Grab your tools and get ready to open up Chewbacca's face. First, unscrew the eight screws from the back of the mask.

Pop out the inner mask section and set it aside.

Look at how the mechanism works when you rotate the jaw — a pair of plastic cam press two momentary switches, triggering the sound — then remove the jaw and press the switches to activate the sounds

Remove the battery compartment outer cover, then unscrew and remove the battery holder lid, you won’t need it anymore, unless you want to reuse it and the battery holder for another project later.

Inside of the mask, unscrew the center plastic bracket above the speaker, and remove the bracket, this allows the circuit board to be pulled free.

Use your diagonal cutters to cut the two wires connected to the battery holder.


Pry out the inner battery pack holder by lifting it off of the peg to which it had previously been screwed. Set it aside, you won’t need it anymore (but keep it and the lid, because free AAA battery holder!)

Cut the two yellow speaker wires at surface of the original circuit board, then strip a bit of insulation from their ends so you can solder them to the Audio FX board later.

Flip over the mask's original circuit board and clip the red, black, and blue wires that from this side (these are the ones that connect the limit switches). Set aside the board, you’ll no longer need it -- but it'd be fun to circuit bend later!

Your mask is now ready for a brain transplant.

This guide was first published on Jul 28, 2016. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Mask Teardown) was last updated on Jul 10, 2016.

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