Muff-Fones
My ears get real cold. Plus they hurt like crazy when it's cold and I use ear buds. Solution, hack some earphones into a spare pair of earmuffs. This fun Instructable includes using a dremel, sugru, listening to music and keeping your ears warm. What's not to love. Certainly I'm not the first bloke to think of this idea. I searched for a commercially avialiable product; they range from $15-$60 US dollars. Crazy. I have all the components laying around and really want a Vagisoft Blanket. It sounds real cumphy. So here is this Ible for your reading pleasure.
Throughout this Instructable will be ALOT of notation on photos. Please view them to really see what's going on. There will be alot of photo notes, especially on step 3.
Throughout this Instructable will be ALOT of notation on photos. Please view them to really see what's going on. There will be alot of photo notes, especially on step 3.
The Parts
Ear Muffs
Ear Phones
Sugru (Optional but Awesome) http://www.adafruit.com/products/437
Like so many great recipes, when there are few ingredients, make em count. I'm upcycling quality parts here. One pair of Polaroid earphones from a portable DVD player. And one pair of earmuffs. These are the kind of ear muffs that go behind your head and not on top of it. I've found that above the head earmuffs give some pretty serious muff head. Not cool man. And I couldn't find the exact pair of really Muffy style earguards. I wanted a nice leopard print to match these LED-slippers/, but I just couldn't find em at the usual Big Box dives.
Ear Phones
Sugru (Optional but Awesome) http://www.adafruit.com/products/437
Like so many great recipes, when there are few ingredients, make em count. I'm upcycling quality parts here. One pair of Polaroid earphones from a portable DVD player. And one pair of earmuffs. These are the kind of ear muffs that go behind your head and not on top of it. I've found that above the head earmuffs give some pretty serious muff head. Not cool man. And I couldn't find the exact pair of really Muffy style earguards. I wanted a nice leopard print to match these LED-slippers/, but I just couldn't find em at the usual Big Box dives.
Capt Safety
Ok, we're going to dremel some plastic. Don't Be Stupid. Wear appropriate protection. Eyewear and Lung mask are a must. Long sleeves and cheap maker clothing are also recommended. A Tyvek suite would be awesome, but I don't have one of those.
Earphone Teardown
This is the bulk of this Ible. These need the most modding to fit the application we want to use them for. Polaroid made these earphones bulky and excessive. We want them slim and trim. So begins the hacking of my current "old school" ear phones down to just the basic speaker.
Add Sugru!!!!!!
Sugru for softness and awesomeness! I also used the Sugru to stabalize the wires and add durability. I only needed a 1 packet for both phones.
Putting It Together
All that's left to do is squeeze our phones into the muff. After a little coaxing and sugru, it goes in smooth. It's a tight fit in there but that's a good thing. Nothing will be sliding around to places were it shouldn't be.
Video of Working Device + Review
OMG It works. Flawlessly I might add. Both my GF and I will use this and we have radically different head sizes so I left the wire between the phones with some slack. These have the features of noise canceling earphones without the drawbacks. I was a little concerned during the build that the Sugru would cause a short and make them inoperable. Didn't happen. Also this was my first time playing with Sugru; Easy, awesome and I can't wait to use it agian.
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