[Stephen] wrote us a letter about the LCD maintenance tool he invented. We have all seen the old equipment connecting monochrome LCD with thin film. The connection between PCB and LCD has deteriorated, and LCD no longer displays some pictures. This is a connected heating device, [Stephen] affectionately calls it the world’s smallest hair straightener, which is specially made to bring cool old technology back to life.
There is a roll of Kant type metal wire in the resin printing die, which is easy to purchase and simple to make. He reuses a hairpin as the housing for the heating element, which also provides the pressure needed to squeeze the conductive traces of thin-film printing into the LCD when the adhesive melts. Combining the two with high-temperature epoxy resin and through variable power supply, the tool successfully revitalized the old tiger 99x handheld computer.
This hacking is possible in part because [John Devin Duncan] shared his experience in repairing LCD ribbons in 2015 in the hackday review section, which provided valuable insights into the problems we initially thought could be solved with a soldering iron. Stephen refines the shared knowledge into a tool that we can use when we encounter a device we really, really, really want to revive.
Last time we discussed this topic, many hackers suddenly put forward their stories and suggestions. The old game console repair story is a major content on hackday, some popular ideas – this is a high-intensity tracking repair of a water damaged Gameboy cartridge, a poorly designed NES cartridge socket transformation, and this Gameboy LCD sunburn repair guide.