Phone, tablet and laptop glue

[Theo Markettos]

It seems to be the thing these days to build gadgets with glue rather than
screws, so that all the bits like LCD, digitiser, battery and case are stuck
together. This has caused much bewailing by the likes of iFixit, because
things aren't fixable by a screwdriver any more.

I wonder whether the problem is that we need new tools and new approaches,
rather than just giving up. For example, heat gun techniques seem to me a
bad idea, because the heat goes away easily. It you're trying to lever the
screen off with a few dozen guitar picks, that also places stress on the
screen.

So I wonder what's a sensible heating method? For example, there's the
'hot pillow' approach:
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/iOpener/IF145-198
Heat up pillow in microwave, apply to surface. For some reason this is a
small pillow - I would have expected a better one would be the size of a
dinner plate or larger, enough to take a whole tablet in one go. Or would
that induce heating stresses in the screen?

Another approach is the temperature controlled table:
http://www.lcdglue.com/product-p/01-0010.htm
possibly with vacuum (either integral, or simply invert then use a sucker).

I wonder what kinds of household appliances could be abused to do the job?
For instance, there's a nice use of toaster ovens as PCB reflow stations -
just add a PID temperature controller.

Anyone done this and have any tips?

Thanks
Theo

[hrho...@sbcglobal.net]

I just use a utility knife to score along where I want the case to open. Enough heat to soften the case sufficiently to allow separating the various plastic parts would probably wreck havoc on many of the parts inside the case.

[mog...@hotmail.com]

On Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 11:27:42 PM UTC-5, hrho...@sbcglobal.net wrote in sci.electronics.repair:

They talk about doing this at an Apple discussion forum. I'll post it below.

No, 212 degrees Fahrenheit (or 100c, water boiling point) is the limit for the phone's chip. Any temperature under that will separate the glass screen from the phone's body.

-- https://discussions.apple.com/thread/492585?tstart=0

[mog...@hotmail.com]

Or rather, a temperature near that. Sorry.