Homemade Gramophone (Phonograph)
I'm ending the year listening old music from Vinyl disks, So I build my home-made gramophone using a pin and a plastic cup. With my lego set of "mindstorms" I was able to spin the disk at 33 RPM (approximately). Here are some photos an a video of my gramophone. (12/31/2006)

If you are old and cranky like I am, you will know what I'm talking about. If you think that big black vinyl disk is a freesbie, you are totally lost.
Long time ago, Thomas Alba Edison invented the Phonograph to make some money and continue with other inventions, he used cilinders but later, somebody used disks and called the invention "Gramophone". Disk have more advanteges than cilinders. The way it works is simple: A needle picks the sound from the grooves and amplifies the sound. So to make my own gramophone I need a pin, a plastic cup (paper cup should work better) and a mechanism that rotates 33 RPM.









I had to put two napkins inside the cup to reduce the high frecuencies. The plastic cup amplifies high frecuencies very well, so the sound was not quite good. After I put the napkin inside, the sound was better. Using paper cups instead plastic cups, will improve the sound.
... by the way,
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007!
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