Monthly Archives: May 2017

Estate Sale Finds: 100 Year Old Records!

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Today I went to an estate sale nearby. The  house was kind of run down, but they did have quite a few records. After looking through a bunch of records, I ran across a shoe box with seven Edison Record Tubes in it for $8. It was a good deal because usually the cylinders are $16 each. I bought it, and cleaned the records and boxes with a paintbrush just to get the dust off. I don’t have an Edison phonograph, (and probably never will) but I’m thinking about trying to make my own.

My favorite cylinders are the blue amberol records, which are blue (as the name suggests) and they hold 4 minutes of audio instead of the regular 2 minutes. One I have also runs at an impressive 160 RPM.

My favorite Blue Amberol record, which is also the oldest (128 years old!).
A interesting grey cylinder, made by Oxford Records.

Motor + PA Amplifier= Speaker?

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I just did a quick experiment where I attached a DC motor to a cardboard box and then hooked the motor to a PA amplifier. Just turn the volume way up, and see what happens!

Here’s what I used:

  •  A DC motor (very common)
  •  A cardboard box (also very common)
  • A PA amplifier with a 4Ω speaker output*

Simply hook the 4Ω and common outputs on your PA amplifier to the inputs on the motor. Poke holes in the box and put a zip-tie through them. Use this to hold the motor to the box. That’s it! Just turn the volume way up and hook up some kind of audio playback device.

To see this in action, I made a video

*To substitute for a 4Ω speaker output, put a 4Ω resistor in line with the motor.
The motor
The PA amplifier