Confirming, these are indeed zifs for me too. My padding has notches indicating location of lever needing to be raised. Obviously lever is tiny, look closely. If your padding is a clean rectangle as shown in guide, you may not have zif sockets here
I soaked the old grilles in a 91% isopropyl solution for about 5min and then used an electronics wire brush (very small with a few strands of thin brassy wires). The old adhesive fell right off, and all of the built up dust has washed away. Tried using qtips at first, that was a huge mistake as the grill rips into the qtips and pulls off strands of cotton
After “use tweezers to carefully remove these parts from your old display” - be sure to check the front of the grille. It’s easy to accidentally leave on the old grille adhesive. When you go to insert the old grill on top of your new tape in the display, you can accidentally stack up new tape + old tape + grille.
I agree that this worked much better. A few suggestions for others:
- one type of thread that works very well is fishing line. While you can use monofilament (the clear plastic), if you can get the braided fishing line you will find it is extremely thin and super strong and works very well for this
- string pulled tightly can cut more than just the adhesive, so be careful what you allow the string to rub against while you are pulling it. I can easily cut into another cable or the battery
- I found that gloves (not latex, big gardening or construction gloves) helped me use string without needing to go “ow” every few seconds from your hand hurting. I have some gloves with nice grip and good hand protection, I would get the string positioned, put on the gloves, and start pulling. It worked fantastically
I was able to remove the battery easily with the string method, and i did not remove the speakers to do so. However, when I went to seat the new battery I chose to remove the speakers to make it easier to place
This takes a bit more effort than you might expect. Put your fingers where shown and lift about 3inches. With enough upwards pressure the plastic holders will “pop free” and the bottom will come off easily.
Confirming, these are indeed zifs for me too. My padding has notches indicating location of lever needing to be raised. Obviously lever is tiny, look closely. If your padding is a clean rectangle as shown in guide, you may not have zif sockets here
I soaked the old grilles in a 91% isopropyl solution for about 5min and then used an electronics wire brush (very small with a few strands of thin brassy wires). The old adhesive fell right off, and all of the built up dust has washed away. Tried using qtips at first, that was a huge mistake as the grill rips into the qtips and pulls off strands of cotton
After “use tweezers to carefully remove these parts from your old display” - be sure to check the front of the grille. It’s easy to accidentally leave on the old grille adhesive. When you go to insert the old grill on top of your new tape in the display, you can accidentally stack up new tape + old tape + grille.
when it comes out, it can pop with some force and go flying. Ensure you have a clear desk/floor so you can find it after it flies away
I agree that this worked much better. A few suggestions for others:
- one type of thread that works very well is fishing line. While you can use monofilament (the clear plastic), if you can get the braided fishing line you will find it is extremely thin and super strong and works very well for this
- string pulled tightly can cut more than just the adhesive, so be careful what you allow the string to rub against while you are pulling it. I can easily cut into another cable or the battery
- I found that gloves (not latex, big gardening or construction gloves) helped me use string without needing to go “ow” every few seconds from your hand hurting. I have some gloves with nice grip and good hand protection, I would get the string positioned, put on the gloves, and start pulling. It worked fantastically
I was able to remove the battery easily with the string method, and i did not remove the speakers to do so. However, when I went to seat the new battery I chose to remove the speakers to make it easier to place
This takes a bit more effort than you might expect. Put your fingers where shown and lift about 3inches. With enough upwards pressure the plastic holders will “pop free” and the bottom will come off easily.
My battery replacement came with 4 rubber grommets pre-installed, so perhaps this is no longer necessary