Stickybud, The 3D Printed Earbud Holster for Google Glass

Google glass has been the buzz within the tech industry over the last year and a half or so. Although the buzz has calmed down a bit as of late, the smart glasses are now beginning to ship to some individuals in the United States.

In October, Google announced the Glass version 2, which had some moderate changes and added features. One such feature that version 2 incorporated was that of a mono earbud. The earbud is great for those who do not want to disturb others around them when taking a phone call or listening to their favorite beats, and was a feature generally well liked by the small, yet growing Glass community.

The earbud is simple to use. It plugs into the same USB port which is used for charging Glass. The bud, which is attached to a small cord can then be placed within the ear. The problem comes, however, when you are done using it. You either have to disconnect the tiny gadget, and hope that you do not lose it in the commotion of your hectic day, or leave it plugged in and attached to the Glass unit, dangling along the side of your head.

A New York City hardware hacker agency, called Voidstar Lab, has come up with a clever 3D printed solution to this problem. They have recently introduced, Stickybud, a 3D printed accessory for Google Glass, which will keep your mono earbud in place if you are temporarily done using it.

Stickybud is a magnetic dock that will easily slide over the plug of the earbud reponsible for holding it in place. If you are done listening to your favorite music, or a phone call has ended, simple move the earbud from your ear over to the magnetic holster. The entire setup weighs just 1.1 grams, which is about the weight of 2 dimes, so you will likely not even notice any weight difference.

The one issues which Voidstar Labs is working on, is that currently there is no way for Google Glass to detect whether the earbud is on your ear or on it’s magnetic holster. This means that if you were to get a phone call, or sound was to play, it will always go though the earbud instead of the Google Glass speaker. Because the Stickybud holder is so close to the ear, however, sound can still be heard, and the earbud can then quickly be moved over the wearer’s ear.

If you want a pair of your own Stickybuds, you have two options. You can head on over to Tindie, and purchase them in a variety of colors for $30, or better yet if you have access to a 3D printer, you can simply download the files and instructions on GitHub, and print them out at no cost, other than what you pay for materials. If you were to opt to purchase them, the StickyBuds are 3D printed with PLA filament on a MakerBot Replicator 2.

Have you bought or downloaded StickyBuds? Let’s hear what you think in the 3D printed Stickybud forum thread on 3DPB.com.