Database Users

[Q] FFC help/ Paint to cover it up.

Does anyone know how to remove small scratches from our screen?
I made a very small scratch accidentally while I was removing the paint covering the ffc hole.
Also does anyone know exactly what type of black paint t-mobile used to paint the hole? If we can figure the color out anyone who needs to send their phone in for repairs can just paint it again and remove the camera.
Sooooo any thoughts?

nothing huh.. x.x

since the glass is actually a ceramic, I'd say you're going to be hard pressed to remove a scratch. I'm not sure though, but you might try a clear acrylic to fill the scratch. I don't know on the other part.

Clear acrylic won't fix the scratch because acrylic has a different refractive index than glass.
Your only options are to either polish the scratch (not likely), or learn to live with it.
There might be glass repair products out there, but I don't know of any

gotya, thanks.. do you believe it will make a big impact once i get the camera installed? like ruin the image.

you can try dry mustard and vinegar mixed together, apply and buff (attach a q-tip to a dremel)...

MichaelB91 said:
gotya, thanks.. do you believe it will make a big impact once i get the camera installed? like ruin the image.
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Doubtful, the scratch is going to be so close to the low resolution lens that I think you won't even be able to tell.

thanks you

Removing glass scratches
Removing glass scratches are tricky. I posted before how to polish plastic. The same is true with glass only there are no solvents that degrade glass so no worries there (couple of acids do but you can't buy).
Here is what you need to do :
1. Mask off EVERYTHING you do not want touched
2. then you can use a dremel with a small buffing wheel or puff ball (you can get @ home depot or Lowes... etc
3. I would use fine polishing compound and then High gloss compound (you can get from an auto body shop (the same for buffing out a newly painted car)
4. Be VERY careful not to heat up the surface or you can crack the glass.
Finally, this will take awhile (maybe as long as an hour) and if the scratch is deep it will warp the surface and make some of the display deformed looking so look at it carefully and decide if this is worth the effort.
The other crap on the market that are fillers, really do not work for small scratches like this. they are designed for larger blemishes, so the chances of these staying in place are slim to never
hope that helps

Not sure what kind of paint was originally over the camera opening but I imagine nail polish would be an effective (and cheap) substitute. With an amount so small would someone notice the difference?

I'm just going to wait and see if the camera can see clearly through it, and ill decide what do to after that.
Thank you (everyone) for all the help. I really appreciate it

Trying to find the *correct* way to repair Super AMOLED or other fully bonded display

First some background: Current replacement guides for displays used on such devices as the GS3, HOX, HOS specify replacing the full-screen bonding agent with an edge-taped solution. This results in much lower contrast ratio due to a non-spec air gap and if done improperly, dust in the air pocket over time.
The *proper* solution would be a liquid adhesive lamination (LAL) or liquid optically clear adhesive (LOCA).
The requirements of these adhesives for this application are the following:
Code:
- OEM contrast ratio
- Dust abatement
- No bubbles in final product
- Rebondability
I believe the process for using these adhesives would be the following:
Code:
- Removal of all existing adhesive from substrate
- Application of *appropriate amount (TBD)* of adhesive in center of substrate
- Application of new glass lens with even pressure to spread adhesive outward, avoiding air bubbles
- Curing of adhesive if necessary
In fact, this seems more straightforward and less error prone than applying adhesive tape around the lens perimeter.
I am willing to try this on my screen, but...
What I need
I cannot determine which adhesive will work, or even work best. I'm hoping that someone has a lead on a proper adhesive through experience. Obviously a DIY fix would need only a small amount, so a gallon jug wouldn't be a good option (unless for a group buy or something).
I'll post links to the resources I have found already when I reach 10 posts

Found a reasonable amount of LOCA
I found some LOCA for $30 shipped, not sure of the quantity or how many applications it will provide. I think it will take some experimentation to find the correct amount to entirely fill the void without airspace and without squeezing out the sides. Might have to apply it with the screen out of the phone frame. Also, I do have a UV flashlight but I don't know if that is sufficient to cure this stuff. I'll test it out on some microscope slides. I'll also test whether it can be taken back apart via heat after bonding.

This topic is really interesting, since I broke my GS3 gorilla glass and would like to change it by myself. A good DIY would be appreciated

mkendra said:
This topic is really interesting, since I broke my GS3 gorilla glass and would like to change it by myself. A good DIY would be appreciated
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I ordered some LOCA so we will see how it goes I guess. I'll try to take pics/video when I can.

crakarjax said:
I ordered some LOCA so we will see how it goes I guess. I'll try to take pics/video when I can.
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can you share link of supplier ? thanx

i would add few more steps to process for using these adhesives
- if OCA used, according to post from phonefreaks h t t p ://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=31321004&postcount=13 alcohol spry on glass or screen before application OCA, then alignment, then again alcohol spry on glass or screen
- vacuum application to remove air bubbles
and i would search for LOCA which cures in "shadow" area

Kancler said:
i would add few more steps to process for using these adhesives
- if OCA used, according to post from phonefreaks h t t p ://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=31321004&postcount=13 alcohol spry on glass or screen before application OCA, then alignment, then again alcohol spry on glass or screen
- vacuum application to remove air bubbles
and i would search for LOCA which cures in "shadow" area
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The link you posted is regarding a different adhesive, that is in sticker form. The adhesive I am trying out is liquid and hardens with UV light. I found some on ebay.
I bonded two microscope slides together as a test and it worked well, no bubbles. The only problem I had is that lots of adhesive leaked out the perimeter of the slides... it is going to be hard to determine the proper amount for my screen. I also need to take into account the perimeter tape adhesive if I use it but I might not even bother since the LOCA bonds pretty tight. Another setback is that the slides are really stuck! I haven't tried applying heat to break the bond yet but I have been unable to separate the slides.
On the brighter side, LOCA is nice to work with because it will not set until you want it to; if you mess up you can just try again as long as you have some adhesive.

crakarjax said:
The link you posted is regarding a different adhesive, that is in sticker form. The adhesive I am trying out is liquid and hardens with UV light. I found some on ebay.
I bonded two microscope slides together as a test and it worked well, no bubbles. The only problem I had is that lots of adhesive leaked out the perimeter of the slides... it is going to be hard to determine the proper amount for my screen. I also need to take into account the perimeter tape adhesive if I use it but I might not even bother since the LOCA bonds pretty tight. Another setback is that the slides are really stuck! I haven't tried applying heat to break the bond yet but I have been unable to separate the slides.
On the brighter side, LOCA is nice to work with because it will not set until you want it to; if you mess up you can just try again as long as you have some adhesive.
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theres some locktide LOCA dam adhesive, which has greater viscosity, its main purpose to create borders and not allow LOCA to leak, but i think double side tape would help to keep it in place.
Hope heat will help to separate, or we will get permanent glass replacement :/ and we all know how fragile glass are :/

Kancler said:
theres some locktide LOCA dam adhesive, which has greater viscosity, its main purpose to create borders and not allow LOCA to leak, but i think double side tape would help to keep it in place.
Hope heat will help to separate, or we will get permanent glass replacement :/ and we all know how fragile glass are :/
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I did see the loctite LOCA but it's really expensive and not sold in small quantities. Greater viscosity would be a plus; how do you know what the viscosity of my LOCA is though? I'll toss my slides in the toaster oven tonight and see if they come apart.

any luck on separation ?

Kancler said:
any luck on separation ?
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Not quite. I perhaps did not let the glass heat thoroughly, but I stuck it in the oven at 190 for 10 minutes and then gave it a shot. I did not use a razor blade but rather a pocket knife so that didn't help, but the adhesive did clearly give; however, the top layer of glass broke. Not a big deal but I was hoping it would be a lot easier. The layer of adhesive wasn't rock hard, and it was very very thin so a thicker layer would surely give more easily. I could clearly see that prying in the glass was causing the kind of outwardly flowing separation that I would have expected so that's encouraging. I think I'll call it good enough and cross that bridge if and when my glass breaks again. As soon as I get my metal pry tool from hong kong I'm going to give it a shot.

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.

[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
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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?

buying a g6 with broken camera glass...

Getting it for 200aud..
Can replace the glass piece for about 10 off eBay.
My question is how tight that area is in general in terms of the ip68 rating, consisting that the "glass" is just an adhesive. I.e. is the rating still intact

jewnersey said:
Getting it for 200aud..
Can replace the glass piece for about 10 off eBay.
My question is how tight that area is in general in terms of the ip68 rating, consisting that the "glass" is just an adhesive. I.e. is the rating still intact
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if you only replace the glass from the camera and if you replace it with the ORIGINAL part, then you will have the IP rating the same way, BUT...if you buy cheap glass with cheap adhesive...i didnt know how it takes the IP at same level, and how long it will take to lose the glue and maybe crack again.
Better safe than sorrow...
see this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qfQ1TH_KBs

It's very tight. I bought one for a 3rd the price of new the glue was discolored, but the glass was otherwise ok.
Love Jerry's Videos. But he'd already removed that lens, and had an appropriate crack to help leverage up a piece of the glass. I couldn't even get a scalpel blade under the edge let alone a box cutter, I'm quite dexterous. Before I replaced mine I watched someone jam a spudger down there to get it out. Maybe my spudger wasn't thin enough but I could see the main back glass flexing while I did it so I tried something different..
I realize yours is pre-cracked, but just detailing everything I did.
What worked for me:
1) apply just enough force between the lens and the edge, you want a crack to extend outward to the edge, but avoid having dust near the actual camera lens. Saw a video of someone puncturing a hole right where the camera lens is - not smart if you like clear pictures.
2) clean all dust now!
3) take out a shard from the edge with tweezers being careful to not puncture the tape on the under side
4) heat lens then apply a cut and shaped piece of tape on top of the lens to hold in any dust when you peel.
5) place tweezers into the edge in the hole you made where the shard was, try not to put pressure on the back glass - mine was surprisingly tough, ymmv.
6) peel the edge of the under tape slowly upward try not to bend much or the glass will make a ton of dust.
7) vacuum and use compressed air around the opening.
Hope that helps.

Thanks for the comments. New glass arrives tomorrow so I'll be going through the process then. Seems pretty straightforward, but yes, probably will avoid submerging it etc just to be safe.
As far as cleaning the lens, I will use acetone (cotton balls) and compressed air. Good?

No acetone, just alcool

Just an FYI: Thin solvent liquids like alcohol will seep in the gap between the lens cover and the glass back and onto the sticky reflective tape discoloring it. I've seen it a bunch of times with the G6, the effect is worse with replacement lens covers as there isn't any adhesive on the edge.
If I was to redo this job, I'd consider using some B-7000 applied with a tiny brush around the thin edge of the lens cover to seal it. Once dry I wouldn't be concerned about cleaning with alcohol. Maybe depends how obsessive you are lol.
As always YMMV, hope the replacement goes well.
Pic shows discoloration around the edge.
https://i.imgur.com/6JB3uuc.jpg