Sony MDR-XB550AP complete repair

thingiverse

anyone whos owned a set of these wont really have a complaint about the sound quality and the general comfort, infact for a relatively cheap set of headphones (I bought them just to fill in till my far more expensive set showed up) I still use these on a very regular basis. HOWEVER thats were the "easy listening" ends..... in a strangely exact contradiction to the quality of sound that sony gets out of these things, the build qaulity is to put it simply CRAP! in more exact words the multi angle knuckles that swivel the earpieces are probably the worst design and build Ive ever had the misfortune to come across, they have a awful tendency of breaking in multiple places if you so much as sneeze at them (I kid you not when I say one side actually did indeed break when I sneezed and the set slid slightly of my head before I caught them....they didnt even suffer a notable knock that time yet still broke) after countless gluing sessions and tested various fixes (despite it all I still enjoy the sound these produce so am reluctant to give up on them) I decided to get a little brutal and instead of trying to work round sony's terrible design I went with a more solid fixed position solution. just to pre-empt a few questions.... YES the design does forgo the existing ability of the original knuckles to twist and angle but to counteract that the earpieces in my design are given a slight angle to sit comfortably on the head and ears. (the abundant amount of earpiece cushioning Sony used also help immensely) NO you dont need to glue/screw/nailgun anything, this design is all purely push-fitted so its just off with the broken crap and slot on the new solid stuff....no mess....no fuss YES the design does look bulky if you rely on the pictures as reference (the camera adds 10Lbs so they say) but that more because I used such a contrasting coloured filament, it was literally what I had in my printer at the time and as I expected to have to make a handful of prototypes before finalizing the design I just went with it, as it turned out though, the first two proto's came off the bed and were a spot on fit so I went with them. YES you could use whatever filament you choose, I made these with PLA but theres no reason you couldnt use ABS, PETG or even a bit of the newer Carbon fibre mixed filament to get the more solid OEM type look NO the original earpieces ability to "breath" isnt impaired and you wont find your ears getting sweaty and sore from prolonged use (well no more than they ever did before they were modded anway) YES the Hex finish on the facia is purely cosmetic and if anyone want a "blank" version pair to do whatever the prefer to them then feel free to ask and Ill post up the STL