On Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 11:27:42 PM UTC-5, wrote in sci.electronics.repair:
On Jan 30, 2015, Theo Markettos wrote in sci.electronics.repair:

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?

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

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.

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

On Sunday, February 1, 2015 at 11:00:07 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 11:27:42 PM UTC-5, wrote in sci.electronics.repair:
On Jan 30, 2015, Theo Markettos wrote in sci.electronics.repair:

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?

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

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.

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.

Or rather, a temperature near that. Sorry.