Repair the iPad yourself (II): iPad 3 Front Panel

It is quite common for the glass of the iPad to break. It is one of the favorite devices of the little ones in the house and that is a risk, in addition to that any of us is not free from an accident that causes the front panel of the iPad to end cracked. Replacing this front panel with another is not an easy task, but if you feel capable of doing it, we will translate the original guide of iFixit which explains step by step how to remove the front panel and replace it with a new one.

As we comment on our previous guide to repair Home buttonThis is a procedure that invalidates the warranty of your device and is not without risks, so everyone who acts under their responsibility, we only translate a guide trying to make things easier for you. Actualidad iPad is not responsible for any physical damage to your iPad.

Necessary material

• IPad 3 front panel
• iOpener
• iFixit Guitar Picks set of 6: They are picks (iPad 2)
• Phillips 00 Screwdriver (screwdriver)
• Plastic Opening Tools (iPad 2) They are plastic tools to open the iPad.
• Spudger (punch for electronics)

All this material can be purchased on the iFixit website or in other specialized stores.

Procedure

1. If the screen you are replacing is badly broken, cover it with a clear adhesive that will hold the pieces together during the process and make things much easier for you.
2. We heat the iOpener at full power for one minute. The iOpener will serve to separate the adhesive tape around the iPad screen. The iOpener cannot be heated many times in a row, it is recommended to wait about two minutes before reheating it.

3. We take the iOpener out of the microwave and place it in the right frame of our iPad for 90 seconds.
   

4. We take one Plastic Opening Tools and put it in the upper right corner of the iPad about 5 centimeters from the top, where there is a small gap, we will take advantage of this gap to remove the touchpad. We make a movement until the screen gives way.
   

5. Keeping the Plastic Opening Tool in the gap, we take an iFixit Guitar Pick (pick) and insert it next to the gap, next to the previous tool.
6. We remove the Plastic Opening Tool (tool to open the iPad) and we put the iFixit Guitar about 0.1 centimeters more.
7. We reheat the iOpener and place it on the bottom, where the Home button is located, in the same way as in step 1.
8. While undoing the plastic with the iOpener, we move the iFixit Guitar (pick) along the right frame. We will have to do some small force, be careful, if the tool reaches the LCD panel we could fill the entire screen with adhesive and it would be uncomfortable when using the iPad.
9. If we see that the iFixit Guitar (pick) does not move on the right side, we reheat the iOpener and we place it on the right side (after the bottom is heated).
10. We place another iFixit Guitar on the bottom right of the iPad to prevent the adhesive from sticking again and we reheat the iOpener in the microwave and place it on the top of the iPad, where the camera is located.
11. Be careful with the next steps since we are close to the Wi-Fi antenna and if we touch it it could be detrimental to this connection and we could not fix it.
    

12. La iFixit Guitar (pick) that we had placed in the lower right part, we move it carefully through the lower part of the iPad. Do not slide the iFixit Guitar beyond the lower right corner, it could damage the Wi-Fi antenna, as I have told you before. When you are about 5 centimeters from the home button in the lower right corner, take out the iFixit Guitar leaving very little inside the iPad, this will prevent the Wi-Fi antenna from breaking.
13. When we are close to the Home Button, we put the iFixit Guitar (pick) to the previous depth and move to the right without any fear, but with care of the Wi-Fi antenna. We go through the Home Button taking out the guitar pick and putting it back in and we are removing the adhesive from the lower left part of the iPad. If we see that the iFixit Guitar does not move, we reheat the iOpener and place it wherever we go.
14. We leave the iFixit Guitar (pick) next to the Home Button, stuck pretty deep.
15. Do you remember that we left an iFixit Guitar in the right frame? Well, we place another iFixit Guitar on top of the previous one in the right frame to go up to the top of the iPad and remove the adhesive from that place.
16. We heat up the iOpener again and we place it in the part that remains: the left part.
17. We move the iFixit Guitar (the pick) through the upper frame being careful with the camera (which we took out a little when we got to it, as when we did with the Wi-Fi antenna), if the adhesive hardens, we remove the iOpener from the part left and put it back on top for 90 seconds.
18. We remove the iOpener from the left frame and move the iFixit Guitar along this left frame reaching the lower left corner of the iPad moving the pick to remove the adhesive. We leave the pick in the lower left part of the entire iPad, in the lower left part.
19. Be careful with the cable that connects the two parts of the iPad, place the pick in the lower left part trying not to cut the cable. Work carefully, cutting that cable would be irreversible.
    

20. We take the detached frame from the right side of the iPad and push back (with one hand in the lower right and one in the upper right). If any adhesive remains, cut it off with an iFixit Guitar.
    

21. We remove the screws that hold the LCD screen (indicated in the photograph) with our Phillips 00 Screwdriver (screwdriver)
    

22. Very carefully and with the help of a awl (spudger), we move the part that indicates the photograph (as if it were a book) towards the frame that we have previously removed, be careful as a cable that exists can break.
23. With the tip of a spudger (punch), we peel off the adhesive tape that covers the connector of the LCD ribbon cable.
    

24. We raise the retention flap on the ZIF cable connector drawing of our LCD screen. With our fingers, we pull the cable.
25. Without touching the front of the screen, we raise the front panel to be able to work.
    

26. If necessary, qWe use the adhesive tape that holds the digitizer ribbon cable. We lift the retention flap of the ZIF tape of the digitizer cable.
27. With the spudger (awl) we loosen the adhesive below the digitizer ribbon cable. We pull the cable until it comes out of its internal sockets.
    

28. With the punch again, we remove the digitizer cable back leaving the front of the iPad free. We remove the front panel.
    

You can now replace the broken front panel with the new one following all the steps in this guide in reverse.

More information - Repair the iPad yourself (I): Home button

Source - iFixit