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JDMFSeanP

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 6, 2007
126
0
I've seen the OEM pieces on ebay, buy then ones for sale with all of the "sensor" pieces on teh back, if you just bought the glass how would you replace it?
 

maxxscholten

macrumors regular
Feb 28, 2008
197
0
Is this what you are looking for?

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=X1z0pw2VK7M&eurl=

Good luck!

I've been thinking about this same thing... The only problem with that video is that it only shows you how to do it up to taking off the screen... but that "screen" is really a combination of the glass, LCD, and digitizer.

Some people, of which I'm going to assume windowpain might be one of them (correct me if I'm wrong), have a shattered screen [glass] but their digitizer/LCD still work.

I've been thinking about this because I want to buy a broken iPhone on eBay with shattered glass, but working screen, and fix it by buying one of the OEM glass parts (approx. $10-25) and replacing that glass.

After some searching around, to what I've found [to my knowledge] is that there is really no way to remove the glass from the LCD, which has the digitizer attached to that... this is because the glass is glued onto the LCD.

So my only other idea is to follow the steps of the guy that replaced his iPhone screen with the plastic using the whole "razor blade/being careful" technique and replacing it with one of the OEM glass parts from eBay, instead of being REALLY cheap and using plastic with some sharpie.
 

windowpain

macrumors 6502a
Apr 19, 2008
590
100
Japan
hi,
you are indeed correct! :) I have a cracked ipod touch which is fully functional.

I would love a cheap and easy way to put a new screen on it.

Am I right in thinking that (in the video you posted, and from what you said) that the only way to replace just the glass, is to scrape, pull, pry all the old glass (probably in fragments) from the surface of the old lcd, and then to replace it either with a 1)an oem part 2) a cleverly cut piece of plastic.

I wonder if anyone has had any success with this. (other than your link of course.) Do you know how hard/easy it is to get the broken glass off?

I had assumed that the only way I was going to 'fix' my ipod was to buy a new one. It's good to hear that I might have alternative options.

thanks for the post.
 

maxxscholten

macrumors regular
Feb 28, 2008
197
0
Yeah I only wanted to buy a broken iPhone and fix it up to see if it's possible and if I can get it under $100 or so.

That seems like the only way, unless you are willing to pull it apart like on the video, and then replace the whole glass/LCD/digitizer unit (which would be so risky and expensive, you might as well just buy a new one!).

Otherwise I think yeah, scrape off the glass carefully and then I think he used some kind of adhesive remover to take off an excess glue... but I've been wanting to try it myself.
 

JDMFSeanP

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 6, 2007
126
0
I can get an iphone for >100 and wanted to try just new oem glass, so peopel jsut scape the old stuff off?
 

maxxscholten

macrumors regular
Feb 28, 2008
197
0
I guess so, I haven't really done anything like it -- but the people who replaced it with plastic seem to be able to do it. I guess the trick is to take your time and be careful.
 

Analeah

macrumors newbie
May 16, 2008
2
0
Help I have purchased glass only from ebay and need to install

I'm wondering if I can just scrape the glass off and put the new glass in instead of the plastic? How does that work? Has anyone tried it? Are there any other fixes or suggestions for replacing just the glass. I can't return it and I spent $50 so I'm hoping I can find a solution. Thanks so much!
 

thehumble1

macrumors member
Apr 9, 2008
37
0
West Philly
people are dodging around the real question

the deal is that the glue is really difficult to remove and even with goo gone or a razor (I don't recommend this as the LCD panel is plastic under the glue) or various methods of removing the glue have created problems. I have seen a walk through on another forum site that sounded successful, but the dearth of clear walkthroughs with photos tell me that it's a much more tedious and difficult task than suspected.

that being said. I too have a broken-glass iphone waiting for a successful transplant, but I have talked to a few people doing iphone repairs and they don't mess with the glass because it's too glued on to remove without damaging the LCD/touch part of the devi
 

jfbreese

macrumors newbie
Aug 11, 2008
4
0
I attempted it

I chose to give it a whirl, having taken many ipods apart for repair, couldn't be too hard right? WRONG. It is the most difficult apple product so far. However, you really gain a respect for the quality of these things once you see it's guts.

I successfully removed (For hours) glass fragments from the LCD. It sucked but it came off, and I now understand that the "GLUE" is a conductor of the static elctricity required to operate the touch screen. Don't buy the glass that is seperate from the LCD...touch screen will not work, the LCD lights up as beautiful as ever, but a finger swipe does nothing.

Jay
 

windowpain

macrumors 6502a
Apr 19, 2008
590
100
Japan
Thanks for the post, very interesting. Sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon!

Did you re-apply any kind of glue? or did you just put the lcd against the glass? Do you have any pics of the disassembly?

Sorry for the questions, but you have my respect for giving it a go..i think ill be putting up with the crack in mine until its time to buy an iphone. :)
 

jfbreese

macrumors newbie
Aug 11, 2008
4
0
Pics of my attempt...

Here are the pics of my endeavor. The last picture shows it is a pretty phone again, but a non responsive phone.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.breese/IPhoneTragedy

there you go windowpain...enjoy the photos. I will be ordering a new lcd,digitizer glass combination hopefully for around $100. I bought the phone for $70 so I guess I am ok...provided it works. The phone itself isn't all that bad to take apart, and if you p lan on a complete assembly swap, you can do it in under an hour I am sure.
 

nickane

macrumors 6502
Feb 24, 2005
346
2
Dang. Got given an iphone with a broken screen by a friend who upgraded to 3G and was told that replacing the screen was easy. Ordered a screen from ebay and it clearly is not. I'm thinking that I might just have to live with it rather than risk sacrificing touch functionality.

The $5 method seemed so ridiculously difficult when I read about it on digg, that the moment I learnt that u could buy the screen individually I figured it would be a piece of piss. Apparently not.

Does anyone have any idea where the touch sensor is, or the proximity sensor? That would give us some idea where to avoid putting the razor. It's nice to see that Love Juice's link managed it without too many problems. JFbreese, are you sure about your static theory? The photo blog on gettinghitched makes no mention of it.

I have the time and determination to attempt this but I wish there was as much info on how to do it as there are vendors selling the damn things on ebay.
 

jfbreese

macrumors newbie
Aug 11, 2008
4
0
No I am not sure about the static theory, just a semi educated theory...lol. I do know that any non-conductive item will not work on the touch screen. As it is a multi layer LCD, unlike most palm and windows pda's.

I'm no expert, very experienced though, and I did the project, with great caution, and almost believe for sure that the ones boasting success with just buying the "glass" are the ones selling just the "Glass". I don't know...anyhow mine is the 1st generation, not the 3G.
 

windowpain

macrumors 6502a
Apr 19, 2008
590
100
Japan
Just a quick update - I was looking at the ifixit site and they have disassembly guides for all the iphones.

Here is the guide for replacing the glass on the 1st gen.

As you can see it requires replacing the entire front section; glass, lcd, and touch sensors. All for the bargain price of $250!

They seem to have improved greatly on the design for the 3g and have separated the essential parts; here

I like to think that Jobs dropped his, cracked the screen, tried to replace it himself, got annoyed, threw it at a wall, and then ordered one of his minions to come up with a better design...
 

jfbreese

macrumors newbie
Aug 11, 2008
4
0
everyone will be happy to know that today I recieved the complete unit from hong kong....and I am up and running again. Its not too bad of a project taking the iphone apart, one of the more difficult appla products, but not bad. Nothing to be scared about.

I just hope everyone reading this doesnt waste the time of trying to scrape off the glass, cause it comes off, but can not be replaced with just glass.

Thanks window pain for the back up on that!!
 

asimpleguy3

macrumors newbie
Mar 23, 2008
1
0
where in Hong kong ?

Could some one please let me know, where do i buy a good replacement touch screen in Hong kong, I live in India and travel to Hong kong, my iphone 2G - 16 GB, has lost sensitivity, I need to change the screen

Thanks
 

kyanox

macrumors newbie
Sep 18, 2008
1
0
When you did this were you really rough scraping off the glass, and how did you reattach your new glass?

Is your new glass official iphone apple glass or cheap replacement. The original glass is optical quality and works perfectly, but in scraping off the old glass you have to be very careful, the digitizer is very weak.

everyone will be happy to know that today I recieved the complete unit from hong kong....and I am up and running again. Its not too bad of a project taking the iphone apart, one of the more difficult appla products, but not bad. Nothing to be scared about.

I just hope everyone reading this doesnt waste the time of trying to scrape off the glass, cause it comes off, but can not be replaced with just glass.

Thanks window pain for the back up on that!!
 

pawn3d

macrumors regular
Apr 5, 2008
110
0
iPhone Glass/Digitizer/LCD Repair:

Iresq.com charges $186 for 1st Gen iPhone glass repair and $120 for the 3G.
With the lowest shipping option it's $135 and $201, respectively.

Is there anyone out there that can beat that price?
 
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