The case is defined as a parametric set of mathematical expressions which can be evaluated by the fab modules. Minor adjustments (e.g. adjusting material thickness) can be made by changing the constants that define the case then recompiling. After evaluation, the user is left with a set of white on black images for use on a laser cutter.