Fixing Headphones (with Everyday Items + a Bit of Epoxy Resin)

My first attempt to fix it with duct tape and craft stick
failed miserably as it resulted in a phone out sticking to the side given that the craft stick cannot bend around my head.

My second attempt tried to fix it with a curved piece cutting from a plastic can. However, some loose parts of the tape stuck to my hair, which hurt when I took it off.

In the end, I had the same broken headphones, looked worn with all previous fixer tape removed.

I finally found a model that worked! Here are the steps:

• Broken headphones
• Paper clip
• Empty toothpaste tube
• Epoxy resin
• Washi tape (Optional)

Bend open one side of the paper clip. Curve and stick that tip into the opening part of the headband. This needs to fit onto individual headband to make it stable. If the rest of the clip is too long to fit into the broken part on the ear cushion, take it out and cut it short before bending it into a curve that can fit.

Cut open the toothpaste tube and wash clean the inside. Let dry.

Once the headphone is secured with the paper clip, use toothpaste tube to wrap around the connected part, and tape it securely. This will be our mold for epoxy resin.

Mix epoxy and start pour in the mix. Unfortunately, our model leaked. We tried wrapping plastic wrap on it, which didn’t really work. After a day, we got secure but not very appealing headphones. It is better than the previous versions, but it is still bad as it looks ugly because of the unexpected leak and fixing with plastic wrap---The toothpaste wrap was intended to be removed with the masking tape but they are now stuck in there.

The colors of the toothpaste didn't look too good, so I added some strips of washi tape. If it turned out similarly for you, you can choose to use other art supplies as well.

We only have one pair of broken headphones to fix, so we do not want to break it and fix it again (and it will be hard with the resin!). Thinking back, we should have expected that the masking tape wouldn’t hold the resin, so we would have needed bigger mold with better support, probably with clay. Also, if we were to use plastic wrap, it could be done inside the mold rather than outside in this case!