All great questions! The easiest way to deal with the repair would be to use an existing wire with a plug on the end, no pause button, and you could get that from another damaged headphone device.

It would probably have three wires in the main cable and then after the splitter, each side would have two wires. Of the three in the main cable, one carries left signal, one carries right signal, and one is ground, aka return; ground is the only wire that would actually split at the splitter. Each headphone would get two wires; one signal, and one return/ground. A pause button complicates the situation; I don't know how those are wired, and as far as I know they work differently for Apple vs Android.

As another person said, these very thin wires are often varnished; each individual strand of wire is covered in a flexible varnish, which insulates it. That varnish needs to be removed before you can solder the wire; I know it is possible but I don't know how. I'd imagine it's done chemically, since the strands are far too thin to withstand any attempt to physically remove the varnish. If I were to try it without finding that info, I'd try burning the varnish off first, then cleaning it very well with a wire brush, and lots of solder flux. Not sure if that would work, but it *seems* like it might. I've never successfully tried anything like this because those wires are so damnedly thin and delicate, I gave up when I tried as a kid.

Are you trying to learn soldering skills, general repair skills, electronics skills, all of the above? Your answers might suggest a more simple starter project.

Thank you for your help.

Thank you for your help.

Yeah, will totally drop the resale value. Sundry and assorted mixed hardware set into clear epoxy would be a really weird aesthetic in a bedroom as well. Might work in a workshop, but not a bedroom. The whole reason the penny floor thing works is that they are uniform thickness and relatively thin so you don;t need that thick a coat of epoxy to achieve a smooth finish. You want something along those lines - something where whatever you are putting in the floor will be relatively flat and uniform already, and you are simply encapsulating it in epoxy.

Depending on where you are, if you are considering hard floors for a bedroom, you may want to consider heated floor compatible finishes. Thats one of the main reasons why folks carpet bedrooms

> I hate to say it but unless you want this to be a learning experience

That’s exactly what I want.

The soldiering isn’t too much of an issue, my main problem is figuring out all the wiring.

I don’t know how many cooper wires I need in the cord and where.

I don’t know how to attach a new 3.5 mm jack to my new cord, or if I should just buy a premade cord with a 3.5 mm jack already attached. And if I do buy one, how do I know it’ll have enough cooper wires for what I need

I don’t know to get braided cable for the exterior

I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I really want to learn how to do it

Pennies lay flat and are about a millimeter thick. Nuts and bolts will require a huge amount of epoxy to cover. This will be expensive and weigh a ton.

Reconsider this plan, find very thin objects instead, like washers.

I hate to say it but unless you want this to be a learning experience and you don't care about price, you'd be better off buying new headphones.

Also, if the solder keeps breaking, the solder isn't the problem. The wire should be held securely at a previous point; if the strain is on the solder, then that previous point has failed. Every modern electrical device has strain relievers where a moving wire connects to a device, and those strain relievers are meant to take the physical forces and protect the wire.

Looking at the pics in that Amazon link, it looks like this device is cheaply made, and so it has no visible strain relievers, which is probably a huge part of the problem. If you're dedicated to fixing these headphones even if it gets more expensive than a new pair, you should improve the strain relief situation. If I'm fixing a broken or missing strain reliever, I'll often use wraps of electrical tape, built up to increase the thickness. It doesn't look great, but it is something. A better solution is shrink-tubing, in layers, but that gets even more pricy. Not super expensive, just a bit more pricy.

If your solder points are breaking, it could be because their isn't adequate strain relief, or you're creating cold solder joints. To the first point, pulling on a cable should never put direct tension on solder joints. You could try wrapping a small zip tie around the cable on the part that stays inside the headphone casing, so that pulling on the cable puts pressure on the cable where the clamped zip tie contacts the headphone casing.

As for cold solder joints, you just have to make sure to properly tin the wire and solder point before connecting them. The solder point needs to be hot enough to make the solder adhere securely. Doing this over and over will probably start melting the plastic around the hot metal, so it's not great to solder and resolder a spot over and over.

I’ll do that thank you

If you're installing flooring and cabinets, install the flooring first. Good flooring is more permanent, cabinets get worn and replaced occasionally. You don't want to have to redo a floor later because the cabinets change.

Sometimes this is not an option however. Plus, I've done tile in new builds where they put in cabinets first then tile around, probably to save on cost (30 houses were built as fast and cheap as possible).

Check out this sub r/DIYAudioCables/

In cables — durability and fancy are pretty much the same.

If you buy “regular” wire, try to find how many cycles it is designed to bend for.

High flex count wiring is quite expensive.

> Most headphones rely on a varnished braid to keep the wire so small. If you’re replacing with something else, be mindful of cable thickness. It might look heavier gauge copper but will probably just be more insulation (not needed)

I just looking for something a bit more durable so nothing fancy

> You will be adding a lot of bulk to the mix

Im ok with that

> Fyi you won’t see a real difference in audio quality, the power transmission on headphones is super small. The reason headphones sound like headphones is that they generally don’t have active drivers, and the speaker itself is small

Not really looking for increased audio quality, just durability

> Higher quality solder isn’t really a thing (rohs is somewhat prone to cracking but probably not what you’ve got)

Alright, I’ll keep that in mind

Most headphones rely on a varnished braid to keep the wire so small. If you’re replacing with something else, be mindful of cable thickness. It might look heavier gauge copper but will probably just be more insulation (not needed)

You will be adding a lot of bulk to the mix

Fyi you won’t see a real difference in audio quality, the power transmission on headphones is super small. The reason headphones sound like headphones is that they generally don’t have active drivers, and the speaker itself is small

Higher quality solder isn’t really a thing (rohs is somewhat prone to cracking but probably not what you’ve got)

From southern Ontario Canada with the most climate fluctuations you can imagine. Also a professional cabinet installer. I can tell you almost certainly that a floating floor will not buckle with the cabinets on top. I have never seen it happen personally. I always ask people who claim this to tell me what they think weighs more - the lower cabinets screwed to the wall, or the full depth 36” French door fridge loaded full of groceries that they are going to set right on top of the floor. Same with the stove, and your big ass leather sectional couch. If the cabinets are going to “pin” the floor and cause it to buckle, then all those things are absolutely going to as well. Except that they don’t.

You know how much that will cost, a 2 gallon mix of epoxy is $120, it will cover about 2 sq. feet..

And, will probably drop the resale value.

Im not sure where you are from but it will absolutely have an effect on flooring if your in a climate with fluction in temperature

We generally don’t go under dishwashers. You have to deal with electrical lines and often isn’t enough headroom to raise the floor another 1/4”.

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We recently had our kitchen done by a custom kitchen company and used porcelain tile. They tiled the whole floor and set everything on the tile. I'm pretty sure that floor will withstand WW III.

I have 2 reasons I went cabinets first,
-I am tall, so I put my cabinets on a 2 inch high platform. so now countertops are 38" off the finished floor. which is awesome. it should be the new standard, even my short wife loves it
-I used expensive wood floor in the kitchen. so no reason to put that under the counter tops. saved me a few hundred

I did put it under the fridge.

So cabinets should be installed then flooring, because flooring is often replaced much more often then the cabinets

I put mine on a platform made of 2x4 and 1/2 inch of plywood. my countertops are now at least 38 inches tall, its amazing. no one has ever said they are too tall(wife is 5'3") and my back feels amazing

It will have absolutely no effect on the floors.

The lowers are anchored to the wall, most of the weight is at the studs. This is literally just something flooding manufacturers say so that they have a reason to void your warranty.

There is plenty of room for grout and tile.

And I have to make a slight adjustment to part of the floor which is raised slightly where I had an island.