Tech & Gadgets
How to repair an audio plug on earbuds!
Carsonlau got in touch with us when he made this super cool guide to fix broken earbuds, so we thought we would share it with the world! Way to go Carsonlau!
"A clumsy seat-mate on an airplane broke the audio plug on my earphones when he was trying to get out of his seat. I was able to remove the existing overmolded strain relief and resolder the connections, but I was left without a strain relief. I used some heat shrink tubing for a while, but was unsatisfied with the appearance."
Kit
- Your Broken earbuds :(
- 3D CAD software
- Mould-release agent or olive oil
- sugru!
- 3D printer
- C-clamp
Step 1
I used 3D CAD software to model up the strain relief geometry for the audio plug.
Using the original CAD as reference, I then created CAD for a 2-sided mold for the part.
Step 2
I printed the mold parts out in a 3D printer (polyjet). I needed some mould-release chemicals to allow the parts to come out of the mould, like greasing a cupcake tin but I didn't have any mould-release handy so I used olive oil.
Mould the sugru around the bare audio plug by hand, while properly aligning the plug into the mould.
Close the mold with a C-Clamp and remove excess squeezed out of the mould.
30hrs later, Done! Open the mold and enjoy the new overmolded strain relief I created!
