The 2012 and newer iMac have their screens glued to the glass. This helps to minimize reflections from other light sources. However repairing the display of this new iMac is basically impossible. The silicon adhesive that is used to laminate the glass to the LCD panel is strong and when trying to remove the glass it is most likely you will damage the LCD or polarizer film.

We had the chance to experiment on a defective 27 inch iMac display. This display has the glass glued to the screen. This article just only shows how removing the glass would look like.

1. 27 inch iMac display with broken glass in the corner and cracks in the display.

2. After removing a few broken glasses we can see there is some silicon adhesive between the LCD panel and glass. It is quite soft and jelly like.

3. We started to remove the silicon adhesive with some baby oil. Carefully we removed more broken glasses.

4. The silicon adhesive appears to be quite strong. It is quite possible to damage the LCD screen. Most likely the polarized filter should be replaced after this removal. We used a piece of plastic (similar to a creditcard) to separate the glass and the LCD. At the same time we used baby oil to make sure the silicon adhesive was not sticky anymore.

We also used a spudger and a piece of carton to separate the glass and LCD panel. We add a lot of baby oil between the glass and LCD. Slowly the adhesive starts to loose its strength.

Because of the different cracks in the display, the glass was taken off in parts.

After a few hours, most of the glass was removed from the LCD panel.

Be careful, the broken glass is quite sharp.

5. After removing all the glass, it was one big mess of adhesive and baby oil.

We clean and scrape the display with alcohol and light turpentine.

6. The LCD panel is now fully removed from the glass and has been cleaned. Please note this LCD panel is defective. Removing the glass will damage your polarizer. Repairing it is just as costly as buying a new screen. Anyways this is how it looks like if you try to remove the glass at home :).

If you crack or break your iMac display, the only fix is to replace it with a new display.

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