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Vibrant Gorilla Glass Scratch Repair

Howdy folks! I'm new to XDA, I just bought myself a T-Mobile Vibrant and I'm ready to get under the hood of an Android phone and tinker around a bit. Unfortunately, I'm a busy engineering student and I don't have any significant programming skills yet, or time to develop them. However I have completed a project that I hope will be of use to some of the members here.
Preface
A few weeks ago I managed to scratch my screen quite badly. From the impressions I got from reading about Gorilla Glass, I assumed that I could get away with not having a screen cover for a little while. It turns out that this was a very bad idea. While Gorilla Glass is very tough, even if you are careful with it, there are situations where it can get scratched quite easily. I accidentally put a plastic credit card style hotel key in the same pocket with my phone. I am very anal about my screen and I check it for scratches each time I put in my pocket. After about twenty minutes of the hotel key being in my pocket with the phone, the screen went from completely flawless to very badly scratched. There was no metal on the card; it was entirely plastic. My theory is that some grit became trapped between the card and the screen. Either way, it goes to show that Gorilla glass is not impervious to damage.
Shots of the damage:
P.1
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P.2
P.3
As you can see there were several deep scratches and many more scuffs. Many of them were visible when the phone was on and caused ugly lines of distorted color. I'm afraid I forgot to take pics of the phone with the screen on before I started the repairs, but you can see what I'm talking about in the later pictures. This kind of screen condition is, IMHO unacceptable. I called up Samsung and they said it would be 160$ to repair the damage. The entire AMOLED screen has to be replaced because the glass is built in. Even though the information I was able to gather about gorilla glass polishing was less than encouraging, I figured that I may as well give it a shot. Worst case, I ruined the screen. The tech support guy confirmed that the Vibrant, (and I assume all galaxy S phones) have no coating of any kind, it's just glass.
Part 1: Materials and Preparation
Looking around I learned that some people had had some success polishing their non-Gorilla Glass iPhones with an industrial glass polishing compound called cerium oxide. I called around town to several windshield repair specialists and found someone who was nice enough to give me some for free! If you don't have as good luck you'll need to buy it online, because as far as I could tell it is not carried in stores. It can be purchased from Amazon
Some of the iPhone polishing guides mentioned that high grit sandpaper is useful to polish out deeper scratches. I went up to an Auto Zone and purchased a pack of 1000, 1500, 2000 grit wet dry sandpaper as well.
Even though the phone has a seal around the screen, I figured it would be worth it to tape up the edges with electrical tape. At the very least this needs to be done to the speaker. I found that the electrical tape worked extremely well, and left no annoying residue.
P.4
Part 2: Sanding
The second step is to sand the screen's phone down. The objective of this part is to remove the top layer of glass that has the scratches in it. This part is important as the polish is not abrasive enough to eliminate any but the lightest scratches.
Guides for polishing older iPhones warn you to go very easy on this part and say that you expect to significant result in about ten seconds. This is not true with Gorilla Glass. On my first attempt I went at it very hard with 1000 grit for several hours. This proved to be entirely insufficient:
P.5
P.6
As you can see I got a little bit of a scuff going, but was unable to remove enough of the top layer of glass to get rid any of the remotely deep scratches. You can see in the second picture that most of the scratches can be seen in spite of the scuff marks. In order for this screen to turn out properly, the old scratches need to be completely obliterated by the finer scuff marks. After I polished out my first attempt, it was clear that I had made very little progress. Application of a screen protector (not pictured) only exacerbated the deep scratches, due to the fact that an air pocket was created in the groves from the scratches.
P.7
P.8
So I gave it another shot. This time I went down to 800 grit and pressed down as hard as I dared without breaking the screen. In order to avoid excessively polishing one area and getting lensing I kept moving over the entire screen. There are two things to note here. First, keep the sand paper wet. Make a puddle of water on the screen that you can use to quickly rewet your sandpaper. I tried dry sanding, but that wasn't any faster and introduced a few new scratches that required more polishing to get out. Keeping the paper wet seems to alleviate this issue. Second, Gorilla Glass with eat your sand paper for breakfast. It will lose most of it ability to affect the screen after a few seconds. I cut my sheet of sandpaper into one inch squares and switched about every ten seconds. This seemed to help things go faster.
After a looong time, the original scratches were almost gone and the screen has a nice matte finish. This took several hours. This next pic compares properly sanded surface to polished surface in the center. Notice that the original scratches are no longer visible and that the unpolished surface has a nice homogenous texture.
P.9
I stopped sanding when the deepest scratches were almost but not completely gone. The key here is to smooth them out enough so that you don't have rough edges that diffract the screen light. If you have done it right, the scratches with be so shallow and polished that there will be no air gap created under the protector, and they will disappear completely.
Because the sanding takes so long, I suggest experimenting with something a bit harder than sandpaper. 800 or 1000 grit diamond polishing compound would probably be more effective. This stuff is designed for polishing metal, so it might do the trick.
Part 3: Polishing
On to the polishing! You will need to use a drill press, drill or some kind of rotary tool or else this part will simply take too long. I used a rotary tool with a felt wheel. This part took some tweaking to get right. You want to have a bowl of water and a bowl of cerium oxide mix handy. Mix a bit of water into the cerium oxide until you have a nice thick texture with no lumps in it. Dip the rotary tool in the cerium oxide water mixture, and start it up before you pull it all the way out of the bowl or else the polish will go everywhere. Also, dab a bit of polish and water on the phone and mix it together into a very thin mix. You can pull a bit of this into your work area from time to time to keep your polishing pad from drying out. This takes some finesse, but you will have plenty of time to perfect it. Again, you will need to press down very hard to get results. Gorilla Glass is very tough! This will generate a good amount of heat, so keep moving and touch the screen every so often to make sure you don't cook the phone's innards! Also, I recommend getting some kind of cloth bit if you can. The felt wasn't durable enough and disintegrated easily.
P.10
This will take quite a while, but if you keep at it, the scuff should start to give way to a nice shine like you see in P.9. I turned it on to make sure it still worked from time to time. Notice the pink areas where I have not begun to polish yet.
P.11
Here, I am very nearly finished with the process. There is still some polish to be done near the edge. At this point I abandoned the electrical tape except for on the speaker so I could get closer to the edge of the phone. Happily, it caused no problems!
P.12
It’s a little dirty, but the scratches are almost gone.
When I had finished, there were still some very slight "orange skin" looking areas in the glass when you held it up to the light, but it was all smooth. That is the key. The protector will eliminate this "orange skin" effect.
P.13
After application of the screen protector, (I used a REALOOK, it's fantastic. Other members have attested to this.) Few scratches were visible, and those that were could only be seen when the phone was viewed in just the right light. The photographs exaggerate them, but it really does look perfect when the screen is on, which is mission accomplished in my book!
Pics P.14 through P.17 were taken with the protector installed. Note that a lot of what you see on the screen are not scratches, but dust on top of the cover.
P.14
P.15
You can see the "haze" from the protector in P.15. It is exaggerated in the lighting. It is not at all visible when the phone is in use.
And some shots of the phone in action:
P.16
P.17
The touch screen did not suffer any damage or degradation in performance as a result of the polishing or the application of the screen protector.
All of these pics are available in high resolution at this imgur gallery:
My technique was modified from this article on removing scratches from an iPhone without Gorilla Glass.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Removing-Iphone-screen-scratches/

I did not realize gorrila glass was easily scratchable. I see youtube videos of people taking nails and screws to it without a single scratch but after this Im a bit worried not using a SP. Thanks for the info though.

No clue how you got those scratches, but thank you for a VERY good post. I'll be sure and add this to the sticky a bit later. Great job with the post man, really helpful.
Still confused about the scratches... I ALWAYS carried my plastic swipe card with my phone, no issues... ever.

The only way I can see that happening is that I got some grit in-between the phone and the card, and it rubbed. After my experience with the sandpaper, I can safely say that there is no possible way that plastic could do that. Still there's no way around it, I put the phone in my pocket with the card, and 20 minutes later, scratches.
I was at a natural park, so it's very possible that some sand, or something a bit harder than you would normally encounter got in there, but sooner or later it certainly can happen.

scratch repair
Nasty!
This is the first phone I've ever used a screen protector for and I put it on at the store when I unboxed the phone. It wasn't a day before I dropped the phone and was so very glad I'd put the protector on.
Regarding the buffing, I've had good luck getting scratches off the iPod touch with good old fashioned toothpaste and a finger. I'd be terrified to take a wheel to it with the amount of heat those things can generate.
Thanks for posting!

Yes the heat is a good point. I had to be careful about that. I'll note that in the OP.
Tooth paste and a finger will not touch this glass. It's just far, far too hard.

jrharvey said:
I did not realize gorrila glass was easily scratchable. I see youtube videos of people taking nails and screws to it without a single scratch but after this Im a bit worried not using a SP. Thanks for the info though.
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Click to collapse
It all depends on how it happens.
As you can see from the OPs suffering, he had a hard time with sandpaper! Yet, something that happened to be in his pocket scratched it up something fierce.
Moral of the story, get a screen protector, you'll be the 1/10000 that manages to scratch his screen if you don't.
Also, OP...THANK YOU very much for this post. I might have to do this for my girlfriend, she scratched her screen on her earrings before we got the screen protector put on.

I have a nice vibrant with dead pixels.. Wasn't me to do a scratch test? I've taken a key and a screw to the corner already.. I used alot of force and it can only be seen with oil from my fingers.. But after cleaning the screen with a cloth they disappear.. I have no problem messing up this screen if y'all want me too...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

junkdruggler said:
I have a nice vibrant with dead pixels.. Wasn't me to do a scratch test? I've taken a key and a screw to the corner already.. I used alot of force and it can only be seen with oil from my fingers.. But after cleaning the screen with a cloth they disappear.. I have no problem messing up this screen if y'all want me too...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do it, Do it, Do it!! haha

The Asian Youtube Video DOES SHOW SCRATCHES.
jrharvey said:
I did not realize gorrila glass was easily scratchable. I see youtube videos of people taking nails and screws to it without a single scratch but after this Im a bit worried not using a SP. Thanks for the info though.
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Click to collapse
I've heard people reference this Asian video saying "wow no scratches,"
I guess people aren't looking closely, you clearly DO see scratches.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xASJobjD68
First scratch evident at 1:47-150, you have to pause at the right angle!
more scratches evident at 1:54
More scratches evident 3:05
And again at 3:10-3:11
And of course, friends of mine with the Galaxy S unprotected, and of course, scratches!
Protect that screen! Interesting thread through.

That's why I still have the screen protector on when there were so many people saying that it is scratches proved blablabla...

I'll pay the $160 before I put on a screen protector. Actually, I *did* pay the $160 already. Ha ha. I dropped my Vibrant on cement about two days after owning it and massively cracked the screen. If I get a light scratch then I can live with it but if it's like yours looked in the original post, I would pay the $160. Meanwhile I keep it in a pouch when it's in my pocket.

Excellent post
Excellent post
Not sure how the scratches were so deep unusual. Anyway, if people are interested in this kind of fix you can go to a gem stone supply and get the polishing compounds that are graduated (fine to finest) and use these. The fine will cut more and take the large defects and then move to finer and then finer. Remember the heat issue always check the surface and make sure it never gets too hot to touch.
Excellent post

I believe Ghost Armor should be a top priority for us Vibrant owners. I am a Ghost Armor employee. Do your research. It would of protected your phone from ever getting any scratches. Plus it also helps from impacts. Dropped my vibrant face down on tile and its still spotless. $25 for a full body wrap is a great deal.. especially with a lifetime warranty! PM me for more details.

MidShipRunabout2 said:
I believe Ghost Armor should be a top priority for us Vibrant owners. I am a Ghost Armor employee. Do your research. It would of protected your phone from ever getting any scratches. Plus it also helps from impacts. Dropped my vibrant face down on tile and its still spotless. $25 for a full body wrap is a great deal.. especially with a lifetime warranty! PM me for more details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you can get us a huge discount, oh like maybe 50% or more off the price

MidShipRunabout2 said:
I believe Ghost Armor should be a top priority for us Vibrant owners. I am a Ghost Armor employee. Do your research. It would of protected your phone from ever getting any scratches. Plus it also helps from impacts. Dropped my vibrant face down on tile and its still spotless. $25 for a full body wrap is a great deal.. especially with a lifetime warranty! PM me for more details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The girlfriend & I have both done that WITHOUT ghost armor and had no scratches.
And how is a thin piece of plastic going to help with impacts? It might help with the side effects of impacts (you know getting scratched while hitting the ground), but it's not going to be enough to cushion the impact itself any noticeable amount.
You might want to run some things by your legal dept. before you start acting as spokesman.
I've also read that while the GA is great as a SP, as a full body cover, it seems to peel after a few months of normal use.

Wow, very nice work man. No way would I have had the patience for that

SamsungVibrant said:
Maybe you can get us a huge discount, oh like maybe 50% or more off the price
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Click to collapse
If a group interest is made I could see what I could do.

tjhart85 said:
The girlfriend & I have both done that WITHOUT ghost armor and had no scratches.
And how is a thin piece of plastic going to help with impacts? It might help with the side effects of impacts (you know getting scratched while hitting the ground), but it's not going to be enough to cushion the impact itself any noticeable amount.
You might want to run some things by your legal dept. before you start acting as spokesman.
I've also read that while the GA is great as a SP, as a full body cover, it seems to peel after a few months of normal use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love how you call it a thin piece of plastic. It's actually polyurethane, which is a pretty sturdy material. Please dont tell me you believe a hard case is necessary for your phone.. Please amuse me..
I am a sales person that stands by my product.
It will peel depending on your usage of the phone.. Thats why we offer a lifetime warranty..
Any more questions?

junkdruggler said:
I have a nice vibrant with dead pixels.. Wasn't me to do a scratch test? I've taken a key and a screw to the corner already.. I used alot of force and it can only be seen with oil from my fingers.. But after cleaning the screen with a cloth they disappear.. I have no problem messing up this screen if y'all want me too...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But Will it Blend?
MidShipRunabout2 said:
I believe Ghost Armor should be a top priority for us Vibrant owners. I am a Ghost Armor employee. Do your research. It would of protected your phone from ever getting any scratches. Plus it also helps from impacts. Dropped my vibrant face down on tile and its still spotless. $25 for a full body wrap is a great deal.. especially with a lifetime warranty! PM me for more details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this as soon as the Ghost Armor kiosk at my mall got the Vibrant protector. It took them almost 2 weeks after I got my Vibrant for them to get it in. I had to go naked for TWO WHOLE WEEKS.
Back when I first got my iPhone (3 years ago) I got the InvisibleShield, but I prefer Ghost Armor, because firstly, it doesn't get that yellow discoloration, and secondly, with the kiosk at the mall, I don't have to worry about improper installation. The top part of my Vibrant got all messed up (some lint got in there and then it spread) and the guy at the Ghost Armor kiosk just replaced it for free! (Of course, there'd be an installation fee if I wanted to replace the whole screen part or the full body, but still!) My friend also got Ghost Armor on his iPhone 3G and it saved his screen from breaking into a million pieces when he dropped it on a rock (It still cracked though.)
If you don't want to take it from an employee, take it from a satisfied customer. Encase your Vibrant in Ghost Armor ASAP!

Nexus 7 Screen Replacement Repair Guide

Want to gain access to the internals of your Nexus 7? This repair guide will walk you through replacing a broken or damaged screen or any other internal components on your Nexus 7.
This repair disassembly guide will help you to install the following Google Asus Nexus 7 parts:
Google Asus Nexus 7 LCD + Touch Screen Digitizer
Internal parts on the Nexus 7
Tools Required:
Safe Open Pry Tool
Small Phillips Screwdriver
Adhesive Strips (For Touch Screen Replacements)
Hot Air Gun / Hair Dryer
Google Asus Nexus 7 tablet Take apart guide:
Power off the device
Begin by using the safe open pry tool to separate the back cover from the device by sliding the pry tool which release the clips and the back cover should come right off
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Figure 1​
With the back cover removed, disconnect the battery by simply pulling out the connection with the safe open pry tool
Figure 2​
You can now remove the battery using the safe open pry tool
Starting from the lower right side, slowly start pulling up the copper tape
Gently remove the black tape covering the LCD connection, Note- the metal shield may come off with the tape which is fine
Next you will need to release 5 connections located in this area, the 2 for the yellow ribbon (jaw connection) is for the USB and audio jack, the 2 jaw connections next to each other are for the touch screen digitizer and the single pop connection is for the LCD
On the top left (under the information sticker) you will need lift up and release the jaw connection holding in the volume button flex cable and then remove the cable which is held in place by adhesive
Using the small Phillips screwdriver you will need to remove 7 Phillips screws which are holding the motherboard in place
Figure 3​
On the bottom remove 5 Phillips screws which are holding the audio jack and USB charging port
Figure 4​
Around the perimeter there is 14 more screws that will need to be removed in order to remove the mid frame
Next remove the jumper flex cable by releasing the jaw connection
Figure 5​
Now you will need to apply heat, use a hot hair dryer or heat gun for about 15 seconds on each side warming and loosening the adhesive
You can now separate the screen assembly from the frame of the front assembly
Simply replace the damaged parts with the new ones and reverse the order to put your tablet back together again.

repairsuniverse said:
Want to gain access to the internals of your Nexus 7? This repair guide will walk you through replacing a broken or damaged screen or any other internal components on your Nexus 7.
This repair disassembly guide will help you to install the following Google Asus Nexus 7 parts:
...
...
[*]Simply replace the damaged parts with the new ones and reverse the order to put your tablet back together again.
[/LIST]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is said everywhere that the touchscreen is "fused" to the LCD, so as to make an effort to separate them royally futile. How that's determined goes unsaid, but my understanding of "fusing" means that the 2 pieces of glass are melted by heat together, which process would merge them into one unit. Which I don't think is the case since digitizers and LCDs are sold as separate units all over the place, and scrutinizing the edge of new and old LCDs from high-resolution pics suggests they're just bonded to the digitizers.
The attached thumbs below are examples: Pieces of the digitizer where highlighted (jagged border) broke off it, revealing the perfectly symmetric shape of the LCD beneath. Should they be fused, breaking one would necessarily break the other in the same pattern. Of course, I may be wrong, but until someone other than an Asus apologizer can prove otherwise...
If they are just bonded - not "fused" - together, then there could be a way to separate them. The question is whether it can be done without damaging one or the other, depending on what needs to be replaced. The majority of cases I've seen deal with broken digitizers. At this point, I'm willing to tackle this task just to find out, but would like as much input as possible before engaging, whether it be heat, solvents, or other means. So please, voice your thinking and experiences. (People with experience in glass working and their ideas as to what kind of glue would've been used for this would be immensely helpful).
The unit is obviously poorly designed unless your aim is to coerce consumers to buy some part they don't need. Some claim it is to prevent dust specks from getting in between, but I'm not aware of countless other tabs with separable pieces representing a major problem when replacing one or the other. Again, do pitch in to help. Thank you.

I would have to agree with you about the term "fused" compared to "bonded". The Nexus 7 is definitely bonded (by our definition). It is an EXTREMELY sticky bonding adhesive holding the screens together. Like many other "bonded" screen assemblies, the screens can be separated, with enough time and heat. However, there is where you run into the big issue - how to clean off the leftover adhesive.. The LCD is obviously going to be fragile, so an extreme amount of patients would be needed. Using an adhesive solvent to remove all the adhesive would raise a few issues - weakening the LCD screen (possible long term damage?), scratches, and other surface damages to the LCD.
The final issue with this will be how to attach the new screen. Using traditional adhesive may cause the touch screen to press against the LCD causing bubbling/discoloration/etc. We have seen many companies who have the same (or similar?) adhesive used to initially bond the two screens and performed this repair successfully, but without the right tools and experience with it, the full screen assembly is highly suggested.

Adhesive
repairsuniverse said:
I would have to agree with you about the term "fused" compared to "bonded". The Nexus 7 is definitely bonded (by our definition). It is an EXTREMELY sticky bonding adhesive holding the screens together. Like many other "bonded" screen assemblies, the screens can be separated, with enough time and heat. However, there is where you run into the big issue - how to clean off the leftover adhesive.. The LCD is obviously going to be fragile, so an extreme amount of patients would be needed. Using an adhesive solvent to remove all the adhesive would raise a few issues - weakening the LCD screen (possible long term damage?), scratches, and other surface damages to the LCD.
The final issue with this will be how to attach the new screen. Using traditional adhesive may cause the touch screen to press against the LCD causing bubbling/discoloration/etc. We have seen many companies who have the same (or similar?) adhesive used to initially bond the two screens and performed this repair successfully, but without the right tools and experience with it, the full screen assembly is highly suggested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me the pressing issue is how to separate them. Once that's done, instead of using optical adhesive patch that would cover the whole LCD surface, why not use strong adhesive along its borders only? Such way doesn't differ from bonding the 2 components in other tabs and won't raise any specter of air bubbles trapped in between. In the alternative, should one break both in the process, one can buy the 2 parts separately and bond them together on one's own. Granted, the saving will be minimal for now, but it gives the knowledge, and the ease of replacing just one part next time either cracks. Am I making sense?
Add: cleaning off the leftover adhesive shouldn't be too much of a problem with solvent like goo-gone if you leave it on the surface for half-a-day. I've done it with another Asus LCD screen and no damage resulted therefrom.

graphdarnell said:
To me the pressing issue is how to separate them. Once that's done, instead of using optical adhesive patch that would cover the whole LCD surface, why not use strong adhesive along its borders only? Such way doesn't differ from bonding the 2 components in other tabs and won't raise any specter of air bubbles trapped in between. In the alternative, should one break both in the process, one can buy the 2 parts separately and bond them together on one's own. Granted, the saving will be minimal for now, but it gives the knowledge, and the ease of replacing just one part next time either cracks. Am I making sense?
Add: cleaning off the leftover adhesive shouldn't be too much of a problem with solvent like goo-gone if you leave it on the surface for half-a-day. I've done it with another Asus LCD screen and no damage resulted therefrom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tried it

Yes I understand what you are meaning.
If you increased the lift of adhesive to avoid bubbles or LCD pressure I would be slightly concerned about how the digitizer would then fit in the frame/device. The glass could be protruding from the frame slightly, allowing it to get caught. But if it is possible to just stack the adhesive a bit more than then that is a great way to only have to replace one screen for the rest of the device's life.
Interesting about your note about Goo-Gone. I would have suspected that a solvent like that would cause some damage to the outer layer of the LCD. From experience and other techs I understand that that aggressive of a solvent can cause brittleness.

xavierxxx2p said:
tried it
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Click to collapse
And what was the outcome, if you care to share?
---------- Post added at 11:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------
repairsuniverse said:
Yes I understand what you are meaning.
If you increased the lift of adhesive to avoid bubbles or LCD pressure I would be slightly concerned about how the digitizer would then fit in the frame/device. The glass could be protruding from the frame slightly, allowing it to get caught. But if it is possible to just stack the adhesive a bit more than then that is a great way to only have to replace one screen for the rest of the device's life.
Interesting about your note about Goo-Gone. I would have suspected that a solvent like that would cause some damage to the outer layer of the LCD. From experience and other techs I understand that that aggressive of a solvent can cause brittleness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would think a thin layer of flexible epoxy wouldn't add that much to the thickness of the glass, given that the bezel still allows a thin margin in height.

I would think a thin layer of flexible epoxy wouldn't add that much to the thickness of the glass, given that the bezel still allows a thin margin in height.
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Click to collapse
A bit of epoxy may be the trick. Let us know if you follow through with the project and let us know the outcome!

repairsuniverse said:
A bit of epoxy may be the trick. Let us know if you follow through with the project and let us know the outcome!
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I'm kind of tied up for the time being, but certainly will let you know how it turns out.

graphdarnell said:
I'm kind of tied up for the time being, but certainly will let you know how it turns out.
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Hi there,
I wonder if you were successful in separating the digitizer from the LCD. I will get a broken Nexus 7 and am also looking for a solution. I looked a bit into this and found these informations that could help...
I assume the pro's do it somehow like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfuTVjI_Wao
They use heating plates like this one: https://www.gounlock.com/details.php?itemId=7192
There's an interesting note about temperatures:
Different materials of LCD, digitizer and glue requires different temperature. If the temperature is too high, it may damage the part. So it's better to start at a lower temperature first, and increase it when it's necessary. For example, you can start at 100C, put the LCD/digitizer combo on the board for 5 munites. If the glue is still not softened, then increase by 10C or 20C each time until you get to a working temperature. Next time when you work on the same LCD/digitizer combo, you can start with this optimum temperature right the way.
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I'd start at lower degrees, maybe 60° C and see if I can get some kinde of wire beween digitizer and glass. Maybe I'd start with fishing line or dental floss?
And here are some more machines, which are capable of doing this. Note that they always heat the things:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r7hacgrIO8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAF6tfgZnWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgbNz8mLWRs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=FL6s5F-0yqc
you see that there is a small line or wire that cuts the digitizer off the glass...
The same method could be possible to do with tablets, if you beleive this chinese vendor of "refurbishing machines":
http://www.aliexpress.com/item-img/...eperator-refurbishment-machine/939659104.html
This one is also interesting. Look how he takes off the glass of an iphone 4 [at 2:00] and then removes the glue form the LCD screen [around 7:41] : http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=QQOVuZxj8oM
Or you can use a product like this:
http://lcdglue.com/LCD-Glue-Remover.html
One problem could be the size of the Nexus 7. It's bigger than all the devices we see in these videos. But theoretically it should work exactly the same way...
If that is all true, one needs:
1. A controllable heating plate (or a hot air gun and an infrared thermometer to check temperatures)
2. Some kind of wire that is good enough to stand the heat but doesn't hurt the LCD
3. Something to hold the glass while you saw with the wire
4. If successful, you need the right liquid to remove the glue off the LCD
5. A replacement glass/digitizer unit and your recovered LCD
6. An idea how to align the LCD right (ar an LCD calibration app for afterwards)
7. A liquid adhesive for touchscreens (Liquid Optical Clear Adhesive) or any other method to stick the digitizer to the LCD
This is all theoretical, but points 1-5 seem to possible. I am not yet clear how to achieve points 6-7.
I'll get a broken Nexus 7 in some days and I'll try to experiment with the broken display unit. In the worst case I have to replace LCD and digitizer...
Thanks for letting us know once you try something...
rgds

DeGon said:
Hi there,
I wonder if you were successful in separating the digitizer from the LCD. I will get a broken Nexus 7 and am also looking for a solution. I looked a bit into this and found these informations that could help...
I assume the pro's do it somehow like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfuTVjI_Wao
They use heating plates like this one: https://www.gounlock.com/details.php?itemId=7192
There's an interesting note about temperatures:
I'd start at lower degrees, maybe 60° C and see if I can get some kinde of wire beween digitizer and glass. Maybe I'd start with fishing line or dental floss?
And here are some more machines, which are capable of doing this. Note that they always heat the things:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r7hacgrIO8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAF6tfgZnWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgbNz8mLWRs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=FL6s5F-0yqc
you see that there is a small line or wire that cuts the digitizer off the glass...
The same method could be possible to do with tablets, if you beleive this chinese vendor of "refurbishing machines":
http://www.aliexpress.com/item-img/...eperator-refurbishment-machine/939659104.html
This one is also interesting. Look how he takes off the glass of an iphone 4 [at 2:00] and then removes the glue form the LCD screen [around 7:41] : http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=QQOVuZxj8oM
Or you can use a product like this:
http://lcdglue.com/LCD-Glue-Remover.html
One problem could be the size of the Nexus 7. It's bigger than all the devices we see in these videos. But theoretically it should work exactly the same way...
If that is all true, one needs:
1. A controllable heating plate (or a hot air gun and an infrared thermometer to check temperatures)
2. Some kind of wire that is good enough to stand the heat but doesn't hurt the LCD
3. Something to hold the glass while you saw with the wire
4. If successful, you need the right liquid to remove the glue off the LCD
5. A replacement glass/digitizer unit and your recovered LCD
6. An idea how to align the LCD right (ar an LCD calibration app for afterwards)
7. A liquid adhesive for touchscreens (Liquid Optical Clear Adhesive) or any other method to stick the digitizer to the LCD
This is all theoretical, but points 1-5 seem to possible. I am not yet clear how to achieve points 6-7.
I'll get a broken Nexus 7 in some days and I'll try to experiment with the broken display unit. In the worst case I have to replace LCD and digitizer...
Thanks for letting us know once you try something...
rgds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have the feeling that either fishing line or dental floss wouldn't do: they might either melt or snap, since the adhesive seems pretty strong, though I doubt they applied anything stronger than that used on other tablets. I would try an E guitar string (1st one and the thinnest) in lieu of a metal wire you see in the youtube video. Since it's smooth, it hopefully won't scratch the LCD. I would do one corner at a time, and would not saw, but rather slice through when the glue is sufficiently softened. Still busy and haven't gotten around to it yet, but would welcome any progress report.

graphdarnell said:
I would try an E guitar string (1st one and the thinnest) in lieu of a metal wire you see in the youtube video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good Idea. I'll try that. Fishing line would maybe work if it's not too hot.
Another idea I had for the warming plate was to take an iron you use to iron clothes. Attach it somehow to an aluminium plate and turn it upside down, then heat on the weakest level you have (but inform yourself how hot that is befre you do that), Mybe you have to turn it on and off to get a low temperature.
I'll try it with a plastic welding plate (http://www.rothenberger-asia.com/products/producttype/slgdazgj/roweldr-he-heating-plates.html) as my father has such a thing.

That's another thing I found. The specs of the LCD that is used in the Nexus 7 (or at least in most):
HYDIS HV070WX2-1E0
http://www.azdisplays.com/PDF/HV070WX2-1E0.pdf
On one page there are reliability tests. There it is noted, that the LCD can stand 80°C in dry atmosphere. So that could be the first temperature to try to separate the LCD form the digitizer.

Today my broken Nexus 7 16GB I picked up for 45$ arrived. i couldn't wait to try separating the LCD from the digitizer.
Tatttatataaa! Success! I just completed steps 1-3 from my previous post.
LCD and digitizer are separated now. At no additional cost, just around 90 minutes time and some things from my personal scrap yard.
Digitizer and LCD are separated. LCD is still working, but has still glue on it.
This was my setup:
- The disassembled screen unit (only digitizer and LCD)
- A copper plate, bigger than the nexus clamped in a workbench (I had that one by accident, other metal or aluminium plates could work too)
- Two metal bars and c-clamps to fix the glass (digitizer) onto the copper plate. The whole thing shouldn't move
- A hair dryer with enough power to heat the coopper plate towards 50-70° C (That's what I think it was)
- Fishing line (Extra strong black line, has some kind of structure, thats good for sawing)
- two handles I could tye the fising line to, to have a good grip
First I tied the fishing line to my handles (the red tool and the metal tool in one of the pictures). Then I warmed the whole thing for about 5 minutes looking for a good heat dissipation, not too hot on one spot but as equally hot as possible. I left the hair dryer blowing next to the copper plate so it would not cool down so fast. Then I took my handles and started sawing slowly and carefully by tearing the line trough the glue between LCD and digitizer. I remarked that it is easier when sawing a bit, than just pulling it true the glue (the line then snapped faster). I paid attention that I didn't lift the LCD with the fishing line. 4-5 times the line snapped and I had to start over, but it finally worked. I always had the dryer on but changed position sometimes that the whole thing won't heat up too much. Finally I was able to tear the LCD carefully off the shattered glass. The glass stayed compact so I think theres another film layer on it. Finally I tested the LCD and it worked fine. I couldn't see any flaws.
You can see an album of pictures here: http://imgur.com/a/L1Ya0
Now the next step is to clean off the glue... Have to find the right liquid...
btw. excuse my bad english but I was a bit excited and in a hurry...
Here's another video showing the same principle on a phone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=96K8cr0id0Q

DeGon said:
Today my broken Nexus 7 16GB I picked up for 45$ arrived. i couldn't wait to try separating the LCD from the digitizer.
Tatttatataaa! Success! I just completed steps 1-3 from my previous post.
LCD and digitizer are separated now. At no additional cost, just around 90 minutes time and some things from my personal scrap yard.
Digitizer and LCD are separated. LCD is still working, but has still glue on it.
This was my setup:
- The disassembled screen unit (only digitizer and LCD)
- A copper plate, bigger than the nexus clamped in a workbench (I had that one by accident, other metal or aluminium plates could work too)
- Two metal bars and c-clamps to fix the glass (digitizer) onto the copper plate. The whole thing shouldn't move
- A hair dryer with enough power to heat the coopper plate towards 50-70° C (That's what I think it was)
- Fishing line (Extra strong black line, has some kind of structure, thats good for sawing)
- two handles I could tye the fising line to, to have a good grip
First I tied the fishing line to my handles (the red tool and the metal tool in one of the pictures). Then I warmed the whole thing for about 5 minutes looking for a good heat dissipation, not too hot on one spot but as equally hot as possible. I left the hair dryer blowing next to the copper plate so it would not cool down so fast. Then I took my handles and started sawing slowly and carefully by tearing the line trough the glue between LCD and digitizer. I remarked that it is easier when sawing a bit, than just pulling it true the glue (the line then snapped faster). I paid attention that I didn't lift the LCD with the fishing line. 4-5 times the line snapped and I had to start over, but it finally worked. I always had the dryer on but changed position sometimes that the whole thing won't heat up too much. Finally I was able to tear the LCD carefully off the shattered glass. The glass stayed compact so I think theres another film layer on it. Finally I tested the LCD and it worked fine. I couldn't see any flaws.
You can see an album of pictures here: http://imgur.com/a/L1Ya0
Now the next step is to clean off the glue... Have to find the right liquid...
btw. excuse my bad english but I was a bit excited and in a hurry...
Here's another video showing the same principle on a phone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=96K8cr0id0Q
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was awesome!:good::good: For once I'm glad someone beat me to it. Congrats, you should be nominated Nexus Man of the Year. This would certainly encourage a lot of members with broken digitizers. One small favor to ask: is it at all possible for you to post a hi-res picture of the LCD's edge? I'd like to see how it was originally glued to the digitizer so as to find a way - hopefully safe - to remove the residual adhesive. A caution earlier that Goo-Gone might render the glass brittle bothers me. Depending on the kind, maybe we can use acetone instead. The speed at which it dries might prevent the chemicals from attacking the glass surface. Thank you much.
---------- Post added at 10:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:36 AM ----------
repairsuniverse said:
A bit of epoxy may be the trick. Let us know if you follow through with the project and let us know the outcome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's your answer, my man.

I'll post you these pictures tonight. The glue is all over the LCD module. I tried different liquids on the brocken glass digitizer, to see which one is best to remove the glue and I think pure alcohol, some heat and a razor blade could do the trick. I tried 36% cleansing alcohol and the glue came off already quite well. But cleansing alcohol has other stuff in it you don't wanna see on a LCD. So maybe pure alcohol will be better....
I am not sure of which material the top layer of the LCD is made. I don't think its glass. The only hint I have is from the manufacturers specification:
13.2 Cautions for handling the module
As the electrostatic discharges may break the LCD module, handle the LCD module with
care. Peel a protection sheet off from the LCD panel surface as slowly as possible.
As the LCD panel and back - light element are made from fragile glass (epoxy) material,
impulse and pressure to the LCD module should be avoided.
As the surface of the polarizer is very soft and easily scratched, use a soft dry cloth
without chemicals for cleaning.
Do not pull the interface connector in or out while the LCD module is operating.
Put the module display side down on a flat horizontal plane.
Handle connectors and cables with care.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could it be some kind of epoxy? Or is it acrylic?
I think in any case pure alcohol will be far less agressive than acetone. Rub alcohol into the glue with a paintbrush or an old toothbrush, wait a bit, heat a bit, rub some more alcohol on it and then take the razor blade in a flat angle and start carefully to scrape the softened glue away... I think that is what I am going to try.

DeGon said:
I'll post you these pictures tonight. The glue is all over the LCD module. I tried different liquids on the brocken glass digitizer, to see which one is best to remove the glue and I think pure alcohol, some heat and a razor blade could do the trick. I tried 36% cleansing alcohol and the glue came off already quite well. But cleansing alcohol has other stuff in it you don't wanna see on a LCD. So maybe pure alcohol will be better....
I am not sure of which material the top layer of the LCD is made. I don't think its glass. The only hint I have is from the manufacturers specification:
Could it be some kind of epoxy? Or is it acrylic?
I think in any case pure alcohol will be far less agressive than acetone. Rub alcohol into the glue with a paintbrush or an old toothbrush, wait a bit, heat a bit, rub some more alcohol on it and then take the razor blade in a flat angle and start carefully to scrape the softened glue away... I think that is what I am going to try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the top is glass, thin glass. i used pure citrus spray and it dissolves it, but i would like it to be faster.

graphdarnell said:
...post a hi-res picture of the LCD's edge? I'd like to see how it was originally glued to the digitizer so as to find a way - hopefully safe - to remove the residual adhesive...
Here are the pictures in an album on imgur.
http://imgur.com/a/CWioq#0 (note that there is a way to see these pix in full res, just click on the little symbol on the top right corner)
As you can see, the adhesive was not liquid glue (as I thought before), it was some kind of optical clear adhesive, a double-side glue tape that was applied to the LCD and the glass. On some pictures you can see that the tape does not cover the LC panel exactly to the edge. 1-2 mm of the LC panel are blank. (picture above)
On two sides of the LC Panel, the metal frame is a bit thicker (left and bottom edge), on the other two sides its just some milimeters (top and right edge), that will make it difficult to attach it on a new glass by only applying glue or adhesive tape at the edge of the LCD... I will see if I can do it without glueing it fully down... Maybe Sugru comes for the help...
As I said I tried to remove the tape from the broken glass digitizer. Cleaning alcohol (38% Ethanol and distilled water) already made it relatively easy to remove the adhesive with a razor blade. I think if the LC panel is really sealed by glass or even by an acrylic material, pure alcohol should do the trick, combined with a little pre-heating and a bit time to let the alcohol and glue react.I'd just aply the alcohol with a peintbrush or similar. I will get pure alcohol during the next days and then give it a try... will let you know my results...
---------- Post added at 10:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 PM ----------
lastot069 said:
the top is glass, thin glass. i used pure citrus spray and it dissolves it, but i would like it to be faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What kind of spray is that? Brand? What are the ingredients?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

DeGon said:
What kind of spray is that? Brand? What are the ingredients?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the brand is pure citrus, it comes in a spray can and can be found by most cleaners. and it is just citrus oils. works an a lot of glues.

Hmm. I am really not sure about using alcohol. It could damage the LC Panel if it is not glass, but epoxy or something.
Most people seem to use some kind of citrus cleaner. Like the guy who uses Orange Glo. 3M has some kind of glue remover, that contains Lemonene.
Limonene is used as a solvent in degreasing metals prior to industrial painting, for cleaning in the electronic and printing industries, and in paint as a solvent. Limonene is also used as a flavour and fragrance additive in food, house- hold cleaning products, and perfumes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also other companies offer glue removers with that stuff. It seems to be pretty harmless to a variety of materials....

E970 screen on nexus 4

I got my hands a E970 screen with a cracked digitizer. I hoped to use it to replace my cracked E960 screen,with a cheap 30 buck digitizer. So I carefully checked the pin-outs and it looked good. I then plugged it in and what do you know,worked just fine. So for what its worth,if its useful to anyone else,the LCD screen from an E970 will in fact work in an E960. Unfortunately it didnt work out. The screen,like the nexus 4 display,was glued t the front frame. I tried getting it out and ended up destroying the lcd. However,I did experiment with heating the front and separating it with a molybdenum wire. That part seemed to go smoothly. If anyone else has to do this,heres my best suggestion. Get some sandpaper,perhaps 80 grit and glue it to a board. Then sand the edge,moving parallel to the plane of the screen until you have ground away the frame and exposed the edge of the glass digitizer. Repeat on all four sides. This way you should be able to get to the adhesive under the digitizer without further cracking any glass. Remember,the front of the digitizer is cracked,so the lcd is vulnerable. I would get a piece of window glass and cut it to about the same size as the glass digitizer. Then used adhesive transfer tape to bond it to the front cracked glass.
Keep in mind,Ive not separated one successfully yet,so this is a combination of a report of my experiments and my educated guess on how to proceed in the future. It goes back to a previous attempt I did on a broken LCD. I conjectured that if I were to separate the plastic digitizer from the FRONT glass,I could more easily peel it away from the LCD. SO I took separated about a mm of the digitizer from the front glass. Then I ran a qtip dipped in acetone along the edge. The acetone was drawn into the gap by capilary action. I then waited a few minutes,repeated the acetone dipped qtip procedure,and then carefully slid the corner of the foil coated plastic package of a nicotine patch through the gap. The packet is very very thin,way thinner than a credit card,but very stiff. It easily removed another mm or so of the adhesive,and better still,left a gap,so that your not forcing the display to bend. This went well until I got near the last half inch of a shard of glass,about 1/3 of the way up the display. At that point,I applied a bit of upward force and that shard,about two inches long,with a sharp point,held only by a the last half inch by perhaps 1/3 inch section of adhesive shattered the LCD under the point. The lesson learned is,a cracked digitizer is going to have this lever effect on the shards that crack the lcd with a tiny amount of force due to the combination of the long lever arm and sharp point. So the glass is to hold that all together and keep it from doing the lever thing.
My experience tells me that ,yes,those techniques you see on the internet with the credit card and the heat gun MIGHT work,but your going to need a lot of skill. And that skill is developed by trashing DOZENS of LCDs. And its still not going to be 100%. Probably no more than 50%. My guess is that these were developed by people who repair these for a living. If you do,then you probably have a big box of broken displays. Some only have broken digitizers,some broken LCDs,and you think "If I had a way to reuse some of these parts,I could make a bunch of extra money" so you start with the broken ones,and then when you get something that works,even 50% of the time,you can make 50 bucks or more extra profit per screen you can fix,from parts that were previously worthless junk to you.
But I want something 100%,not for my nexus,but because more and more phones are made like this,and in the future they all will be. So I want to make a procedure that will fix it all the time. So far,I suspect that you have to choose one part to save. Either the frame or the LCD digitizer stack. I may try working around the edge with a plastic tool and heat with a glass bonded to the front and see if I can get the glass free of the frame without destroying the LCD,but Im not optimistic,first Id like a sure fire way to save an LCD.
My feeling is that if you bond the front glass to a ridged substrate,you can then use the sandpaper to grind the edge away. If you do it parallel to the plane of the screen,it should be very gentle on the display,avoiding any damage. Then you can perhaps with the aid of heat,cut the digitizer away from the frame. Im thinking at this point,you need a screen separator.
So Im going to make one. My plan is that I will make a device from plywood. It will have a backing and a part that slides. The part that slides will have a heated piece of aluminum with a thermostat that holds it at 175F and an inductive heating coil behind the aluminum. This "carriage" will slide back and forth,and there will be an guide that will constrain its motion to one axis. The "carriage" will actually be made from two blocks,one that will be in the guide,then a second that bolts to that,using some studs,and washers and wing nuts. Between these two plywood layers,I will uses sheets of paper as shims to adjust the height so that a 0.08mm molybdenum wire (I have 100' of it I got off ebay) is at the right height to separate the screen. The screen will be stuck to the glass with adhesive transfer tape,the edges ground away,then mounted to the separator with adhesive transfer tape,and shimmed to the right height. I can then heat it to temperature (the glue *I* use SHOULD be strong enough to hold it in place,if not,I just buy one of the higher temp adhesives. I can then separate the digitizer from the front glass AND the frame. At that point,the LCD should be free of the frame. Now,if the digitizer is OK,I can simply ,carefully clean the adhesive off of it and repair it using a 12 dollar front glass.
Some people use optically clear adhesive that is uv cured,because its easier to get a bubble free bond without a vacuum oven or autoclave so I will just use an optically clear adhesive transfer tape. I however have access to a vacuum oven at work,so I'm good to go. Even if I did not,I suspect that there are other options. I might try one of those vacuum storage containers they sell at target that go with those "food saver" vacuum packers. (I want one anyway to freeze food in,very handy. Buy 40lbs of chicken breasts when they come on sale for 1.89 a lb and freeze them! Pays for itself in no time) My hope would be that ,perhaps of first heated to say 180F or so,then placed on paper to avoid melting the plastic container ,you and a vacuum pulled,it would remove the bubbles. But I have access to the oven so I don't care much about that.
If not,then I can probably make sure the wire is on the other side of the digitizer and separate it from the lcd instead. Then the same procedure can be used to bond the LCD to a new digitizer/glass assembly. But first I need to find some more broken LCDs to play with. But hopefully my experiences will help others in their quest. The end result of what I have determined though is,Im going to have to make the separator,becuase while its obvious that its POSSIBLE without it,its just not reliable or practical.

How to remove the plastic film from the back

So, since I've bought my Moto Z Play second hand there were som tiny scratches on the back panel. Lenovo says this is Gorilla Glass and while hardened glass is still pretty easy te scratch the backside of the Moto Z Play seems way to soft for it to be Gorilla Glass. I searched online for this problem and it seems that many people have scratched backpanels on their Play's. There are soms posts of people saying there's some kind of plastic film on the backside which is hard te remove but I didn't seem to find definitive answers (in English, at least). In the end I decided to try it for myself. I ordered a screen protector for the back panel and as soon as it arrived I started to check if the backpanel was indeed covered. Short answer: it is! It's not a normal screen protector but a "shatter guard", a very thick but quite soft plastic film which holds the glass together when it breaks. I have earlier experiences with shatter guards (Sony used them a lot in the past) and you can remove them with some care. I've replaced it with a regular screen protector and I will show you how.
DISCLAIMER: Removing the shatter guard is not endorsed or advised by Lenovo. If you do this it's all on your own risk. You may void your warranty. It's not really hard to do but for me this is maybe the 1000st time since it's part of my job. There's always a chance you break something in the process so keep this in mind. Also, you'll lose the shatter guard functionality!. If the glass breaks, pieces of glass may come loose.
Start peeling off the film in a corner. This is easily done with your nails. You can feel a little edge between the glass and the aluminum rim.
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If you can hold the lip, slowly start pulling the shatter guard. It's glued to the backpanel so you need to use some force. To avoid breaking the glass panel you might want to take the shatter guard between your thumb and middle part of your index finger so you can hold the little finger side of your hand to the phone.
This was the easy part. The shatter guard is now removed and you're left with a very sticky phone. There's a lot of adhesive on the backpanel which should be removed. This can be a nuisance depending on the kind of remover you have. Alcohol plus a soft cloth is very safe to use but takes ages (I used this). There are products specifically made to remove sticker residue but I do not know if this will have any impact on the chemically hardened glass.
Well there it is, the shiny Gorilla Glass. I tried to scratch this with a razor blade but it didn't budge. This is the pure glass surface here.
After more and more cleaning the sticker residue is now al gone. Took me a good hour to do.
Afterwards I installed a Nilkin screen protector. The backside is now scratch-free and if it scratches I just replace the standard screen protector which only takes a few minutes.

Do you have a link to the Nilkin protector? I'm thinking about doing this.

Alcohol is not what you want for adhesive.
Use Ronson liquid lighter fluid, Goo Gone or those medical pads for EKG pads.
Turpentine, Kerosene even ATF work well.
Let it soften a while. 5 min job.
It does not take much to soften it. Put WD 40 on a a very small piece of cloth and wipe it on. Let it soak in for 5 min.
A small paint or makeup brush is nice.

ironbesterer said:
Do you have a link to the Nilkin protector? I'm thinking about doing this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought this one; http://s.aliexpress.com/2MfY7nEn
aviwdoowks said:
Alcohol is not what you want for adhesive.
Use Ronson liquid lighter fluid, Goo Gone or those medical pads for EKG pads.
Turpentine, Kerosene even ATF work well.
Let it soften a while. 5 min job.
It does not take much to soften it. Put WD 40 on a a very small piece of cloth and wipe it on. Let it soak in for 5 min.
A small paint or makeup brush is nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm well aware of this. But as I wrote; I have no clue if any of these substances affect the glass or even the internals of the phone. The Moto Z Play isn't exactly water tight and fluids can leak into the phone at the camera, mod connector and edges. Do you have more information on this?

Silvin_nl said:
I bought this one; http://s.aliexpress.com/2MfY7nEn
I'm well aware of this. But as I wrote; I have no clue if any of these substances affect the glass of even the internals of the phone. The Moto Z Play isn't exactly water tight and fluids can leak into the phone at the camera, mod connector and edges. Do you have more information on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WD40 IS mostly Kerosene.
You put it on lightly it SHOULD not be a problem.
But no, no more info.
The phone is glued together!!!

I would be more inclined to do something like this if someone made a tempered glass back panel protector. Replacing plastic with plastic that is not designed to be shatterproof doesn't seem like a good idea to me. That said I have a clear TPU case protecting the back and sides, so no scratches yet. It adds practically nothing to the size and i can still see the white and gold in all its glory.

Thank you for this. I took mine off not thinking about glue residue. Did you use something like a glass cleaning cloth? Currently I have a skin on the back now but the mods aren't sticking well. Does the nilkin effect the mods sticking on as much as a skin?
Sent from my XT1635-01 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

How strong is the alcohol you used? 90%?

cab1024 said:
I would be more inclined to do something like this if someone made a tempered glass back panel protector. Replacing plastic with plastic that is not designed to be shatterproof doesn't seem like a good idea to me. That said I have a clear TPU case protecting the back and sides, so no scratches yet. It adds practically nothing to the size and i can still see the white and gold in all its glory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I can't find tempered glass for the back panel yet. It would be great if it actually existed. And for removing the shatter guard; it's not an enormous problem. Most phones do not have this.
BigTrimma said:
Thank you for this. I took mine off not thinking about glue residue. Did you use something like a glass cleaning cloth? Currently I have a skin on the back now but the mods aren't sticking well. Does the nilkin effect the mods sticking on as much as a skin?
Sent from my XT1635-01 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jjdavis699 said:
How strong is the alcohol you used? 90%?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used a microfiber cloth + 96% alcohol. The alcohol only helps a bit but it's the most safe solution. Any softener would certainly work better but may affect the rest of the phone.
Btw;I only have a Style cover which works perfectly fine with the screen protector.

Got it off using some 91% alcohol, some coffee filters, and some elbow grease! Thanks!

Ive been trying for hours...cant find a plastic film on the back ?

Does removing this film make mods fit without that annoying gap around the edges?

I honestly don't know about the mods. I guess it makes almost no difference. There's no real difference with the style cover. The shatter guard is really thin.

[GUIDE] Rear glass replacement

So recently I cracked the rear glass on my Pixel 2 XL. After searching around, I found the "official"repair places wanted around $80 to replace this. Then I found eBay had replacement glass for $13 (in the US, cheaper from China), and decided to give it a try. Figured worse case scenario I end up at the repair place getting the glass replaced anyway, and I'm out $13 extra.
This was not a difficult process necessarily, what I will say is that the glass used is extremely thin (stock and aftermarket), and the process of removing the old glass is likely to produce many tiny glass fragments.
Here's how I did it, if anyone is interested in giving this a try:
1. Mis en place. I used a couple plastic and nylon spudgers, guitar picks, one metal spudger, a hair dryer, and packing tape. I did this repair in the bathroom near the sink so I could easily brush small glass pieces into the sink and wash them down the drain.
2. Start off by heating up the rear glass with the hair dryer, but not too hot. You need to be able to hold the phone afterall. Take a piece of packing tape and place it over the rear glass to somewhat keep it together.
3. I used the thin metal spudger to get started on one side of the glass. I started on the broken side as I already had a gap there to work with. Slowly go around and remove the glass and double sided tape from the rear frame.
3. Remove the camera lens cover from the glass. It's attached to the glass with double sided tape. Most likely going to be small chunks of glass stuck to the front of the lens assembly.
4. Clean up any leftover glue/double sided tape and chunks of glass, so you have a nice clean surface to stick the new glass to.
5. Install the lens cover on the replacement glass, and clean the inside and outside of the lens cover and inspect the camera assembly itself for chunks of glass/dust/etc.
6. Install the new glass (with lens cover now attached) to the back of your Pixel 2 XL. Be very careful to line it up exactly where you want it to sit before dropping it onto the frame of the phone (you likely will not be able to peel it off and reapply it if you mess up, as the glass is very thin and would probably shatter if you try to remove it).
7. Profit.
That's about it. All in all this took me about 30 minutes from start to finish, and saved me just over $60. Worth it for a cheapskate like me ?
Hope this helps someone.

Excellent write up, and the great photos!
Thanks for posting

Superusefull!! Thank so much!

do you feel like this compromised the water resistance part of the phone?

im pretty sure the waterproof feature is gone

jyn1989 said:
im pretty sure the waterproof feature is gone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has never been waterproof.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Hello everyone,
I've broken lil bit the glass and considering replacement. But don't want to lose waterprofness. What do you think about this statement:
"The glass back of the Pixel 2 is purely decorative, and the Pixel 2 will still be waterproof with a broken glass back.
Why? As can be seen in the teardown video at https://youtu.be/Zq7nyzldgr4 at 4:14, the back cover of the Pixel 2 goes underneath the glass. Also, it looks like replacing the glass back would not require a teardown, since there seem to be no screws holding the glass in place from the inside. I suspect the glass back is merely glued on or clipped in."
For me it sounds reasonable that waterprofness might still be there after replacement. Attaching screenshot of mentioned back cover which is going under the glass.
Thanks for your opinion!

Pixel 2 is waterproof
Pixel 2 is IP67 rated meaning it's good for up to a metre depth of water, hence it being waterproof but if anyone was wondering even if you do break the back glass as I have it's purely cosmetic as there is some pretty strong plastic and glue behind it keeping the waterproof feature in place

How do you fix it to be waterproof like factory?
|Use waterproof glue around camera lens and LED lens or is there a adhesive to buy?