Learning how to use LOCA gum or glue for glass/screen touch replacement could be very interesting paying attention to these helpful guidelines that will make the outcome look professional and clean at a glance..In this article, I will be showing you how to successfully use the LOCA (liquid optical clear adhesive) screen replacement glue for fixing broken phone LCD Glass/touch screen.
You might want to do this due to a broken glass/touch screen that needs replacement. Frankly speaking, screen glass/touch replacement could be very tasking at times especially when you need to do a clean and professional looking screen glass/touch replacement. However, the LOCA gum is a good sealant that is here to make it easy just taking some important safety guidelines. There are other adhesives meant for this purpose, one of them is the OCA (optical clear adhesive), but in this article, we will be focusing on the LOCA.
Before we proceed further, lets take a look at some highlights on the LOCA adhesive gum.
Highlights On LOCA Gum
- Handy: LOCA is very easy and handy to use even when trying it out for the first time!
- Durability: It keeps your LCD display looking natural always and has a durable “shelf life” as It doesn’t dry up like other sealant after been kept for a few weeks or months except that it becomes non-effective when it gets to its expiry date.
- Rework-ability: Screen damage is inevitable, thus, LOCA Gum is formulated with that in mind so as to make it flexible enough to remove and replace as many times as possible.
- Crystal Clarity: Using LOCA Gum gives you an edge over others as its gives you optical clarity that improves your LCD screen display making it look like “out of the box”!
- Scratches: LOCA Glue also give you the advantage of clearing out unwanted scratches or stains that makes your screen look dull and old as it becomes brighter after applying the Gum.
Tools Needed for Fixing broken Screen Glass/touch
- Original LOCA Gum
- Quality replacement screen glass/touch
- Precision screw drivers
- Hot plate screen remover machine
- LCD cleaner kit
- LCD separator string/cable
- Blade cutter
- UV Lamp
- Mobile phone opener
Once you have all of the above and others you might need depending on your choice, then you are set to proceed with the following steps.
Steps To Removing And Replacing The Broken Phone Glass/Touch With LOCA Gum:
Removing The Glass/Touch
Removing and replacing broken screen glass/touch of a phone is very delicate and could lead to the loss of the main LCD (main display), so, you will need to be very careful doing this! However, with consistent practice and adherence to safety, it becomes easy.
In this article, I assumed that you are doing this for the first time, meaning that is going to be a safe guide for a successful delivery.
- Removing The Battery: Remove or disconnect the battery from the phone you are going to be working on as heat from using the “Hot Plate Screen Remover Machine” can potentially damage your phone’s battery or may even cause explosion!
- Using The Hot Plate Screen Remover Machine: The hot plate screen remover machine is what actually makes the removal process easy by heating up the broken glass/touch and the main display altogether so as to soften the LOCA gum or sealant in between them both. It should be noted that heat regulation is critical as overheated situation can further complicate the problem. So, you might consider setting the heat control knob between 80 to 100 degree Celsius which works best for me. Always put your eyes on the phone while on the hot plate so you won’t forget and keep it heating up unnecessarily!
- Removing The Glass: Once you are sure that the glass is heated up enough, use the blade cutter to gentle lift the broken glass and quickly insert the LCD separator string or cable. Once the cable has been successfully inserted, keep polling the string sideways from left to right until you get to the end downward. Note: care should be taken towards the end while removing the glass/touch as the home, option and back button back light flakes might be damaged.
- Cleaning The LCD: After the broken glass has been successfully removed, you will at this point need to use your LCD cleaning agents to tidy up your screen surface so as to give it a perfect look.
- Applying The LOCA Gum: Remember that LOCA adhesive is a liquid and can easily get smeared around if not properly applied on the screen surface and could badly affect the backing leather sheets that gives the screen brightness. With this in mind, it is better to apply the LOCA adhesive in the “X” shape pattern, that is from the top-left downward to the bottom-right and from top-right downward to the left side of the screen.
- Placing The New Glass: After carefully applying the glue, place the glass on the screen making sure it is well aligned so it doesn’t slant and thus lose placement. This is to make sure your screen glass looks cute and smart!
- Drying The Glass After Applying LOCA Gum: This is apparently the last stage. At this point, you will need to put the phone in to or under an UVL (ultra violet lamp) enclosure or machine that allows the LOCA gum dry up between 3 to 5 minutes, but I like leaving it for 10 minutes. Once it gets dried up, replace your battery and move on with your phone as this brings us to the end!
