Chosen Solution
After the second full panel replacement, the glass has again cracked. When attempting to reseat the loose home button glass cracked. First time was due to flex stress at the cable attachments. Seems regardless of how well you follow the instruction that corner does not want to adhere properly. Looks home button was due to this poor adhesion. What is the fix for this.? Why does this seem to be a systemic problem with this replacement panel? Two panels within two months and they both have the exact same issue. At this point I’m in half the cost of a refurbished pad. Seriously considering a refurb rather than try a third. Advice?
One issue with the repair guides, especially for iPads, is that they don’t show you the best practices for re-assembling the device. While you can reverse the steps, there are a few gotchas in the process. Every iPad has it’s idiosyncrasies. The Home Button flex has to be positioned such that it folds properly, towards the inside, without kinking. Look at Step 40 of this guide. Likewise, the digitizer flex cable on the air requires a special inside-out kind of fold otherwise it doesn’t lay flat and puts upward pressure on the digitizer. Zoom in on Step 43 of the same guide to see what it looks like. The final thing to check is the condition of the housing. You don’t want any damaged corners. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like much, other times it looks like this.
The bottom line is that even a few tenths of a mm can exert pressure on the glass and it will crack the first chance it is stressed.
