What Tools Do I Need To Repair Cell Phones

If you're thinking about replacing the bombardment in your smartphone yourself, or even switching out that shattered screen, there are several tools you should have to brand the task a lot easier.

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Undoubtedly, 1 of the best places to purchase replacement parts is iFixit. And after the whole iPhone battery fiasco, their bombardment replacement kits have go quite pop. While these kits come with all the tools you'll need to get the job washed, unfortunately it's the blank minimum, and you'd be surprised at how easier the process is with a few additional tools at your disposal.

Suction Cup Pliers

If you lot have a mobile device similar the iPhone, where you lot have to pry up the display in order to become inside, a pair of suction cup pliers is a great tool to have.

iFixit bombardment replacement kits come up with a small suction loving cup to help pry open your phone, but information technology pales in comparison to some suction cup pliers. Yous just attach one suction cup to the back of the phone and the other to the front, and then simply squeeze on the pliers to separate the display from the remainder of the phone.

If you do even only a small handful of mobile repairs, these pliers are a worthy investment and will pay for themselves with the amount of time you'll save.

Heat Gun or Hair Dryer

Of course, with newer smartphones, you can't pry open the display without heating up the adhesive showtime. To do that, information technology's great to have a heat gun or a hair dryer.

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The heat softens upwardly the adhesive and makes information technology easier to separate the brandish when y'all pry it open up, as well as lessening the chance of something breaking.

Y'all can also apply something like a rice purse that you heat up in the microwave. iFixit sells their own version of this specifically made for mobile repair, only you could easily brand your own with a sock and some rice.

Magnetic Mat

Taking apart a phone results in a lot of loose screws and pocket-sized parts that demand to be kept organized and—more importantly—prevented from getting lost. This is where a magnetic mat can be a truthful life saver.

It not merely keeps your tiny screws from rolling off the table and getting lost, simply well-nigh mats accept separator lines so that you lot tin can organize parts and keep track of everything, equally well as employ a dry-erase marker to know what'due south what.

Guitar Picks

Suction cup pliers are great to have, merely if y'all're dealing with a stubborn display assembly that's actually glued down, guitar picks tin can come in handy.

Y'all can use them as a makeshift spudger (the trivial plastic prying devices), just guitar picks are also handy for acting as spacers to keep places you've already pulled apart separated. Say you got the bottom one-half of the screen to pry up, but not the top half. Y'all can stick some guitar picks in betwixt the torso and the screen on the bottom half to keep it pried upwardly not falling back into place as y'all work on the top half.

Equally for where you lot tin can purchase guitar picks, pretty much any music store sells them, but you can too simply grab them on Amazon. iFixit likewise sells their ain versions.

Old Credit Cards

Similar guitar picks, having an old credit carte du jour handy can aid when prying up sure parts, but what makes credit cards better in some cases is that yous can pry up a larger surface surface area at once.

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This makes them great for prying out stubborn batteries that are stuck down with adhesive—using a spudger or something similar isn't ideal for this, since information technology'd be easy to puncture the battery accidentally.

With an former credit card, you can slide it underneath the entire battery on 1 side and slowly work it out without fear of puncturing anything.

Magnifying Drinking glass

Smartphone parts are extremely tiny. Unless you have good eyesight, information technology can be difficult to meet what's what. A magnifying glass can exist a really savior.

What I like to practice is use the magnifying drinking glass on my "third manus" soldering tool. You can purchase these for pretty cheap, and the stand allows you lot to go along both hands gratis while you use the magnifying glass to get a closer wait at the innards of your phone.

If you article of clothing glasses and want a fiddling more portability, you tin attempt something like this jeweler's clip-on center loupe.

Desk Lamp

You might think that y'all accept plenty of low-cal already, but y'all would be amazed at what a cheap desk lamp can do.

For the longest time, I've never taken advantage of additional light when working on projects, merely in one case I started using headlamps and desk lamps, information technology completely changed my perspective of what adequate lighting meant.

Information technology's a cheap investment also. Yous can get a decent desk lamp for less than $15. Better yet, you probably already have one lying around the house somewhere.