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Wondering if it's possible to remove the LCD screen without damaging it.

I noticed there are six black metal thingys at the back of the module that is twisted up holding the LCD in-place, is it safe to untwist and remove it? What do I have to know before doing so? I assume that is how the ant got in there the first place.

enter image description here

winny
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Rafael Ibasco
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    Known as de-bugging... :) – Solar Mike Jun 28 '18 at 12:04
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    Some people teardown LCD screens to remove the backlight and use them as retroprojectors or transparent screens mods for computer cases side panels. So I guess it's possible. See http://displayblocks.org/fundamental-building-blocks/ripping-that-lcd-out-of-your-monitor-without-breaking-it/. But I think this is off-topic here, it's a kind of repair question and not electronic design. – dim Jun 28 '18 at 12:41
  • I would try spraying some compressed air first before taking it apart. – Justin Jun 28 '18 at 13:16
  • I would not have expected to find a critter inside the LCD unit itself. I would first have tried to find out if there was protective plastic over the LCD that was part of the case, it might not require disassembly of the metal clips on the LCD unit. – KalleMP Jun 28 '18 at 18:34

1 Answers1

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The black metal bezel around the LCD glass is what connects to those bent fingers. The bent fingers either capture the LCD circuit board in place from its edges or the fingers extend through slots in the LCD circuit board.

You can carefully bend the finger tabs straight and this will permit removal of the bezel. Once free the LCD glass will be able to be lifted away from the circuit board. You will see that it was sitting on zebra strip connectors that connect pads on the LCD circuit board to conductive surfaces along the edges of the LCD glass. Between the zebra strips and under the LCD glass you will find the back light unit if your display is one with backlight.

Use care to not get the zebra strip dirty and avoid getting finger oils in it as much as possible. When you reassemble note that the bezel piece is designed to provide some downward pressure on the LCD glass to enable good contact of the zebra strip to the glass and underlying circuit board.

enter image description here

Picture sourced from: www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjGlu2QxPbbAhUOCnwKHRV4BAQQjxx6BAgBEAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vatronix.com%2Fservices%2Fnotes-info-61.html&psig=AOvVaw3uOCKs92MiCM3sJZofjsmo&ust=1530281270685787 for attribution purposes. Note that my antivirus software alerted to a malware at that site so use link with caution. Actual picture is copy from Google image view summary.

When you re-assemble the unit if there are any LCD pixels that fail to display it will be an indication that the some debris got stuck on the surfaces of the zebra strip.

Michael Karas
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    I usually do not complain about down votes but some busybody with nothing better to do has downvoted here for no good reason. – Michael Karas Jun 28 '18 at 13:07
  • Thanks, just what I need to know. I was able to easily pull out the frame, I did not bother to detach the lcd glass from the zebra strips though, worried that I might not be able to put it back properly. Saw the little bugger just below the lcd glass, so all is good now :) – Rafael Ibasco Jun 28 '18 at 13:41
  • @SamGibson - I hesitated to give a web site link. When I tried going there from the Google images display page my Anti Virus software indicated that the target web site was contaminated and unsafe. – Michael Karas Jun 28 '18 at 13:52
  • It's pretty easy to hit downvote accidentally on an iPad while scrolling. Unless you've attracted a serial downvoting stalker (in which case the SE algorithms usually deal with it automatically) it's nothing to worry about. – Spehro Pefhany Jun 28 '18 at 14:12
  • @SamGibson - Attribution added following your suggestions. – Michael Karas Jun 28 '18 at 14:16
  • @SpehroPefhany - I know it was a busybody person that down voted because the downvotes showed on all three answers at the same time. I was still in the midst of completing my answer when this happened. – Michael Karas Jun 28 '18 at 14:17
  • Didn't downvote in this case but sometimes I downvote answers on questions which are obviously off-topic. They are "not useful" because they draw attention to bad questions. – pipe Jun 28 '18 at 14:25
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    @pipe - I didn't feel that this was a bad question. Useful design information on how LCDs are constructed is imparted and can be used by other folks who just learned about zebra strips. A downvote is certainly justified if an answer is outright wrong. – Michael Karas Jun 28 '18 at 14:37
  • @pipe People like you who downvote good answers just because the original question was bad bug the **** out of me. Don't penalize people who are genuinely trying to help when their answer is not the cause of the problem. – DerStrom8 Jun 28 '18 at 15:50
  • @DerStrom8 I don't penalize people, answers aren't people. I use what little powers I have been given to move Stack Exchange in a direction I prefer, which is also why I vehemently argue against people who "just want to help" by writing answers in a comment. Sadly, I can't downvote those comments. – pipe Jun 28 '18 at 17:33
  • @pipe You penalize the people who provide answers by reducing their reputation. Granted it's not much but it's still unnecessary. – DerStrom8 Jun 28 '18 at 18:58