Quote:
Originally Posted by frostschutz
why people insist on separating the front bezel + infrared guide is beyond me
it's supposed to stay together
yes there is a lot of glue all around, but even so, you can pry the front bezel (including the IR layer) off using no tools other than your fingernails. start in the top corner, it comes off. the water-seal glue is sufficiently soft/flexible at room temperature, no heat guns required neither. there's a youtube vid where someone stabs in with a guitar pick, and even says you should be harsh with it, too much... patient and gentle does the trick
or well, at least that's how it worked for me (old post)
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...66#post2998466
front bezel + IR stayed as one part. re-gluing the IR to the bezel is not something I would look forward to
in the end I only had to remove some glue lumps from the water seal, not re-glue anything myself
obviously not water proof anymore but I doubt it ever was - for my other H2O the front bezel was lifted up in one corner when snapping it into a protective case so that's not waterproof either despite never opened all the way |
Just to say that this philosophy worked perfectly for me when I replaced my Kobo H2O first gen (2014) screen this week, with one slight modification: I used a combination of fingernail (initially) plus a spudger (latterly) to separate the bezel & ir guide combo from the case back, but I also needed to actually get underneath the bezel from the inside (i.e. between the e-ink screen and the inner bezel rim) using a credit card before I could fully detach the bezel/ir guide assembly from the case.
Once that was done, the rest was plain sailing: 4 screws off, then battery detached, then e-ink screen ribbon cable and front light ribbon cable detached, then 6 screws off, then removal of the (in my case shattered) screen [go very carefully when you get to the four locations of the double-sided tape], then replace with new screen & front light, then reverse the rest of the process. I never bothered with replacing either the double-sided tape nor any of the glue and everything went back together without difficulty. No hot-air gun needed either.
The overall appearance after replacement depends of course on the quality of the replacement screen (for me an ED068OG1): I paid little more than $20 on Ali Express, and received a very glossy screen but with a matte screen protector already applied over the top of the front light. I'm absolutely fine with that but it may be possible to pay more and get a true matte screen like the original - ymmv.