My iPad slipped off the bed the other day and landed on the earphone jack (Apple Earphones) snapping it off flush with the iPad case. The problem was now how to get the broken jack out of the socket? This is my fix.
There was the vestige of the centre core protruding but not enough to catch hold of. I discovered that the plastic remaining in the socket could be levered out with the tip of a craft knife or you could use a pin to remove the top plastic ring insulating ring of the jack left in the socket. For my fix to work you have to remove this bit of plastic. You maybe able to shake it out or hook it out with the bent tip of a pin.
Materials
- Pin
- Satay stick, wooden kebab skewer or similar piece of soft wood to fit in jack socket.
- Super Glue
For the next step I used a "Satay Stick", these are square ended wooden skewer/kebab sticks made from a softish bamboo used for Chicken Satay and the like. They are just the right size to fit in the socket hole. Removed the plastic ring to expose the central conductor for the jack, gently press and rotate the Satay stick to make a hole in the centre. Put the tiniest amount of Super Glue into the hole in the stick, dont let it get down the sides of the stick. If it does trim off and have another go. Carfull reinsert the stick into the hole and press for about 10 sec. give another 30 sec to make sure fully stuck and then pull stick straight out. With a bit of luck the result should look like the photo below.
