Hacking HOWTO: Apply a screen protector on your NDS

[MajinBuu]

I've seen numerous people asking for a guide on how to apply a screen protector on your ds. And that's why I decided to write one on GBAtemp, and hopefully those annoying air bubbles and dust

under your film screen will be gone after reading this guide.

THIS GUIDE ONLY COVERS THE BOTTOM SCREEN, I belive it's a waste of time and money to protect the top screen ,since you never "touch" it.

I also don't belive in buying "cheap" or fake screen protectors, this guide is based on my HORI experience



Here's what you need:

1 Screen Protector (o rly?) I'm a Hori fan my self..

Read this before you decide on buying a Hori package: Counterfeit Hori Screen Protectors

Some Retailers - EB Games/DealExtreme (Choose Genuine Hori NDS Lite Screen Protector (Japan Imported))/Play-Asia

1 Plastic card, maybe your VISA?

1 microfiber cloth

Some scotch tape

1 bottle of canned air (optional)

Picture is just for clarification

1 LCD cleaning solution (read further down for something better and hopefully cheaper)

Now... I don't belive in buying expensive/fancy stuff.. so I found the perfect recipe for the best cleaning solution out there in my own opinion, shared by thousands of users. In case you haven't noticed.. most of the expensive solutions are basically just water (distilled) and Isopropyl mixed with various other things you don't really need and of course a FLASHY name.

70-100% Isopropyl alcohol (I use 100% my self)
Distilled Water (boil the water)

The recipe is easy: Mix the Isopropyl alcohol and distilled water in equal parts (50/50) inside an empty Windex-like bottle. Do not use tap water! Doing so will leave white smears on your screen after cleaning it up because of the dissolved minerals inside the water. When finished mixing, just close the bottle using the "spray" adaptor that comes attached to it.

Now that we have everything we need, start by turning off your screen. Dampen your piece of soft cloth with your cleaning mixture and then wipe the display gently from top to bottom. Never spray liquid directly onto the LCD. When you're done, wait a few minutes to let your screen dry, and then turn it back on. Voila, you're done! Your screen should now be sparkling clean.

You can use water as well of course, but always make sure its boiled.. cold water is a killer for LCD screens, and for the love of god do NOT USE toilet paper to clean your LCD

Enviroment: OPTIONAL

Best suitable location to fix your film would be just about after you or someone else have taken a hot shower.. or you could simple just have the room filled with mist after a few minutes of hot water. Every and I do mean EVERY dust particle will "swim" towards the heat source instead of your precious ds screen, the heat will terminate the dust particles

I'm assuming you already know at least how to remove the plastic protection from your screen protector, so it's ready to be applied to your ds.

Let's Begin!

Apply the LCD cleaning solution on your microfiber cloth and gently try to remove all the dust/hair particles on your NDS lcd screen

When you belive the screen is clean enough (don't worry you can fix it later), remove the plastic protection and gently apply the screen protector using your thumbs, try to cover as much space as you can the first time.

Unless you're a pro, you might want to use that plastic card of yours to smear out all those annoying air bubbles - TAKE YOUR TIME

In most cases the LCD screen should already look great with that new screen protector, and no air bubbles.

But for most people that's not really the case.. there's usually tons of air bubbles and dust particles under the screen Â:angry:

There's 2 ways you can fix this:

CODE(If you buy Hori protectors ,you can re-apply the film without worrying about it not to-stick)

First of all use scotch tape on the film to lift it slowly.. just arch it enough so you can find the tangos (dust particles, air bubbles) under your film, no need to remove the entire film... unless it's a mess .. which is usually because the user didn't use a good LCD solution or didn't smear out all the air bubbles.

Now you have 2 ways to remove the tangos, either you use a bottle of canned air to "blow" away the foes or simply use more scotch tape under the screen.. the tangos will be "sucked" to your tape, and voila a clean surface Â

Finally press down on the film once more..and all the air bubbles should be gone, since you removed all the dust particles.

LOOK AT MY CLEAN NDS SCREEN

QUOTE

EDIT: Will post pictures I took on my own for clarity

EDIT: I appreciate some user input if you have any ideas on howto improve my guide, spelling, construction, ideas etc

 

[tomqman]

good guide i hate screen protecters their a bitch to put on (just off to have a go again to get rid off airbubbles) thanks

 

[Tri-Z]

thank you, this is a very useful guide

 

[DanTheManMS]

True, you don't touch the top screen, but that doesn't mean it can't get scratched! I've got a couple of scratches on my top screen protector, and I'm glad I have it applied.

Useful guide nonetheless. Now if only I could find Phat-sized bottom screen protectors at a local store anywhere... (tried a Lite-sized one, didn't fit)

 

[Jundeezy]

Cool. Thanks for this I'll try it out when i can.

 

[resres]

Another thing to add is that you should use scotch tape when actually applying it to the screen. When you use your fingers, your fingerprints may get stuck on the sticky side and show up when you're done. If you use tape, it may be more accurate and no fingerprints.

Not sure if that helps, but it's helped me with some of my screen protectors on other stuff. =p

 

[flanker22]

one thing you forgot to mention is that hori screen protectors are slightly smaller than the actual screen.

before you apply them you wanna choose if you want to anchor the protector on an edge of the screen or place in the center with an even gap surrounding it.

 

[BakuFunn]

haha, My screen protectors are perfectly placed on, but your topic had interesting infos. Nice guide, real useful.

 

[DarkAura]

Nice guide, maybe some people would appreciate pictures though.

 

[lubenthrust]

Thanks for the guide. I have a question -- is there a good way to clean the sticky side of a Hori protector, aside from tape? Mine seems to have picked up a lot of dust when I transferred it from one DS Lite to another. Would be nice if I could dip / wash it with some sort of solution.

 

[MajinBuu]

resresÂ


Another thing to add is that you should use scotch tape when actually applying it to the screen. When you use your fingers, your fingerprints may get stuck on the sticky side and show up when you're done. If you use tape, it may be more accurate and no fingerprints.

Not sure if that helps, but it's helped me with some of my screen protectors on other stuff. =p

Yeah I do the same thing my self.. I just forgot to add it in the guide.. still thanks for the reminder!

flanker22Â


one thing you forgot to mention is that hori screen protectors are slightly smaller than the actual screen.

before you apply them you wanna choose if you want to anchor the protector on an edge of the screen or place in the center with an even gap surrounding it.

Aight, I'm gonna update my guide, thanks

QUOTE

lubenthrustÂ


Thanks for the guide. I have a question -- is there a good way to clean the sticky side of a Hori protector, aside from tape? Mine seems to have picked up a lot of dust when I transferred it from one DS Lite to another. Would be nice if I could dip / wash it with some sort of solution.

Well you can either use the solution I provided above or use soap to remove the dust.. then use a clean lint to remove most of the dust.. and finally I would highly recomend you use scotch tape to remove the dust particles, hope it helps

Glad I could help guys

I will post pictures as soon as I can!

 

[lubenthrust]

Thanks for the reply. I was just wondering if water, alcohol, etc. would affect the silicone side of the Hori. Have you washed yours before?

 

[MajinBuu]

Thanks for the reply. I was just wondering if water, alcohol, etc. would affect the silicone side of the Hori. Have you washed yours before?

I've washed my hori with both soap and the solution provided before, i didn't spot a difference at all, except for the clean side.. and i used scotch tape to remove the remaining dust particles

 

[Dr.Norton]

guys i dont know which screen to apply to the top or bottom, theres one with a red tab with a bigger plastic, and a smaller one with a yellow?(maybe green im color blind) tab.

so which is for which?

nevermind i found this article with google:

1. Wipe the screen first.
Please wipe the screen carefully and thoroughly to get off all dust and other particles before applying the filter.

2. Remove the sheet with the rounded tab.
(For the touchscreen remove the oversized sheet)

3. Apply filter onto the Nintendo DS Lite LCD panel.
Line up the filter to the LCD screen and gently apply starting from 1 side of the screen and carefully applying all the way across.

4. Remove the final protective sheet from the filter.
When removing the protective sheet with the red tab, push down on the middle of the screen gently with 1 finger while using your other hand to remove the filter by pulling on the red tab.* When removing the final protective sheet, be careful that the actual filter does not come off.

The steps involved to apply the touch screen filter are exactly the same as the steps to apply the top screen filter, so please just repeat the instructions below to apply the touch screen filter.

 

[Kaos]

One protector should be smaller than the other. The smaller one goes on the bottom screen, and the larger one on the top.

 

[Jaejae]

I bought some protectors (which turned out to be fake), and I ended up throwing them out because I got a whole lot of shit stuck to the silicone side.... lol.

 

[mynameis]

Microfibre cloth- what is that? What's it feel like? LOL I know its a wacky question but i've got loads of clothes lying around at home and I dunno how I distuingish a microfibre cloth from any other cloth. Also is a Hori Cloth microfibre?

 

[gizmo_gal]

Good thing the DS and DSlite have same sized screens. I'll be getting screen protectors for my DS soon, (I sure need one)

I plan on doing a case mod to my GBA and my DS phat. Anyone know of good guides for either one?

I saw one at Maxconsole I think, any one know anyothers?

 

[DanTheManMS]

Good thing the DS and DSlite have same sized screens. I'll be getting screen protectors for my DS soon, (I sure need one)

Be careful with that. I bought DS Lite screen protectors from Gamestop thinking they would fit on my DS Phat but they were too large by just a tiny fraction of an inch that made it impossible to get them on without modification.

 

[leetdude_007]

What's funny is that they're easier to apply when you're drunk.