My iPad2 had an unfortunate encounter with the pavement recently resulting in a broken glass digitizer.
Replacements are readily obtainable off ebay for around $50 so I thought I would have a crack at fixing it, which is not as easy as you would hope. That's because Apple have made their best efforts in the name of built-in obsolesence and glued the screen on. This means that in a few years when your perfectly functional iPad's battery starts to fade, you'll probably have to throw it away and buy a new one because removing the screen to access the battery is a major ordeal.
I was lucky in that I did not have to worry about keeping the screen intact, since I had a brand new replacement.
I used the iFixit teardown guide, as well as some hands on support from my friend Spoonie, who had already done his own teardown -without him I'm sure it would have taken much longer.
Anyway, I discovered a few things on the way...
iFixit recommends you use a heat gun to loosen the adhesive, which helps a great deal. However, make sure it is not too hot, as the screen sits on a thermoplastic bezel, which melts and deforms if it gets too hot. I discovered this the hard way, and as a result the new screen doesn't sit flush like it should. I managed to crack my brand new screen trying to reseat it with a little too much force.
So, I have bought another screen, a replacement bezel and some proper adhesive to glue the new screen on.
Hopefully the job will be much easier the next time around!
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