Mycelium Amplifier
From Savio Mukachirayil
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From Savio Mukachirayil
Replaced the housing of a guitar amplifier with a housing made of mycelium. The properties of mycelium such as high fire-resistance, sound dampening, lightweight all contribute to not only an ideal but better amplifier. The amplifier will be smaller in size– portable, and rectangular in shape with rounded corners.
Methodology
CNC wood then vacuum formed the mold for the mycelium. The first part of post-processing involves sanding the fully grown and baked mycelium shell with a belt sander to discard any imperfections and overgrowth. We also spray-painted the outer shell with a clear-coat to preserve its original mycelium look, and the front panel with black in order to blend into the mesh. Three holes are drilled in the front panel to fit the three speakers, and mesh covered over the entire panel. For the amplifier to work, we took apart some old amplifiers and fitted the internals into the mycelium amplifier. We had to build a new platform for the motherboard and wiring to be fitted into the top of the speaker. The wires soldered from the motherboard to the fuse and connected those for the sound controls to the three speakers. The front panel and control panel are pressure-fitted into the shell to complete the mycelium amplifier.
Additional studies:
One crucial issue is choosing the substrate to grow the mycelium with in order to enhance its strength and longevity. According to a study on mycelium and its growth with different added substrates by scientists at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria in Portugal, it identified natural, unprocessed wood fine shavings as the best substrate for mycelium as it produces the most strength but did not add much to the weight of the finished product. We attempted to grow a piece of the front panel with this in mind, yet the mycelium did not fully grow compared to those that did not have natural wood shavings added. A possible issue could be that our natural wood shavings were not fine enough, or the added moisture from the shavings caused further alterations to the growth of the mycelium. Therefore, whether wood shavings could add additional strength to the mycelium in a practical sense should be further studied.