Building My Own Wireless Earphone

I usually don't like throwing away electronics if I feel they can still be useful.

I had an old pair of Apple earphones that came with my iPhone 13. They use a Lightning connector, and after Apple switched to USB-C with the iPhone 15, I stopped using them. Eventually, they just ended up in my junk drawer.

Around the same time, I also had a Boat wireless earbuds that I had bought recently. They worked fine for the first few months, but after about three months, the left side stopped working. I could have thrown them away, but I was more interested in seeing if I could reuse the electronics inside them.

That's when I got the idea to combine both.

I opened the broken wireless earbuds and reused their Bluetooth circuit, while also reusing the useful parts from the Apple earphones. I then designed a completely new enclosure from scratch using Autodesk Fusion 360, instead of trying to fit everything into the original housings.

The idea was simple: take two pieces of hardware that I wasn't using anymore and turn them into something I would actually want to use.

I redesigned the enclosure around the electronics, worked on the internal layout, and built the earbuds from the ground up. I also wanted them to have 100+ hours of battery backup, good sound quality, and a clean design.

So this project isn't really about making another pair of wireless earbuds. It's about taking electronics that would otherwise sit in a drawer or end up as electronic waste, and giving them a completely new purpose.

Before building anything, I first needed to figure out how to fit all the electronics into a small, wearable enclosure.

I designed the entire enclosure from scratch in Autodesk Fusion 360. Since I was reusing the existing electronics, I measured the components first and used those dimensions to plan the internal layout.

From there, I worked on the outer shape, wall thickness, internal spaces, and the way the different parts would fit together. I wanted the final enclosure to be compact and comfortable to carry, while still leaving enough space for the electronics and battery.

The goal was to make it look and feel like a proper product, rather than just putting the electronics inside a generic 3D-printed box. After several adjustments to the dimensions and shape, I finalized the CAD model and prepared the parts for 3D printing.

Once the design was finalized in Fusion 360, I moved on to turning the CAD model into the actual enclosure.

The design is made up of only three 3D-printed parts — the main housing and the cover & clip. I printed both parts using PLA+ filament. For the final look, I went with a gray and orange combination, which gives the enclosure a clean appearance while adding a bit of contrast.

Once the printing was complete, I removed the parts from the build plate and cleaned up the edges and any small imperfections.

Since I only needed the earbud drivers and their wiring for the new design, I carefully removed the sections that were no longer needed. I cut the cable at the required points and separated the earbud portions from the original Lightning connector and cable.

I also kept the useful wiring as long as possible so I could connect the drivers to the wireless-earbud electronics later. The goal here wasn't to completely dismantle the earphones, but to keep the parts that could still be useful in the new build.

After cutting and separating the required parts, I had the Apple earbud drivers and wiring ready to be integrated into the new enclosure.

Since the battery charger circuit and USB-C port were already accounted for in the Fusion 360 design, there was no need for any additional modification to the housing.

I placed the charger circuit into its designated position inside the housing and aligned the USB-C connector with the cutout I had designed earlier.

Everything was designed to fit together from the start, so the assembly was mainly about placing each component in its intended position and keeping the wiring neat.

Next, I routed the wires from the cut Apple earphones into the housing. The housing has two small holes on the top, positioned near the USB-C port. These holes were design specifically for passing the earphone wires through.

I carefully passed the wires through the holes and into the housing, keeping them neat and making sure there was no unnecessary stress on the connections. This keeps the earphone drivers on the outside while the electronics remain neatly inside the housing.

Next, I installed the Bluetooth circuit from the wireless earbuds into the housing.

I placed the left and right earbud circuits inside and connected them to the Apple earphone wires routed through the top of the housing.

Next, I installed the battery for the earbuds. I used a new 400 mAh battery to get a good balance between capacity and the available space inside the housing. Since the battery is one of the main factors affecting the overall runtime, I chose a good-quality cell rather than reusing an old one. I positioned the battery inside the housing and connected it to the charging and Bluetooth circuit.

While assembling the electronics, I realized I had missed one small but important part — the power switch.

Instead of redesigning the entire housing, I made a small space inside the enclosure for a tiny switch. I positioned it where it could fit securely without interfering with the other components. I then installed the miniature power switch and connected it to the circuit.

It was a small addition, but it made the final build much more practical and easier to control.

I connected the Apple earphone wires to the speaker outputs of the Bluetooth circuit, then connected the Bluetooth circuit to the 400 mAh battery. The battery was connected to the charging circuit, with the power switch placed between the battery and Bluetooth circuit for on/off control.

Once all the connections were complete, I checked the wiring and arranged the components inside the housing so everything stayed in place. The attached image shows the final wiring and component arrangement inside the housing.

Once everything was tested and positioned properly, I closed the housing with the printed cover. I applied a small amount of glue around the edges and carefully fitted the cover onto the housing. I held it in place until the glue set and the enclosure was firmly closed.

To make it easy to wear, I added a small 3D-printed clip to the back of the housing. The clip was designed in Fusion 360 along with the main enclosure and printed separately using the same PLA+ filament.

I attached the clip to the back of the housing, giving the earbuds a simple way to clip onto clothing and stay in place while being worn. This makes the whole unit more practical to carry and use without needing to keep it in a pocket.

With the battery fully charged, I was ready for the first real test. I clipped it onto my clothing using the 3D-printed clip and turned it on using the small power switch. I then opened Bluetooth on my smartphone and paired it.

Once it was connected, I started playing some music to check the audio output. The sound quality was surprisingly good, especially considering that I had reused the original earphone drivers and the Bluetooth electronics from the broken earbuds.

I also checked the overall fit while wearing it. The clip held the unit securely on my clothing, and the compact enclosure made it easy to carry around.

The final look was also better than I expected. The gray and orange finish, compact enclosure, and wearable clip made it feel like a complete product rather than something assembled from old parts.

It started with two things I probably would have thrown away. An old pair of Apple earphones that had been sitting in my junk drawer, and a pair of wireless earbuds that stopped working properly after just a few months. Instead of letting them become more electronic waste, I decided to see what I could build from what I already had.

I reused the useful parts, designed a completely new enclosure in Fusion 360, 3D-printed it in PLA+, and assembled everything into a compact, wearable wireless audio device.

What I like most about this project is that the final result doesn't really look like where it started. It doesn't feel like a repair or a temporary experiment — it became something I can actually wear and use. I designed the enclosure around the hardware I had available and adapted the design as I built it.

It gave two forgotten pieces of electronics a completely new purpose — and turned my junk drawer into something I actually wanted to use.