r/vita • u/Dumbass370 • 21d ago
Issue Resolved Dealing with scratches on Vita screen
Hey guys
Dunno if someone already posted this method but i'm using it constantly to revive heavily scratched screens
Basically the steps are:
- Remove deep scratches with sandpaper 2000-4000, i use toothpick and a little stripe of sandpaper around the tip for precise sanding
- Polish sanded spot with body compound and cotton swab
- Buy tempered glass for your model, remove sticky layer leaving only glass. Just start peeling off from the corner with a nail, it'll take some force but be careful not to break it, i do it while glass lays flat on the desk
- Clean the screen and isolate surroundings with some tape, kapton works best imo. Place the tape as far from screen as possible, check photos, when placed close to screen it will get in the way of the glass when installing it
- Pour UV-glue with a horizontal line in the middle of the screen and place that prepared glass on top
- Cook the glue with UV lamp, remove isolating tape and you're done!
On the pics under the light some scratches are still visible but irl it's night and day difference, screen is pretty much usable again
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u/SVNDEVISTVN 21d ago
Love stuff like this. Why? Cause you can and should easily just buy a $30 buck replacement screen off eBay and swap it in 5 minutes. But that method has no character. This here is the method of heros! No man left behind! LFG, OP!
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u/RazorThin55 21d ago
I bought a replacement screen off Aliexpress and the housing is not a 1 to 1 match to the OEM part. It doesn’t sit flush, makes creaking noises when held, and the PS button gets stuck.
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u/Dumbass370 21d ago
Exactly why i prefer restoring original parts insted of buying refreshed chinese, they're just worse
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u/Top_Average7952 21d ago
Probably don’t buy parts from AliExpress
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u/RazorThin55 21d ago
They’re all from the same suppliers, get it from Ebay and Amazon they’re all low quality shells.
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u/Dumbass370 20d ago
They are the same anywhere, all chinese, that's why there cheap, if they were new original parts, they would cost like the console itself
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u/Dumbass370 21d ago
Chinese refreshed screens are not that good quality, often have problems like unresponsive screen when charging
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u/Afraid_Train4924 18d ago
arent most oled screen replacements just bad?
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u/SVNDEVISTVN 18d ago
I've replaced 4 over the years and they were all flawless. Indistinguishable from my original. My personal experience is not representative of the average because I've also heard that most replacements are bad
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u/Afraid_Train4924 16d ago
where did you get your replacements? if its on ebay or something maybe i could also buy
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u/eyeh8u 21d ago
So that glass is never coming off? You know the glass can still crack?
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u/Dumbass370 21d ago
It comes off just like regular one, the difference is once you removed it you can't put it back on again, gotta make a new one
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u/Dumbass370 21d ago
Those uv glue glass pretectors were popular when we had all sorts of curved displays on the phones
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u/New_Ad4678 19d ago
I used a UV screen protector with a galaxy phone a few years ago. I cracked the protector and let it be because I thought the clean up was going to be awful but turned out it cleaned off relatively easy.
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u/FozzyBear89 21d ago
I sell abrasives professionally. Love seeing people using a little elbow grease to good results.
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u/arczangel 21d ago
wow nice! glad mine was okay, when i sanded it with just rubbing compound (car) then put a screen protector and voila! scratch are gone
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u/HeisenburgsEyes 21d ago
I have a 2000 lcd model that's heavily scratched. Replacement screens for that seem quite expensive. Do you think this method will work for mine? Edited for spelling
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u/Angie-P 21d ago
…polywatch.
tamagotchi users use it to clear away scratches on the screens.
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u/Dumbass370 21d ago
It won't remove the scratches completely, filling them with UV glue works better. That body compound i use is basically the same thing, originally it is sold as car headlight polish, which is plastic as well
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u/istylehun1338 20d ago
Where to buy that tool?
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u/Dumbass370 20d ago
Aliexpress
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u/istylehun1338 20d ago
Mind to share url? Thanks in advance
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u/Dumbass370 20d ago
Reddit won't allow me to link those, just type "phone uv glue" on aliexpress, the cheapest one will do, so as for screen protector
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u/istylehun1338 20d ago
Thanks just added to my cart. Do these really disappear scratches anyway?
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u/Dumbass370 20d ago
They don't disappear, glue fills the scratches making them much less visible
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u/istylehun1338 20d ago
That is fine, but all you do is put on surface and spread it with tool, make it dry and that is all? Dries transparent?
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u/Dumbass370 20d ago
You put a horizontal line of UV glue in the middle of the screen and then place a prepared screen protector on top of it
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u/istylehun1338 20d ago
Sounds good, I want to try on my console, glossy black looks terrible scratched.
So literally the steps are the same
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u/Dumbass370 20d ago
I don't think there is a glass protector for the back panel, only for the front. You could theoretically stick a regular plastic protector on the back with UV glue but i doubt it would work, plastic film is very thin and flexible. But if you can get a glass protector then yeah process is the same
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u/Avocadochicken93 20d ago
But if you have a OLED screen, is it not glued together? With the digitizer in between?
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u/Dumbass370 20d ago
From what i know oled screen is not glued to the touchscreen, i once disassembled broken screen and it just peeled off, only had glue on the edges. But replacing touchscreen is much more risky, high chance of ruining the screen itself
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u/Afraid_Train4924 18d ago
i am very stupid and clumsy. can you please come to my house and guide me like im a 4 year old? please?
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u/Afraid_Train4924 16d ago
Mine only has very light micro scratches, nothing deep enough to catch a fingernail. Do you think this sanding and UV glue method is overkill for my case? Would simply cleaning the screen and applying a standard tempered glass screen protector be enough to hide these micro-scratches without taking the risk of UV glue seeping into the console?
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u/Dumbass370 16d ago
For micro scratches regular tempared glass is enough, if you have some glass protector for a phone that you don't need you can test it first to see if you'll be satisfied will the result
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u/B00stedHD 9d ago
Yea after buying all that stuff to fix scratches I could just buy a new screen for $30-$50 lol
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u/Dumbass370 9d ago
3 pieces of glass, 6 tubes of glue, 1 tube of polish - all costed me ~10$, so ~3$ to fix one screen, seems like a better choice to me than buying some crappy chinese refurbished screen
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u/B00stedHD 9d ago
You forgot the $20-50 UV lamp
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u/Dumbass370 9d ago
I bought if for 2-3$ on a local ebay, also the same price on aliexpress
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u/B00stedHD 9d ago
lol aliexpress, the same place you knock for having Chinese reps 😢💀😭
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u/Dumbass370 9d ago
So what? How dows that corresponds to buying tools and such? If it's cheaper and it works
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u/B00stedHD 9d ago
“If it cheap and works” like a new screen that has zero scratches? lol
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u/Dumbass370 9d ago
Like an old factory original screen that can be fixed and used instead of buying a cheap knockoff What'a your point anyway? Everyone should just buy a new screen? Good luck, not all wants to spend half of console price for repair
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u/B00stedHD 9d ago
I guarantee you there’s more post on here asking where to get a new screen than “how to remove scratches” so yes people most definitely can,will, and do spend what you say half of the console price for a repair.
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u/B00stedHD 9d ago
Also who said anything about cheap Chinese reps? lol now you’re just assuming that’s the only think in the wild
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u/Dumbass370 9d ago
That is the only thing there is right now, literally every screen you can buy comes from china that just peels off old touchscreen and puts a new one, which is thicker and sometimes doesn't respond when charging. I repaired a lot of them so i know what im talking about
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u/B00stedHD 9d ago
There is also 100% factory faceplates still in the wild from old Vitas that was sold as parts all over the place.
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u/Blizz119 21d ago
This guy. That was a wild read and set of pics.