3D Printed Wireless EMEO Charger
A 3D Print that allows an EMEO to be Wirelessly Charged
Intro
The Emeo is a digital saxophone with two practical challenges: it lacks a proper resting position and its battery life is short, especially in Bluetooth mode. This project solves both issues by adding a flared stand base for stability and integrating wireless charging using a MagSafe adapter. The design ensures proper airflow for the spit valve and fits seamlessly with the Emeo’s form. A quick weekend project, it’s a simple yet effective solution for a niche problem.
Concept Origin
The Emeo is a wireless(ish) instrument that looks like a metal saxophone, but internally is a digital instrument. It can play with a few instruments capable of a wireless connection, but one of the practical challenges with owning one are two fold.
1. there is no good way to put it down. It doesn't' have a good "resting" position to put it down on a table
2. if you use it in wireless Bluetooth mode, its easy to forget about and charge, it will turn itself off after a lack of use, but still, the battery will drain over time, and the battery life isn't actually that long.
The concept was simple, The Emeo looks a bit like a Soprano saxophone, which has a flared bell which you can use as a temporary stand. The Emeo was missing this feature, and when you're using it the first thing people always try is putting it down on it's end, only to realize that wont work. I knew I wanted to add this flared stand base, and at the same time I wanted to see if I could squeeze in the necessary hardware to enable wireless charging.
Design & Development
To give the emeo wireless charging capabilities I used an adhesive backed wireless charger for phones and a magsafe charger. the wireless charger adapter just plugs into the EMEO's USB-C port, when it's placed near a magsafe charger it begins syphoning power and to the EMEO it just looks like it's plugged in. The design process for this went together pretty easily. I modeled all the parts in CAD, fit a bell shape around them, and then printed and tuned the fit. One small detail that required special attention was the "spit" valve of the emeo, there is a continuous tube inside the device that allows the humid breath from use to leave the device. Bolting a 3D print with electronics onto that without considering the humidity/air flow is a recipe for disaster. It only required a chimney tube to connect the air outlet to the bottom of the flare to make sure the humidity left the device, but still something worth focus.
Prototype & Build
The prototype for this one really was only a single print. I had the CAD dialed in for the emeo from my previous project using it (the Fonia headless Computer) so thankfully this project was very straight forward. I printed the stand and base units and glued in the MagSafe Charger.
Final Result
Ultimately this was a pretty small project, it solved a pretty niche problem and has limited use but can't complain for a single weekend project.
