Working Star Trek Communicator

[jkhurdan]

So my very good friend (whose like a daughter to me) and I are going to NY Comic-con for the first time for her 21st birthday. We are going as Star Trek officers. As a gift, I'm making her a working Star Trek comlink. I took a bluetooth headset and added a larger speaker, and then I designed and 3D printed the case.

Photo Captions: Photo on the left is of the StarTrek Comlink painted. The photo on the right is inside of the comlink, and shows the Bluetooth device, battery, microphone and speaker.

 

[JW Foust]

Uh, that's commonly referred to as a communicator, or combadge for that particular version.

 

[renaissance_man]

Nice work, I'm sure your friend will be grateful to receive this.

JW is right, you might want to rename the thread to Communicator or commbadge otherwise the thread might not show up in a search when the thread eventually moves further away from the top.

 

[jkhurdan]

Thank you both for your feedback!

 

[JW Foust]

Yes, very nice work, I just didn't want to see you get in any fistfights over it at the con. For greater authenticity, you might think about going over the edges of the delta with a black sharpie.

 

[SeanSX]

How is the sound?
Wireless charging I presume?

 

[knight1705]

A Very Nice job indeed!!! Only intended as "constructive criticism" I can see a few "opportunities for improvement" on the badge itself, but if you have gone this far, you have probably already thought of them. Some minor modification of the badge design, curved surfaces and angled edges etc. and perhaps a resin printer to help eliminate those nasty print lines we all know so well. And as someone mentioned the black outline.

But you have probably already thought these through and may have plans to do that on another one. A very impressive piece of work overall and I can honestly say even with my critique - if I were the friend you made that for - I would be in awe.

To be completely honest - I am not skilled enough with electronics to build something like this and have only built other peoples 3d printed projects - I have no practice in 3D design and no 3D Printer (yet). So you could say I am a bit envious/jelous? but only in the best possible way-
Thank you so much for sharing!!!!

 

[jkhurdan]

Thank you all so much for all the feedback, I really appreciate it! This is my first time doing something like this, and my first con so any advice is greatly appreciated. It charges via a port on the bottom.

The layer lines continue to be an issue, also because Im not patient enough to let the paint dry hahaha.

I'm going to try to incorporate all of the advice. Thank you soon much.

Also, I put a larger speaker so the sound is pretty okay. I wish it was a bit louder but being by your ear it work. I put a magnet on the back so it stays on your shirt with out poking holes in your shirt.

 

[propmaster2000]

Can you post a video of how this works?
.
Normally, a bluetooth speaker (@.5" diameter) produces a good enough sound for placing it "in the ear",
but when brought away (open air), you can't hardly hear it.
.
How did you solve this issue with the larger speaker and no added amplification?
Nice job on the project.
.

 

[jkhurdan]

Hello,
Here's a video of it, I kind of used a sound amplification (but software not hardware)
New video by Jason Khurdan

You are correct that the small speaker doesn't do a great job by itself. To get around this, I used the accessibility feature on my phone (I have android, but the same can be found on an iphone)- called Sound Amplifier. It allows you to increase the volume on that bluetooth device beyond its normal levels.

 

[Ronldheld]

Should you make a batch for sale, let us know..