Fix Broken Philips Hue Bulb Using a IKEA Ledare Bulb

First please accept my apologies for my English as I'm not a native speaker. If you see any errors or anything is unclear please leave a comment so I can update it.

Now lets talk about the project: I'm owning some Philips Hue bulbs which are part of the really nice home control system allowing not only to dim ligths but also to change colors. The problem with this bulbs is that they are pretty expensive. So throwing them away just because the glass is broken is not really an option. And opposite to traditional bulbs the glass doesn't have any other function then to dispense the light more evenly.

So the cheapest way to fix a hue bulb I found on the internet is to replace the original glass with an IKEA ledare bulb glass (which is in fact made out of plastic and more stable).

What you need:

• a broken Philips HUE E27 (I guess it is the same as the A9 type) which is still working if you plug it in (i.e. only the glass is broken
• a IKEA Ledare E27 400 Lumen lamp (see picture - nr. 702.667.65 - other types migth work as well)
• a saw (or anything else to cut plastic)
• a cutter
• (some Sugru migth be necessary to glue the stuff together... but not in all cases)

Step 1: Cut the Glass From the IKEA Ledare Bulp

Use the saw to cut on or a little bit above the red line indicated in the picure. If you cut on the red line you don't destroy the glass but you cut more easy into the metall below the plastic. If you cut to high you will destroy the glass.

Even if you cut the plastic it needs some force to remove the glass as it is glued with something silicon like to the socket.

Step 2: Remove Plastic Ring From the Ledare Bulb

Cut with a cutter around the glass as shown in the pictures once inside and once outside to remove the plastic ring which was part of the socket.

When removed used the cutter and / or your fingernails to remove the silicon like glue.

Step 3: Remove the Glass Remains on the Hue Bulb

You can use the plastic ring we removed in the last step to protect your hand a little bit (not sure that really helps :) ). Then cut as well around the glass remains once on the outside and once on the inside (or in fact several times with smaller cuts). Remove the silicon like stuff and the glass remains. It looks pretty save to use the cutter but don't blame me if you destroy your bulb.

I fixed to hue bulbs and funny enough on both I didn't cut my fingers on the glass. I looks like it is tempered or something like that so you don't cut yourself.

At the end it should like pretty clean like on the last picure.

Step 4: Screw the IKEA Ledare Glass Onto the Philips HUE Bulb

If everything went well you can slowly screw in the recoverd IKEA glass onto the hue and your finished. It is not really screwing in fact as it looks the silicon stuff gets squashed and holds the "new" glass. But to insert the glass turning it like screwing worked the best for me.

For the first bulb I fixed this way I didn't worked so properly so the glass wasn't going in deep enough and I used some Sugru (a silicon play doe) to glue the 2 parts together. For the second bulb I fixed that wasn't necessary at all. Can't say yet if Sugru is a good choice in the long term but for now (1 week) it works.