For anyone who was a bit confused like me, here are some notes on the re-assembly:

> the black adhesive strips we had to wrestle with before (holding battery, connecting board to battery, holding ribbon cables etc.) should all still be sticky and hold the components fine if you push them together once. You only really need to apply the e-8000 glue at the very end.

> manoeuvring the boards from the top and bottom half of the earbud back together (step 5) can be a bit finicky. I found it easiest to hold the two halves together like an open hinge with one hand, then place the pointer finger from my other hand on top of the board from the upper-shell and guide it until it’s aligned with its bottom counterpart, then gently push the connectors together.

> once both board are connected, before you glue, you can try placing the earbud into the charging case. A red charging light should appear for a few seconds if the battery is properly connected.

> apply the e-8000 glue around the seam on the bottom half, push and hold the two halves together for a few seconds

Done

I used a pair of needle nose tweezers for this step, any thin, delicate tool should work.

As other people have noted, the connectors are very thin so you do not need any force to bend them and it’s easy to break them off. I carefully slid my tweezers below the contact and slowly pushed them further under it - that was enough to make the contact bend at a better angle. You really don’t need to grip it with your tweezers and actively pull it up. Pushing slowly from below should give you more control so you can stop immediately when the metal starts to bend a bit.

For this step I used needle nose tweezers.

The adhesive strip used to hold the battery in place is the same strong black strip that held the board and battery together in step 8, you should have gotten a feel for how sticky it is so be prepared to use some (gentle) force for this step.

Remember the ribbon cable we disconnected in step 7? From the corner where it originates you can see the entire side of the battery and have the most access to the bottom. I inserted my needle nose tweezers below the battery and carefully (but firmly) levered it away from the adhesive. You need a thin tool to get below the battery but it needs to be sturdy enough to withstand the force you need to apply against the adhesive - in my case I used very thin metal tweezers and made sure not to touch anything with them but the plastic shell and bottom of the battery.

If you want a visual example of this technique, check out this video: https://youtu.be/x2twbzhtLaE?si=RlkDg2ul...

I used a plastic pry tool to get some leverage between battery and board, then an opening pick to slide between them.

Note that this is stronger adhesive strip, it will stretch as you try to pull these two components apart so it’s good to have a thin tool (I used the opening pick) to slide between them to push away the black adhesive as it stretches. For me all the adhesive neatly stuck to the back of the board after pushing an opening pick between it and the battery.

Beware of the thin metal connector that sits roughly in the middle of the board (see picture 3), many commenters have damaged this in step 10 so it’s probably good to be more careful here as well. Ideally, work your way around the board with your opening pick instead of pushing it all the way in from one side, to avoid accidentally bending the small connector in the middle.

For this step I used a pair of needle nose tweezers. I’m no expert on what can cause a short circuit in this step, so I tried to only touch the ribbon cable with my tweezers.

Make sure the black plastic latch from step 6 is as open as it can be. Get a good grip of the cable near the connector and slightly wriggle it left and right while pulling. For me this took more force than anticipated and I double, triple checked that the plastic latch wasn’t securing the cable anymore. If you are more visual and need to see an example of this process, check out this video: https://youtu.be/x2twbzhtLaE?si=bDv_a8Td...

Note that the person here is using plastic tweezers to open the latch, don’t try step 6 with a metal tool. For me step 7 worked out fine with metal tweezers but try to only touch the ribbon cable with them.

For this step I used a plastic pry tool, anything that is very thin and can work as a lever should do. Try inserting the tool of your choice into the thin gap between the two halves of the shell and wriggle it until it slides in - if you can’t do this, repeat step 3 to make sure your earbud is hot enough. Once you are able to slide your tool in the gap (you should see it widen ever so slightly) work around the seam from that entry point. For me the two halves separated as soon as I had pulled my tool through the entire circumference of the gap.

For this step I used a conventional hairdryer and an oven mitt:

Placing the oven mitt on my lap, the spot between the thumb and the rest of the hand works well to provide some resistance so the earbud isn’t blown away from the strong airflow. Use the hairdryer on its highest setting and point it away from you while the oven mitt should prevent your legs from getting too hot. Point the dryer at the earbud for a couple of seconds, then use your free hand to turn it and place it down again. If it feels hot to you, try to proceed with step 4 - if your thin tool of choice can’t slide into the gap between the halves, heat more (don’t forget to turn the earbud so the seam is heated from all sides). For me step 3&4 took about 15min on my first attempt (including a few attempts at step 4 and then re-heating because it wasn’t hot enough to get the tool in). Hope that helps.