Share Your New Phoniebox Designs 2024

[MiczFlor]

Hi Phonieboxers,
I've been late this year with asking for images for the infamous "Phoniebox Calendar". Please add your designs here. And feel free to talk about how you did it -- to inspire fellow-Phonieboxers. You can find the last calendars with links on the homepage.
Calendar for 2023 will arrive online shortly after Christmas. Keep up the good work!

[DivineDominion]

Barebones build in an old tobacco box with large arcade button, using future3

[azsigmon]

For my daughther, as she says "Teenibox"

[pabera]

Really cool. Reminds me of my set up. I wonder, is the sound out of the onboard sound good enough? I had trouble with a lot of noise back then which required me to go with a separate sound card.

[azsigmon]

Thanks. There is some noise when it is not playing anything but when it is playing it does not bother. Also, I did not manage to get two of my USB soundcards to work 🙈 My problem is more with the power: after one-two days the power bank is empty (even when not running) and needs to be waken up by pressing the button on it, which means opening up the box. Good side is that is runs while on power, of course with the usual restart when plugging in or out. I also had to reinstall everything already twice because of not clear reasons 🤷‍♀️. In the second round the mpd service did not start with some "invalid ELF header" error.

[AlvinSchiller]

Which Buttons did you use? I like them :)

In the second round the mpd service did not start with some "invalid ELF header" error.

Sound like #2121 and a broken SD Card.

[azsigmon]

The buttons I got from Amazon in a 24 pack.

Sound like #2121 and a broken SD Card.

My problem came after a while. In both cases the box worked fine but after a few weeks of not using, it did not start correctly anymore.

[s-raeuchle]

The xmas gift for my twin daughters.

Here is the configuration

[DivineDominion]

The lid with another lid is a cool idea :)

[powertomato]

Just performed a precision delivery for my daughter's Christmas present. The case is 3D printed and covered with felt. The nose and cheeks are play, prev- and next song buttons. A couple of buttons on the back for volume control and maybe some other features in the future.

Quite happy with the result.

For the nerdy ones: Electronics is a Rock64 board, needed a couple of python code tweaks, such like a different GPIO library. I wrote a new backend for the card reader (it was not a HUD device)

[s-martin]

Really cool box!
I'm sure your daughter will love this present. 🎁

We're always interested in improving our code or new features, so pull requests are welcome, if you want to spend the time! 😉

[pabera]

Which version did you install? 2 or 3? Also, did you have issues with the different hardware, beside GPIO?

[powertomato]

@pabera Sorry for this late reply, I didn't have time to look much into this. For now I'm running the 2.4 version. But I just installed version 3 on an other spare Rock64 and I'm documenting every change I needed to do. Beside GPIO I was not able to get an SPI card reader running, due to pin assignments (there is a way but I just figured I'd pass on kernel fiddling, since I already had an USB-reader available https://lorenz.brun.one/spi-on-rock64/), audio does not work out of the box and requires some tweaks.

[pabera]

Great that you were able to make it work. Since the Phoniebox installation is based on a git clone of this repo, maybe you can push your changes to a personal fork? Would make the documentation simpler..

[ichrogge]

The box for my daughter

[skyhigh24]

The Box i built for my niece:
Made with Bend Wood (KerfSpacing) and Denim.
i sacrificed some Logitech Z150, but the metal of the Speakers was pre-bend and it wasnt easily usable, so i used the original Plastic Front from the Speakers to Screw them into the wooden Front :D
Was a lot of Fun :)

Feel free to ask if you want to know something about it ;)

[alesrosina]

I've created a wooden box:

And also internals:

I've written a blog post about it, if you want more details: https://alesrosina.com/2024/03/13/a-speaker-for-my-kid.html

[X-dark]

@alesrosina, Looks great, where did you find the rotary encoder cap?

[alesrosina]

I've bought it at reichelt.de, but it seems like this exact model is no longer in stock. But a similar one (or even nicer) is: https://www.reichelt.com/potentiometerknopf-fuer-achse-4-mm-silber-men-520-411-p135553.html

[X-dark]

Thanks. Yes I saw that one but was finding yours nicer

[skyhigh24]

@X-dark Take a look at this: https://de.rs-online.com/web/p/potentiometer-knopfe/4659842 As far as i know the KY-040 should have a 6mm shaft. Does look like the one @alesrosina used.

In the Shop they have many more Caps with nice looking Designs, even brushed Aluminium

[skyhigh24]

to test the basics before i built the Big PhonieBox i bought everything twice (also to have a spare part if i damaged something).
the first time i used the cheapest speakers and buttons i could find, but didnt like them in the end.

Since i´d had everything twice and was bored today i built a mini Version.
The Big one isnt really designed to be Portable, so this one is.
also its way less work to build :D

The Buttons are Color Coded the same as the Big Box.
The Volume Rocker of the Mini is on the Inside, the Cheap Speakers only included an "In Cable" Potentiometer.

[luisete79]

Dear all, I finally finished mine. My kids seem to love it. I decided to go with something rather simple and easy to use with only one button Comments and questions are more than welcome. Thanks to all who contribute to this fantastic project.

[pabera]

Did you create the wooden box yourself?

[luisete79]

No, they are actually 2 wooden trays joined together. I bought them in Action for about 2 € each. Then, of course I had to make the holes for the speaker, sand everything, and paint it, because the front and the back is supposed to be the base of the tray and is not as wooden and nice as the interior.

[anemes]

I looked around for a fun kids toy that I could pull apart for a while, and the one I landed on turned out to be already gutted by F&P themselves: https://x.com/Foone/status/1454230585933631488

Kids really like designing the record covers. This has the RFID under the yellow record platter. It would have been cooler to put it into the tone arm, but also more annoying for the kids.

[pabera]

this is a really cool idea!!

[s-raeuchle]

Wow thats a beauty! Well done!

[X2423]

this is my phoniebox - I decided on this box because it had a lockable section for the components and a carry handle. I made speaker holes through the hard shell but it is masked by the fabric for a clean finish

[d4rkd3v1l]

We already built our first Phoniebox last year, but didn't really manage to post it here. So now, after we built our 2nd one, it's time to post em both. 😊

Voxiebox

A Vox Pathfinder 10 guitar amp used as a case for our first Phoniebox. We just removed the old amp and speaker and put all the Phoniebox stuff in. The covers on the top (card slot and buttons) and backside are 3d printed.

Owlybox

We found an awesome owl model on thingiverse and decided to make another Phoniebox out of it.

For more details, see https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6678877.

[Yo55arian]

Sharing my Phonebox that was built as a kid's Christmas present. Very popular so far!

Fairly simple build based on a spare Raspberry Pi 3b. Everything is contained in a mini toolbox from our local hardware store. I used a Pimorino on/off shim wired to the rear LED momentary switch. I added a green status LED to the top but placed this so it could be hidden by folding down the handle to ensure it didn't interfere with getting them off to sleep.

Only thing still needed is a way to stop inquisitive fingers from opening it up! I'm considering a small cable tie through some drilled holes but other suggestions are very welcome.

A big thank you to the Phoniebox community. This is a really great project that has clearly brought a lot of joy to families all over the world.