How to Turn a ThinkGeek Screaming Monkey Slingshot Into a Bluetooth Headset

Have you ever been bored of those standard plastic Bluetooth headsets? After a while, they get rather dull and boring. This instructable will show you how to turn a ThinkGeek Ninja monkey into a headset that is not only stylish, but contains its own charger, and has better indicator LEDs than the original.

Step 1: Parts:

You will need:
1 Bluetooth headset and charger (can be had for about $10 at your local electronics store. I used an old Jabra headset, but anything will do)
2 LEDs. I recommend blue, but any color will work (For the indicator lights)
2 resistors (see note)
1 Screaming Monkey Slingshot (http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/8f00/)

Tools:
Soldering Iron
Diagonal Cutters or Wire Strippers
Razor blade
Hot glue and a Hot Glue Gun
Electrical Tape

Note:
The resistors here will vary. My headset's power brick outputted 5v, and LEDs can take 2-3v. As such, I used 2 1kohm resistors to make my voltage divider. To find which resistors you need, use ones in the ballpark of 1kohm, but adjust them so r1/r2 * (Total voltage) is somewhere between 3 and 4 volts.

Step 2: Making the First Incision

Lay the monkey down on its front (after giving it a good sedative of course) and cut the threads down where the spine would be. Once all of the threads are cut, remove the voicebox (which will not be used for this instructable, but has all sorts of interesting components) and the stuffing. Once that is done, turn the head inside out and pull it through the back.

Step 3: Preparing the Headset

Take out any screws in the casing of the headset, and pry it apart. In most, there will be a speaker and microphone connected to the main piece of PCB by wires. If the wires are long enough to extend to the mouth and belly of the monkey, great, otherwise, extend them. After finishing that, wrap the PCB in electrical tape to prevent damage from electrostatic discharge, and attach a plate to the button so that it can be pushed through the tape. Finally, prepare the power brick by cutting off all but about three inches of wire, and re-soldering the connector to the stump. Do not tape this connection yet, you will need to solder more into it by the time this is over if you are doing the indicator LED eyes.

Note:
You can use the extra wire from here to wire the eyes.

Step 4: Preparing the LEDs

This part is pretty simple, but important if you want the indicators. If you got clear LEDs, you will need to sand them down so that the light diffuses on the surface. This is a nice effect, and I highly recommend it. Also, you will need to solder leads onto the legs of the LEDs. I recommend using the leads cut from the power brick, but, if there is some reason you don't want to, you can use any old wire.

Step 5: Setting Up the Face

For the sake of spacing, we are going to put the speaker from the headset in the mouth, so set the speaker in the center of the mouth and secure it with a dab of hot glue. After that, cut out the eyes from the back (by cutting the little plastic tabs inside the face) and replace them with the LEDs you set up earlier. Secure them with a dab of hot glue as well. Route all of the wires for those components through the neck, and, after the hot glue is set, turn the face back right-side out, and re-stuff the head.

Step 6: Setting Up the Body

Cut a small hole where the belly button of the monkey would be, and line up the microphone so that it points out of the hole. Secure the microphone with a dab of hot glue. After that, add a little bit of stuffing to the belly of the monkey, and place the prepared piece of PCB so that teh button is facing towards the front of the monkey. Cut a hole in the side of the monkey large enough for the plug in the power brick to come out, and stuff the power brick into the body, behind the headset PCB.

Step 7: Wiring the Indicator LED Eyes.

Use the circuit diagram on this page to wire the eyes of the monkey. After finishing, wrap the connections in electrical tape.

Step 8: FInishing Up

Stuff everything into the monkey and stuff any space that remained unused with some of the stuffing pulled out back in step 1. Plug it in to test it. If it works, hot-glue the flaps of fur in the back hole to the power brick (or sew them, if you are so inclined). After that, you're done. Push on the belly in the same way you would use the button on the bluetooth headset to configure it, and voila! You are now the proud owner of a monkey headset! You can now have a small stuffed animal whispering in your ear and not be crazy!