Open Source Engineering Group

"Yes! Old computer parts can be used to make a fully working cd-player! Its ugly, but possible!"


-navaburo

Video and Photos



Check out the video!


LEFT: side view, RIGHT: diagram of gutz




above is the guts of the amp during testing...




HOWTO



It turns out that most CD-ROM drives contain an audio cd decoding circuit which outputs to the rear audio jack as well as the front headphone jack. Control signals such as play, pause, next, etc. are sent over the IDE cable from a cd player application. However, some drives have play and next buttons right on the front panel of the drive! Therefore they can act as standalone cd players using nothing but a computer powersupply and an amplifier wired correctly.

Materials:

cardboard box

computer cd-rom drive
with play button

PC power supply
with power switch

headphones

pocket knife

electrical tape

some tunes on an audio cd

small amp circuit (optional)
5 or 12 volt

speakers (optionaal)

soldering iron (optional)

use the following procedure to make the makeshift cd player:

  1. gather supplies

  2. make sure PSU (power supply unit) and CD-ROM drive fit in box nicely

  3. put the psu in the box, and cut holes in the box for a power chord and for the power switch

  4. put the cd drive in, and cut a nice flap so the drive can open and you can press the buttons on it.

  5. plug one of the molex power connectors from the psu into the cd drive (you may need to cut a hole)

  6. if you want a PERSONAL CD PLAYER, stop at this point. Plug in headphones to the front of the cd drive, plug in the box and switch power on. When you put some tunez into the drive, and hit play, you will hear music in the headphones.

  7. if you want a boombox style player, read on...

  8. plug in the soldering iron

  9. cut the chord off the headphones :(

  10. find a 12v or 5v amplifier (the one in the right-hand powered speaker is best), pull the circuit board out.

  11. strip and solder the headphones chord to the amplifier input.

  12. plug the headphones chord into the cd player as shown.

  13. solder wires from the amplifier output to each speaker.

  14. cut a psu line, strip it, and solder the 5 volt or 12 volt wires and ground to the amp board. Use whatever voltage the amp takes.

  15. Check to make sure that everything is in the right spot (see diagram above)

  16. tape it down in the box

  17. plug in the box

  18. press eject

  19. insert a German heavy metal CD in the drive

  20. press play...

  21. revel in the glory at maximum volume!