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Oh snap! I stepped on my Bose. Any repair suggestions?

ArVeeNiner

Well Known Member
Well, it finally happened. While I was getting out of my RV I stepped on my Bose X headset that had fallen on my seat and snapped it. I broke both of the arms on the horseshoe looking piece that goes to one of the ear muffs.

My first attempt at repairing this will be some glue or epoxy. Has anybody found an adhesive that would work here long term? I know some of our spacecraft adhesives here at work should do the trick but I think they would frown if I walked off with some!

Thanks!
 
There was a posting here last year for anyone that needed the Bose X yokes. A guy is making them on a 3D printer.
Here's the info: "Thank you for your interest in my replacement headset yokes. I am currently asking for $20 per side plus shipping (USPS Flat Rate Box @ $7.15). Please advise which side(s) (Left/Right) you are interested in purchasing and which color you desire. Once I have received the specifics of your order I will send a Google Wallet payment request to your email address. Once the payment has been received, I will process your order and send you a USPS tracking number. Please allow 2-3 days to process your order for black or gray yokes, other colors may take longer.

Thanks,
- Zachary" Here's his email: [email protected]
 
There was a posting here last year for anyone that needed the Bose X yokes. A guy is making them on a 3D printer.
Here's the info: "Thank you for your interest in my replacement headset yokes. I am currently asking for $20 per side plus shipping (USPS Flat Rate Box @ $7.15). Please advise which side(s) (Left/Right) you are interested in purchasing and which color you desire. Once I have received the specifics of your order I will send a Google Wallet payment request to your email address. Once the payment has been received, I will process your order and send you a USPS tracking number. Please allow 2-3 days to process your order for black or gray yokes, other colors may take longer.

Thanks,
- Zachary" Here's his email: [email protected]

Wow, thanks! I'll shoot him an email right now.
 
My first attempt at repairing this will be some glue or epoxy.

Many years ago when I broke a Bose consumer noise canceling headset while on a business trip, I walked into their retail store to seek advice and they replaced it on the spot without receipt no questions asked. I don't know if this policy extends to their aviation products, but you might try checking with mothership before attempting repair.
 
Last year at Sun N Fun Bose fixed a broken headset of mine at the show for no charge. They also replaced the ear cups and gave me a t shirt. I was impressed.
 
I broke a yoke a couple years ago and didn't know about the 3d printed option. That would be my first option. However, keep in mind that Bose headsets are TSO'd. If you repair it, it will likely invalidate the TSO. (Bose claims that's why they won't sell you parts.) Since you are flying experimentals you likely don't care about that, but you should at least know.

I've sent 2 into Bose now for repair for various reasons. It's a flat rate $250. Not cheap, but when the head set comes back it looks like new. They have a FAA repair station and send it back with tags (again, for the TSO mentioned above). The last set I sent in was pretty ragged, so got my money's worth on that one.

DEM
 
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There was a posting here last year for anyone that needed the Bose X yokes. A guy is making them on a 3D printer.
Here's the info: "Thank you for your interest in my replacement headset yokes. I am currently asking for $20 per side plus shipping (USPS Flat Rate Box @ $7.15). Please advise which side(s) (Left/Right) you are interested in purchasing and which color you desire. Once I have received the specifics of your order I will send a Google Wallet payment request to your email address. Once the payment has been received, I will process your order and send you a USPS tracking number. Please allow 2-3 days to process your order for black or gray yokes, other colors may take longer.

Thanks,
- Zachary" Here's his email: [email protected]

OK, I put an order it to Zachary. I'll report back.
 
In reply to Rallylancer, TSO is not required for headsets in our aircraft. That's why there are a few good discussions on this forum about building your own headset.

Ah, the joys of homebuilding!
 
Sounds like Bose has good customer service - for $1000 they should. I'd send 'em in before attempting my own repairs. Even if you didn't buy them new, give it a try. :)
 
It's a good racket for them, just like Garmin, a quick fix is $225 and big fix is $225. Just slap on a few bucks worth of ear cups and a pad and you have a $400 set of Bose X that you just paid $225 to replace a $2 plastic yoke. Sounds a bit like Apples business model... New model about to be released and Apple send out a "Slow down" bit of software to everyone's existing Apple.. UPGRADE..
 
It's a good racket for them, just like Garmin, a quick fix is $225 and big fix is $225. Just slap on a few bucks worth of ear cups and a pad and you have a $400 set of Bose X that you just paid $225 to replace a $2 plastic yoke. Sounds a bit like Apples business model... New model about to be released and Apple send out a "Slow down" bit of software to everyone's existing Apple.. UPGRADE..

Then again, I pay a Bose a month to rent a rusty hangar older than I am that floods whenever it rains. I find that when a company gets this successful, it's usually because the price is worth it, not because they're all evil greedy capitalists. :D
 
No, I find that as a company becomes the best game in town their customer service tends to become distant a greedy. Garmin used to have a decent customer service and a reasonable price a long time ago but then refused to deal with the aircraft owners, since then all TSO'd equipment must go through a dealer and the price rocketed.. And dealers charge you, too. The bigger Garmin got the worse they treated us. Bose aviation are pretty much top of the line, they know it, and it's a very small part of their business. Treating us like ATM's is their model. Lightspeed did the same thing. Apple is the same, probably one of the greediest of them all. I do my best trying not to support companies like these but sometimes you have little choice.

A prime example is this broken yoke, just a few bucks, and very easy to change out. Yet, Bose demands $225 to do just that and they will not sell any parts. Garmin charges a full service fee to replace a worn out backup battery. Go look at the service fee schedule for Garmin. YIKES!! The battery is about 5 bucks. (I change my own, takes about 20 minutes).
 
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A yoke broke on my Bose X headsets. I upgraded to the DC One-X and haven’t looked back. Less money, equal or better performance, and if it breaks, I can drop it off to DC in the morning and they will fix it same day for free! It was a no brainer for me, plus the Bluetooth is great on X-country flights.
 
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Epoxy? Go one better... JB Weld!

Last week I discovered my wife's Bose X had a broken yoke. Don't know what broke it - suspect it just gave up the ghost with all the thermal cycling it's been seeing of late.

Brought the headset home, removed the wire clip and pulled the wire from the yoke, then scuff-sanded the plastic to give some "tooth" for adhesion. Mixed up a batch of JB Weld, applied and let cure 48 hours. Reinstalled the wire and wire clip.

Looks a bit less appealing than a new yoke, but on Monday's flight it worked a charm. Net cost of the repair was likely $0.25...

If it breaks again I'm going to pull the wire from its track within the yoke, then cut and fit a piece of steel wire (small coat hanger) and JB-Weld it into the wiring track. The wire itself will be tacked to the JB-Weld using cyano-acrylic glue.

While I like the Bose, I'm not at all inclined to spend the CAD$300 it would take for a factory repair. I contrast this to my David Clarks which I purchased new in 1980 - I've suffered one microphone failure with them and no wiring or mechanical failures in 37 years or service. Bose would do well to revisit the mechanical design of their headsets. The ear cup yoke clearly is not the place to use plastic as the primary structure.
 
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Canadian Joy is right about the build structure of Bose headsets. Mine broke trying to replace the ear pads, and I was being gentle. The DC headsets are built more than strong enough to handle occasional abuse.
 
Thumbs up for Zachary!

OK, I received the replacement yoke from Zachary (see a post above for contact info) and installed it last night. It fits well and I'm very satisfied. The new part required no preps on my part except for running the three screws in first so that they can cut threads.

Note, one of the screws on the headset is a real PITA. It must be the world's smallest Torx fastener and it holds a tiny bracket down which secures the headset cable to the yoke. I thought I had just about every size Torx driver made but I only go down to a size 6. I finally got it out using a tiny jeweler's flat bladed screw driver. Getting it in was a pain as well. After dropping the tiny thing a number of times onto the floor I finally had success when I ran one of the other larger screws into this hole just to open it up a little bit.

The finish of the replacement yoke looks a little different than the original so you can tell it's a replacement if you look close but that doesn't bother me at all. I was also surprised that the new yoke had a small raised L on it (for left) just like the original.

Zachary's communications were great and it was shipped out quickly. For $27 my Bose X headset is back up and running. Now I want to change the ear pads!
 
OK, I received the replacement yoke from Zachary (see a post above for contact info) and installed it last night. It fits well and I'm very satisfied. The new part required no preps on my part except for running the three screws in first so that they can cut threads.

Note, one of the screws on the headset is a real PITA. It must be the world's smallest Torx fastener and it holds a tiny bracket down which secures the headset cable to the yoke. I thought I had just about every size Torx driver made but I only go down to a size 6. I finally got it out using a tiny jeweler's flat bladed screw driver. Getting it in was a pain as well. After dropping the tiny thing a number of times onto the floor I finally had success when I ran one of the other larger screws into this hole just to open it up a little bit.

The finish of the replacement yoke looks a little different than the original so you can tell it's a replacement if you look close but that doesn't bother me at all. I was also surprised that the new yoke had a small raised L on it (for left) just like the original.

Zachary's communications were great and it was shipped out quickly. For $27 my Bose X headset is back up and running. Now I want to change the ear pads!

Thanks for the Pirep... I have been holding on to Zach's information just in case someone needed one of those yokes, and if I needed one. As for the ear pads, they can be bought on ebay for very cheap, they come as a complete set with the screens. I've used them a few times. Just like new and you saved a few hundred $.
 
Thanks for the Pirep... I have been holding on to Zach's information just in case someone needed one of those yokes, and if I needed one. As for the ear pads, they can be bought on ebay for very cheap, they come as a complete set with the screens. I've used them a few times. Just like new and you saved a few hundred $.

I'll take a look. Thanks!
 
UPDATE-The yoke warped!

I finally flew with the repaired headset today. I left it on my seat while I ate breakfast. When I got back to the plane I found that the new yoke warped while the original didn?t. I mean, it warped A LOT! So much so that I can?t use the headset. It wasn?t particularly warm (under 70 degrees) so this shouldn?t have happened.

I sent Zachary an email asking if there are other plastics that don?t warp he can use. Hopefully he can send me a new part. I?ll report back.
 
I bought a replacement yoke from Zack too. Worked great for a few flights. Then I noticed it had warped and no longer sealed along the bottom of my ear allowing noise in I picked up a used A20 to use for now. Bose was not very consumer friendly to me either.
 
He has an article in KitPlanes magazine with links to the drawings so you can grab them (free) and send off to have your own made with whatever material might work better.
 
PM

Send me a PM with your address. I'm testing a new printer I have and wouldn't mind printing something useful to someone. the print material will be PETG in either black or gray, whatever color is in the printer at the time.

Edit: Found the link to the Kitplanes article one: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/daves-stuff?li=pb
 
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