So do you remember that lazor machine that could zap the shattered glass off of an iPhone
in just a few minutes? Well that same company made another machine that can remove scratches
from cellphone screens. Now we're all pretty familiar with scratches at this point, you
know, they start at level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7. Today we're going to test out
this machine, see if it works, and see what level of scratches it can actually remove.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
So right off the bat this machine is a beast. We're probably not going to buy one of these
for your living room, but at the same time it's nice to know they exist so if your screen
ever has scratches you can get it fixed. So inside of this machine we have a polishing
pad down here at the bottom, along with a little coolant hose pump thing that we would
normally see on a CNC machine or a metal band saw. And the whole concept behind this is
that we are going to remove a microscopic layer of glass off of the surface of this
display. And we're going to do that with science. We need something harder than a level 6 on
Mohs scale of hardness. So in our particular case we're going to use a super fine powder
called cerium oxide. Each of these tiny pulverized fragments of dust are harder than a level
6 on Moh's scale of hardness. So we'll measure it out and add it to distilled water to make
that magic sauce that removes scratches from smartphones.
We're using distilled water because there are no minerals and it makes it slightly more
safe for a cellphone. Even if a cellphone is watertight, you never really want to test
it's water resistance. It's dangerous. So if you're thinking about removing the scratches
from your phone, you do have to weight the pros and cons. One, you're getting rid of
your scratches, but two, you're putting your phone in an abrasive liquid...let's just see
how it turns out.
This is one of the phones I've taken apart for my durability tests and teardowns. As
you can see from the scratches at level 6 and deeper groves at a level 7. And there
are quite a lot of other scratches since this phone is in use currently. So this is the
before shot and let's hope that the after shot looks a little cleaner.
The white plastic mold is just to hold the phone secure while the machine is doing it's
work. And the blue glue, that waterproof sealant, is helping keep that milky abrasive from entering
in through the microphone holes, around the edge of the screen, or through the earpiece
– all of which are ingress points inside of the phone, which is where we don't want
that milky liquid to be. Once we're done caulking around the edge of the phone, we can put it
inside of the UV light which cures the adhesive. Very similar to the adhesive we used on the
glass only Apple Watch repair we did last year. Once the adhesive is cured we can take
the plastic mold and drop it into the metal mold, which is what the machine grasps onto
when it's doing the polishing. And since the waterproofing adhesive is now solid, the polishing
abrasive should stay out of the phone.
So this is my first time using this machine so it's going to be interesting to see how
it goes. This puck right here helps keep the phone in place while we set it on top of the
polishing pad, right up against those two wheels. Just so you can see, the phone is
still in there and still alive for the moment. Position the abrasive spitter outter. Now
we can turn it on. Emergency kill switch. And I can hit start. Now I'm sure normally
this is supposed to be down, but we're not about that life, so we're going to go ahead
and take a look from the inside. So right now we have the abrasive liquid, which we
can kind of just spray wherever we want. This has a little magnetic base to it. But if we
put it here in the center, the centrifugal force of the spinning pad kind of pulls the
liquid out towards the edge. But the puck is also spinning around. And I assume it's
spinning to kind of help remove that microscopic layer of glass uniformly across the surface
without having lines running in a single direction. So we just finished 5 minutes in this glass
resurfacer, but I think it's time we see if the phone is still alive or not. It's got
the liquid all over it. And surprisingly, the level 6 and level 7 deeper grooves are
both just gone. Now of course, by removing a microscopic layer off the surface of the
screen, we've also removed the oleophobic coating on the top of the glass, but we can
bring that back easy enough. I'll take my razor blade and pop out the adhesive surrounding
the phone. All the blue goo is turned into a hard plastic, and it's fairly difficult
to get it out since the plastic mold is exactly shaped to the sides of the phone. This of
course is an iPhone mold, but I know they have molds made for other phones as well.
To get that oleophobic back in place, all we have to do is clean off the screen really
well. So you can see how the screen reacts when I add isopropyl alcohol to the surface.
It just kind of stays in one spot and runs off the edge of the screen. But you can see
it's sticking to the glass surface, which means that the oleophobic coating is gone
and that oleophobic coating is what keeps your fingerprints from getting the screen
dirty.
Once the screen is totally clean, then I can take the oleophobic coating, drop a couple
drops on the top, rub it in, and then throw it in that UV light for another 30 seconds.
And when it comes out you can see that the alcohol, instead of sticking to the screen,
is kind of beading up on the surface of the phone which is exactly what we're looking
for. Now the phone is pretty much back to the factory scratch-free finish, and is still
fingerprint resistant. Now I do have one of my iPhone XR's and as you can see from the
screen, we still have the level 6 scratches, with deeper grooves at level 7. Now, normally
I stop at a level 7 because any more damage would be, you know, excessive. But I think
today we can make an exception. If you phone ever sustained a level 8 scratch in real life,
the reality is it would probably be broken. They are more like gauges in the screen. And
well, a level 9 scratch is something entirely different all by itself. And a level 9, instead
of being gauges is more scoring the glass and cracking it all the way through. I doubt
we can get rid of a level 9 scratch.
Alright we have the level 6 scratches, level 7 deeper groove, level 8 gauges, and level
9 a score across the surface of the glass. Let's see what can be removed.
We have everything set. We're just going to go for another 5 minutes on this round, but
I want to show you the back here. This is that milky abrasive liquid that is just being
pulled up through the pump, through the pipes, all the way inside through this adjustable
spout. And once again, we're just removing a microscopic layer off of the surface of
that phone. But is it microscopic layer enough for level 8 gauges?
Just if you're curious, this is kind of like a shag carpet just chilling there like a doormat.
And the phone. It's nice and milky. It still turns on. Let's dry it off and put it under
the light. So we can already see just from this lighting right here that 6 and 7 are
already gone, but levels 8 and 9 are still there. Now personally, I think level 9 is
going to be there forever. But let's throw it in one more time for 5 more minutes and
see if we can get level 8 to disappear a little more.
So it has now been 25 minutes. We left it in for quite a bit longer cuz those level
8 gauges are pretty rough. Well, we made progress. Let's get it under the light. So it looks
like the level 6 scratches and the level 7 deeper grooves are totally removed after those
first 5 minutes...minus the one little divot from the level 7 where I assume the pick just
gauged out the glass a little bit. But the level 8 gauges and the level 9 score are still
present, even after 25 minutes from the abrasive pad. So overall I'm pretty impressed. The
machine can probably handle scratches that happen to your phone with every day life.
You know, whether it's in your pocket or your purse. Anything from a regular level 6, to
a deeper groove level 7. But anything that takes a chunk out of the glass, the machine's
not going to be able to handle. In reality, if you got a level 8 or 9, the screen's probably
cracked at the same time so you have a bigger issue on your hands. So if you've had your
phone for a couple years and you want it to look like new again, there's a good chance
this machine can help you out. But, once again, you gotta weigh the pros and the cons. You
are putting your phone in liquid and that could be game over. But with enough protection
around the edge, it should turn out just fine. I'll leave a link for this machine down in
the video description. This video's not sponsored. Huge thanks to FIXD for letting me borrow
their machine for this video. And let me know what you think. Would you risk your phone
to get rid of some scratches? I'm curious.
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And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.