AirPods’ Dirty Secret (and how I’m fighting it!)

HTTPS:// The first and second generations of AirPods made by Apple were given a score of 0 out of 10 by repair specialists at iFixit. AirPods are not designed to be serviced. No hardware components can be accessed without damage to the device, making it a consumable/disposable item. Tens of millions of devices were sold, each one having three sealed-in batteries. This makes it a total electronic waste disaster.   After the success of Ken Pillonel’s previous project, the world’s first USB-C iPhone, he decided to focus on trying to mitigate the AirPods disaster through an engineering project. The goal was to find a solution that gives a second life to the unopenable cases, which all face an inevitable end of life because of their built-in battery. The solution proposed consists of making available a 3D-printed replacement part that can be downloaded by anyone. The AirPods case can therefore be purposefully damaged while disassembly, then repairs can be made inside, and finally, the 3D-printed replacement part is inserted back in place. Now that it is possible to open the case, repairs are made possible. A replacement battery can be purchased online, but it is the only replacement part available. If a charging port is broken, there is no way to replace it except by getting a replacement part from another device. The second part of the project consists in creating a replacement part for the Lightning charging port. Because it will soon disappear thanks to a recent EU ruling, the replacement part sports a USB-C connector (bouncing off the previous hack made by Ken) and is also made available online as an open-source project. This further increases the impact on the possibility of repairing those devices. 0:00 Phone Call 1:08 First Attempt - FDM Printing 1:53 Explaining the Problem 2:31 How to Open AirPods Case 2:57 Second Attempt - SLA Printing 4:10 Lack of Replacement Parts 4:36 EU USB-C regulation 5:00 USB-C Mod Intro 5:20 Tricky Connector 6:02 Custom PCB 6:41 Metallic Bracket 8:31 Demo 8:48 Conclusion 9:04 Open Source 9:15 Giveaway 9:22 Sale? - - - - - Music by my friends: DJ yuppie bogan: Voyagers: - - - - - Tools I use: (affiliate) AnyCubic Photon Mono X: AnyCubic Wash & Cure Machine: PCB Manufacturing: (5$ off your first order) Lampert PUK Welding: Low Melt Solder: PCB Holder: Fume extractor: Microscope: Camera: Macro Lens: - - - - - My socials: LinkedIn: Github: Twitter: Blog: - - - - - Link to EU studies: Common charger: Unbundling of chargers: