# Laughing prop mallet electronic help



## Daisymerollin (Jul 13, 2015)

Ok so I am working on making a giant prop mallet (like 6 foot tall) that is constructed using a PVC pipe for the handle and hollowed out foam for the head. I want a 5 second or so long clown laugh to be played through the head of the mallet each time I push a button that will be placed in the handle. Now this sound player (don't know what else to call it) will need to be loud because where I will be using it is pretty noisy, yet lightweight because I will be swinging it around all night. I plan to drill holes into the face of the mallet so that the sound can travel out and I will also be using a strong bonding agent probably some kind of cement to attach the sound player to the side of the inside of the head so its not just being swung around inside there. I was thinking about using a doorbell or something along those lines but i'm not sure if it will be loud enough or if it would even work inside of the mallet. Someone suggested that I use a hmdx bluetooth speaker, but I'd rather not have to keep reaching into my pocket to press a button on my phone every time I want it to laugh.
I'm also slightly paranoid about the music on my phone going off instead. I really know nothing about these kind 
of electronics so i have no idea what i'll need or even how to connect these things. I really appreciate any help 
as i have no idea what i'm doing. Sorry if this seemed somewhat scatterbrained and lengthy I just wanted to make 
sure i didn't leave out any details and explained it as clearly as i could. If you need anymore details please let me know  Thanks again!!


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Welcome to the forum. I see this question had no replies over the past week. I will take a stab at telling you how I'd do it and that will likely spark others thoughts and they can tell you how it should really be done.

First - in any sound 'emitting' scheme, you have a few basic parts:

Sound source: This can be anything from a simple tone emitter or buzzer on the low end, to an mp3 player, iPod, or computer, or some fancy DJ equipment / sound board on the high end.

Speaker: Something that vibrates to produce the sound - anything from headphones to a multi-thousand watt, full range speaker system

Amplification: Sometimes this can be built in in instances such as a radio, or a separate component - ie car stereo amplifiers.

Power supply: Can be anything from batteries to 'mains' or 'wall plug' power.

So in browsing your question it seems this needs to fulfill several criteria:
loud, push button to make a sound, light weight, (assuming) cordless, etc.

Combining all these factors, it seems to me the best way to go would be hacking one (or a pair if you can stand the weight) PC speakers. Most will have line-level input with some sort of built in amplification. You can scrap most of the case(s) to save weight just be sure the speaker is mounted in some sort of baffle to help direct sound and prevent air from 'short circuiting' right around the speaker cone. Also be careful of designs which use the whole case as a 'resonance chamber' - unless you plan to keep the entire case. It's likely removing one of these type speakers from the precision enclosure would substantially degrade and reduce the sound output.

So with the speaker and amplification pinned down, what about the sound source? You mentioned some possibilities. We also had a very detailed look at a simple, small, light MP3 player: http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=41468 This would allow you to load the laugh ...and possibly up to three other sounds of your choice...then play them back using simple push buttons according to which 'mode' suits your needs best. At quick glance, Mode 1 or Mode 2 seem like they might be most appropriate.

Finally what about power? Well, most computer speakers are likely going to come with a "wall wart" or "power brick" But a cord is likely going to be objectionable for this application. So we're looking at batteries. You mentioned "light weight" so that's going to likely mean "AA" batteries, but you also mention "loud" which is likely going to draw quite a bit of power - so possibly lithium batteries. Basically, you'd have to look at how much voltage the speaker / amp of your choice originally needed and stack enough AA batteries in series to meet that. ie a 12 volt speaker would need 8 AA batteries (1.5V each) in series to make 12V ...you can actually buy battery holders like this fairly commonly. A 14V or 16V speaker is a little more tricky - I's probably go with 10 and 12 batteries respectively -the small over voltge would likely do no harm and the battery volts are only going to go lower as the cells drain.

You might experiment first to see if the battery life is acceptable just running the thing 'on' all the time, but only making intermittent sound. I suspect the amp in the speakers is going to draw quite a bit of stand-by current though. This isn't an issue in their standard design as they were plugged in - but a whole different world on batteries. You might be able to cut the power consumption substantially by hooking a simple relay to the battery pack and only having the main power to the speakers 'on' when you trigger the sound. Also, lithium batteries will give more power density and/or lighter weight compared to alkaline.

So, there ya go...computer speaker(s) + cheap MP3 player + battery pack = clown laugh mallet. Hope this helps.


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## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

I suggest you start with this, which is an all-in-one recording/playback module:

http://electronics123.com/shop/product/75-second-usb-recording-module-5319

I've used one of these (actually, I used the one with four buttons and four sounds, but it's basically the same thing - see this link: http://electronics123.com/shop/product/300-second-5-minutes-usb-recording-module-5320) and it works really well. The main difference is that the one with four buttons also has a jack for connecting an external speaker.

You'll want to replace the button with a better one for the handle. And possibly get a bigger speaker that will use its own batteries so it will be louder.

This will require some basic electronics ability to upgrade the button, plus you'll have to work out how to use their software to load the sound file onto the player. It's a bit knacky. Look at the links down the pages of the two modules, there are some projects that use them you can get some ideas from.


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