One of my earbuds fell apart today just as I was gonna go for a run, fortunately the other one worked, so I didn't miss out on Runicorn's words of wisdom, or my audiobook, but it still sucks that most wired earbuds I've had don't seem to last. These are only mediocre for audio quality, but they have been waterproof mostly. When I got home, I took a look to see how bad the damage was, and decided to fix 'em. Most speakers use a braided thin wire with a lacquer or something, which both identifies the wire and insulates it, so the first step was to try and identify which wire was previously connected where. Fortunately the red/gold color wire left a reddish trace on the pad it was connected to, while the blue wire did not seem to leave any traces. My $30 USB microscope was a huge help with checking out the board and wires, but the new problem was how to hold everything in place so I could solder the wires back. That's when I went looking for my silly putty. Failing to find it, I recalled that I had something better, Rodico 6033 Cleaning Putty, which is sold as a watch cleaning tool, but has a ton of other uses. It worked perfectly as a third hand for soldering, and I probably would have blown my monthly cursing budget without it. The pics speak for themselves, I'm adding a small ball of this stuff to my soldering kit. I am not sure how it handles heat though, but for tacking down a board or wire (well away from the heat), I think it will work.
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