Glass Only Apple Watch 4 Screen Fix - NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE!

So the Apple Watch Series 4, with its rectangular design and curved

glass

edges, looks pretty sleepy and pristine unless, of course, it's broken. Unfortunately, replacement

screen

s can cost almost as much as the

watch

itself. But what if replacing just the top

glass

was an option? Today I'm going to show you that replacing just the glass is actually an option... and at the same time show you why mere mortals should never attempt this repair. I've personally tried several glass-

only

Apple Watch repairs before this one, and each time it failed catastrophically. This time I'll have extra help from a guy who does this regularly.

He has found a way to make these

impossible

repairs possible. But still, without experience, I would say that about 99% of people who try this project will fail. Now that the pep talk is over, let's get started. Removing just the glass from a smart

watch

or mobile phone is like trying to separate two potato chips that are stuck together without breaking any of them. The concept, of course, is simple, but the execution is almost

impossible

. It's the brain surgery equivalent of smartphone repair. The initial trick is that the curved glass edge of the Apple Watch Series 4 doesn't have any display panel part underneath it, nor does it have the finger sensor digitizer underneath the curve.

However, it has a super fragile square ring around the bottom edge of the glass that rests against the metal for the Force Touch feature, which is essential to the watch's functionality. I'll show you what it looks like in just a second. This will be one of those videos that you must watch from start to finish. I'm not going to use heat yet because heat can damage the Force Touch ring by causing it to delaminate. So I'm gently removing the small shards of cold glass with my needle nose tweezers. Is this tedious? Yes. But remember that we are working with layers of technology that are more fragile than potato chips, so the race is won by slow and steady.

Once we've removed these smaller glass shards from the frame, we can slide a super thin piece of rigid plastic between the glass

screen

and the Force Touch ring, taking extra care not to damage the fragile ring as we cut my plastic from one side to another to Help it slide under the glass and cut the adhesive that holds it to the black Force Touch sensor. Lifting a glass sliver at the wrong angle can put pressure on the screen under the glass and destroy it. It's like trying to diffuse a bomb that could destroy the clock at any second.

Also note that holding down the side button for too long literally calls the police. Ask me how I know. Obviously, the more cracked the glass is, the easier it will be to work on because small shards of glass can break off more easily. If the screen ends up breaking with black spots or the touch sensitivity stops working, the

only

option at that point is to replace the entire screen instead of just the glass, which is what we're trying to do here today. Remember, we can't use heat yet because of that Force Touch ring - it's still attached to the metal frame.

Every once in a while I would run into a snag on the edge of the glass that would require me to shift my piece of plastic or grab my tweezers to remove another piece of glass. I've been at this for about 45 minutes, going slowly and removing each piece of glass individually. These watches are expensive, but if I can save this screen by replacing just the glass, I can save quite a bit of money. I will add each piece of glass to my glass collection on the side until I have another opening large enough for the thin piece of plastic.

I'll insert it and start cutting between the glass and the Force Touch ring. This is a terribly tedious repair that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. You may be a little stressed that the watch is still on at this point, but as long as you don't cut the plastic too deep into the watch, the internal wires should be fine...there's nothing around the watch. edge. I leave the watch on so I can easily test and see if I've broken up the internal chips or not. Once the screen breaks, there is no point in continuing and it is better to buy the entire screen replacement instead of just the glass.

Finally, after removing all the small glass chips and cutting the plastic underneath the larger pieces of glass, the entire screen comes loose from the body of the Apple Watch. In fact, everything is still working at the moment, which means we haven't made a mistake yet. Cross your fingers that it stays that way. To continue I need something called a vacuum heating plate. This beauty can suck on objects while heating them to soften the adhesive. It's a much more controlled environment than using my standard heat gun. And since we work with small and delicate things, it is a necessary equipment for this project.

I have plugged all but nine of the holes so we can have all the suction in one place. I'll add another piece of tape over the cracked Apple Watch screen so air doesn't leak through the cracks and cause it to lose suction...science. And I'll also turn off the clock. Once the machine is turned on, it will begin heating the adhesive that holds the ribbon cables to the back of the screen. You can see them stop right here. There are 3 of them lined up in a row and this gives us some leeway to reach in and disconnect the cables.

The adhesive that holds the black tape over these connectors is incredibly sticky and almost impossible to remove carefully... Thanks Tim Apple. Normally alcohol doesn't solve problems, but in this particular case, a drop of alcohol just above each of the connectors dissolves the adhesive, allowing the tape to come off a little easier. It will become sticky again after the alcohol evaporates. Once the tape is removed from the 3 connectors, I can open the little black latch on the top, which unlocks the corresponding cable. The latches themselves are extremely fragile, like everything we've seen today. Finally, I'll grab the ribbons and the top of the screen, and carefully but firmly pull the ribbons off the screen.

It took me about an hour to get to this point in the process and we haven't even started the complex part yet. Coming back to our vacuum hot plate screen separator machine. This time I'm going to use a super thin, high tensile gold colored wire that I'll wrap around my finger to keep it secure. This cable will sit directly below the glass layer of the Apple Watch display, but on top of the digitizer and display layers. It's a fragile little sandwich of high-tech components, and if you choose the wrong layer to slide on, everything is destroyed.

I'm not being dramatic, I'm just being realistic. You can see the cable sliding and cutting into one of the sticky layers inside the sandwich - that's the adhesive between the glass and the digitizer, and exactly where we want the cable to be. It's like trying to separate the two halves of a very expensive Oreo, but if you break the cookie part, you lose a few hundred dollars. I'll lift the wire over the remaining curved pieces of glass so it doesn't get caught on the edge or start cutting into the sensitive bits, and then continue to gently slide the wire through the heated, sticky adhesive layer.

Everything heats up to about 80 degrees Celsius at the moment and that keeps the Oreo nice and smooth for the cord to slide on. The suction of the machine prevents the watch screen from moving too much as the cable slides through the adhesive. Once the cable finishes the cut and comes out the other side, the screen is loose and completely free to separate from the top layer of glass. The broken glass is now removed from the screen. You may see some adhesive residue on the digitizer layer above the screen layer, but it's pretty easy to clean. Nothing looks physically damaged yet, so I think we're still good to go.

The hardest part of the repair is already done...sort of. The bit of gummy adhesive left on the screen can be gently removed, keeping in mind that this is like trying to dust the flavor off a Dorito, and one wrong move can break the whole thing. A little acetone can dissolve the rest of those lines and residue on the top of the screen. But before we continue, I want to test and make sure my little Dorito is still in one piece, so I'll remove the tape over those connectors and place each of the three tapes into their latches on the back of the screen. .

Pushing them into place with the T-shaped holder on the back of the tape. I'll turn it all on. The Apple Watch should continue to work at this point even without the glass in place. The touch-sensitive digitizer is still located at the top of the display part. Yes, it will be a little tricky because it is designed to have a layer of glass on top, but the watch should still work overall at this point. So far, so good. I'll turn the watch off again and remove the cables from the back of the screen. Now it's time to add a new layer of glass on top.

This part is actually pretty easy. Adding the glass requires a special type of glue. Once the screen is completely clean of dust or fingerprints, I will grab a small Lego to hold the screen. I'll explain why in just a second. Although I mainly meant "little Lego". I will clean both sides of the replacement glass and add a tablespoon of Loca: Liquid Optical Clear Adhesive. This is really cool. It is what will hold the glass layer securely to the screen. The important thing when placing the glass is that no air bubbles are trapped under the glass. I caught an air bubble during my first placement, so I took it out and popped it with a pair of needle-nose pliers and then tried putting the glass back in a second time.

Placing the screen on top of the Lego allows the screen to sit within the curve of the glass as it rests in place. But once again, I saw a small bubble under the glass as the adhesive flattened out toward the edges. It's no big deal, it just means I have to gently coax that little bubble to migrate toward the edge of the glass with a little pressure. This little pressure is also pushing out glue on the bottom of the glass that I'll have to clean up later, but as long as the Loca doesn't come into contact with the electronics, I'll be fine.

The nice thing about this glue is that it doesn't dry on its own, it stays liquid and gives me enough time to clean up the bubble and make sure the screen underneath is fully aligned under the glass. The screen should be centered evenly on all sides, with none of the copper edges showing. I can shine a light through the bottom of the screen to make sure everything is proportional, and then I can shine a UV or UV light on everything. These magical rays of artificial sunlight are what dry or cure the liquid optical adhesive that holds the glass to the screen.

It only takes a few seconds for the glue to begin to harden and then a few more minutes for the glass to become permanently attached to the screen again. It's pretty crazy. Thumbs up for that. I have to clean the leak under the screen when I pressed that little bubble, but once it's clean, I can cure the bottom of the glass to prevent the edges from smearing, and we're almost done. I'll take the screen, place those three ribbons on their corresponding latches, and gently lock the fragile flaps into place. Then, after making sure there are no glass chips, old adhesive, or dust on the Force Touch ring, I can make sure everything still turns on.

I'm as surprised as you. How are the

apple

s? The touch sensitivity still appears to be intact. I'll make sure to line up the antenna tab on the back of the screen with the slot on the motherboard and place the screen in place to test the Force Touch. And Force Touch seems to work. For such a fragile and intricate project, we definitely got lucky. I can add some flexible waterproof adhesive to the edge of the screen. Of course, I won't trust the device to be waterproof anymore, but the adhesive will hold the glass in place and is still flexible enough to allow Force Touch to work.

This is an absolutely brutal repair. I have performed this exact same procedure on a few smartphones in the past, so I am familiar with the process. And even with my previous experience, it took me about three hours to finish this watch. This is definitely my first and last successful glass-only Apple Watch repair. If you're wondering, "Who in their right mind would want to do this?" I'll leave a link in the description to my friend who helped me with this repair. In fact, he performs this repair for other people regularly. It's nice to save a few hundred dollars by repairing a broken watch instead of buying a new one.

Each version of the Apple Watch will be slightly different. However, I am quite impressed with how wellThat resulted. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find some Doritos and Oreos that I can put to good use. Come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter. Hit the subscribe button. And thank you very much for watching. I'll see you there.