[Nexus 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dvd4me:
Hello,

I got a Nexus 7 tablet with a broken digitizer for free, I started watching info and videos on the net on how to separate that digitizer from the god LCD.

The heat gun solution looks a bit too hard to control. I chose to try to make my own heat plate.

I have made the heating plate based on stuff found around the house, also I borrowed some stuff from work until I will receive the controller I ordered from Ebay.

Basically, I got an aluminum plate cut from a scrap piece, drilled holes to hold those lock down clamps, everything is just made to resemble those professional separation machines.

There are 2 small round heaters underneath, each around 200W, more than needed for this application.

I tried heating the assembly up to 85 deg C and the lcd metal back cover starts to lift up, separating from the lcd glass itself, oops, had to press down on it and lower the temp to around 65 C ,now it sits in place.

I bought 2-3 broken digitizers with screens from a guy that repairs tablets, just to practice before I really try to do the change the digitizer on my tablet.

I will put pictures of the removed and cleaned LCD’s, the digitizers were just used to practice the LOCA glue removal, I throw them away after. Too much glass pieces.

Here is the name of the video: Nexus 7 LCD separation from digitizer, fast LOCA removal. Please turn on CC on the video to see more info.

[YOUTUBE]LXsUwfLLhgw[/YOUTUBE]

The separation of the lcd is done with some guitar wire 0.007”, not sure if smaller diameter it will do better or not.

I had a problem on one practice screen, I cut thru the front polarizing film on the lcd. that’s why I started the separation from the lcd connector side, wire gets better there between the digitizer and the lcd.

One great thing I found is by using silicon grease, it makes the sawing much easier and you only need one pass to separate the lcd.

After separating the lcd, cleaning up the loca glue is also easy, thanks to my other interesting finding I did, by using essential oils.

There are so many out there, like tea tree oil, oregano oil, tried them, they all do a good job.

I finally used the citronella oil because it was only 4$ for 15ml, probably you can do lots of cleaning from one bottle and also repelling the mosquitos around you.

As you can see, apply small drops, spread uniformly with your finger, then wait, after 4-5 hours the glue comes off very easy.

If any excess oil, absorb-it with a paper towel. If it’s too much oil, not good also.

The good thing about oil is that it will have much less ( more like zero) chances to go inside the LCD panel and make spots, like the alcohol can do.

Finished the cleaning with some 99% isopropyl alcohol ( from the pharmacy).

I’m sure after this, some people will try to sell “ miracle” loca glue remover. Hope this post will remain here to give some great info to those searching.

This is valid for any kind of lcd loca glue cleaning, is it a phone or tablet, it will work.

I think I will try to reapply the uv loca glue to the new digitizer, I will wait for the ordered glue to come.

With all the things I purchased maybe is not economical for one tablet, but the experience I got is priceless, I’m happy to share with others.