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Writer's pictureJinx Chin

Lightbulb Removal Hack

Updated: May 28, 2019

How many people does it take to unscrew a lightbulb where the glass part of the bulb has come off, leaving only the metal base still screwed to the socket?

Yea....I wasn't very amused either, when I was presented with this problem in real life!


The actual glass enclosure had actually come off, leaving just the E27 base screwed tight in the socket. There simply wasn't enough room for my fat fingers to get a grip of the base much less unscrew it. I tried using a pliers to unscrew the base from the socket, alas, to no avail.



This is when a lightbulb of an idea came to my mind (pun intended!). Why not try using the tip of a badminton shuttlecock (birdie)?


Being a badminton player in a previous life, I kinda roughly knew the size of the tip of the shuttlecock and thought, "Hey, this could actually help with the situation"

So all I had to do now was to insert the tip of the shuttlecock into the base of the bulb till it is tightly lodged in it, then twist the shuttlecock anticlockwise while keeping a pushing pressure onto the bass of the bulb to keep the friction between the cork of the tip of the shuttlecock and the base of the bulb.

Lo and behold, out came the bulb!


I know having a bulb stuck in a fixture with the glass part of the bulb detached from the base is probably pretty rare. On second thought, maybe not that rare since it is possible that the glass portion of the bulb could break from a severe power surge or something. I thought I'd post this up so that if anyone was ever in a similar situation, they would be able to solve the problem without having to stress out too much.


I guess I could call it my little contribution to the world of DIY, and seeing that I can't DIY to save my life, it is refreshing to know that my little noggin' of grey matter up there still can have an idea bulb or two!


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