Ear Bud Case From a Contact Lens Case

Intro: Ear Bud Case From a Contact Lens Case

Ear buds are a wonderful way to connect your ears to your mp3 player but they have an awful tendency to turn themselves into knots that only a mathematician could love. Thankfully my wife's terrible vision has provided me a way to avoid those mathematically intriguing knots. Below is a simple way of turning extra contact lens cases into ear bud cases.

STEP 1: Cut the Contact Lens Case

Remove the caps from the lens case, then cut a small slot in each bowl (see the second picture). The amount of material you need to remove will depend on the size and design of the "handle" portion of your ear buds. The last image in the Instructable shows some white buds that needed a longer thinner slot than the black ones. The slot should be big enough to allow the bud to rest entirely in the bowl of the lens case. If it rises above the lip of the bowl, then the caps will not screw on properly.

The easiest way to cut the cases is to heat an exacto knife in flame. If you don't use heat then use a very sharp blade and go slow. The plastic is a little brittle and is prone splitting if you apply too much pressure.

STEP 2: Screw, Wrap, and Tuck

Once you have made the cuts, insert the ear buds and screw on the caps. The caps will hold the ear buds in place while you wrap the wire. Most lens cases come with indentations which make wrapping the wire quite easy. It is important to wrap the wire loosely especially for the first few wraps. Wrapping the wire tightly will place a lot of stress on the wire, particularly where the wire joins the handle of the ear bud. The repeated stress will eventually break the wire inside.

Once it is wrapped you can tuck the plug under the wire to keep the it from unwrapping.

Comments

[chechos84]

genius

[Wehrdo]

Wasn't this in Popular Science as a 5 minute project? Because I made one after reading about it in there. I use it every day, so if it was your idea, thank you very much! It has kept my earbuds working for three years now.

[mowdish]

Hi Wehrdo,

It was in Popular Science and it was my idea. My name was written in very tiny letters to the right of the 5 minute project. I'm glad it has been so useful for you. Thanks for mentioning it. This is my first confirmation that anyone noticed the PopSci project.

[EPL]

yea i used to wrap the ear buds around my ipod really tight and the thing that connects the ear buds to the ipod ripped and the wires were exposed.

[cturtle]

This is a great use for all those free cases I keep getting. I used the same method as hot-fresh-rider for my Skullcandy Ink'd ear buds.

[KillerPanda]

good idea, seeing as i have several of these lying around somewhere with no use and i always end up destroying any ear bud or headset i come across. 4.5 stars =)

[mowdish]

Thanks.

[sabbott]

this is great! I've been trying to think of some way to store these things more effectively, just love it. Thanks for posting.

[mowdish]

Thanks, and your welcome.

[udinho]

I think that this is not so good for these phones which have a "handle portion". Depending on where they're stored, it could damage the earphones.

[HailDanzig]

And I just threw a couple of those away! Good idea. :)

[hot-fresh-rider]

this took me only 30 minutes, then 15 minutes fiddling with the photos in paint.net LOL _

[mowdish]

sweet. I didn't figure that style of earplug would fit sideways. It makes your case a little cleaner than mine. In fact, if you tied a little knot in the wire before it leaves the case, then you could save connection from the stress of constantly being rewound.

[hot-fresh-rider]

the stress of being rewound is less than being chucked in my pocket ! the wire sits in a V wedge right next to the cap. If i hadn't cut this notch then screwing the cap down would damage the wire. awesome instructable btw - because I realised "hey wait a minute, instead of just reading this one, I could actually do it now!" like i'm with so many other instructables. recommend Koss plugs btw, esp "the plug" haven't tried the "spark plugs" yet but I imagine they are much the same.

[chaitanyak]

fantastic idea!!

[mowdish]

Thanks!

[Audey]

AHH; I tried it and then the conditioning solution wrecked my headphones and my headphones destroyed my contacts! DAMN!

[mowdish]

I'm sorry to hear that. You might be using the wrong conditioning solution. I recommend Earwax Begone brand conditioning solution. Also, unlike contacts you need to let the earbuds dry out after leaving them in the solution overnight.

[Patented]

Hahaa! XD

[hot-fresh-rider]

*snap* we have the same spare contact lens case. Just bought some KOSS KEB 24's and need somewhere nice to keep them.