It's a bit Heath Robinson - any clues how to "always" fixit?
I change a lot of mute switches on the 3gs, but either I am doing it wrong most of the time, or its a very poor part of the phone.
It's not the fiddly bit, of putting the plastic mute switch in and ensuring its engaged to the internal part of the switch as you put it together that bothers me. It is the double back strong tape that you peel off the loom part that is supposed to hold itself onto the metal bracket that sucks.
There are two lugs that also keep the correct position of the switch part of the loom to the metal bracket, the top one of which often comes away (even when you replace the loom) and a repair sometimes doesn't even work (wouldn't it be better if apple finished off the top one better by having a full hole, rather than having a semi-circle for a hole - prone to fail?)
It seems to me that this part of the 3gs is very poor indeed and a major reason why the mute switch often gives up. Are we really supposed to accept that some small piece of double sided tape is supposed to keep the switch mechanism attached to the metal bracket through regular use?
I am trying to find a solution to this - Is there anyone who has had similar experience of this (and if you do a lot of these, I bet you have)?
I am looking for appropriate glue that will hold it in place, superglue doesn't weem to work - anybody try anything else?
Is this a good question?
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Brad - as far as I can see, the two "plastic" roads are fairly brittle. I have previously tried a soldering iron - it doesn't seem to melt (at least it didn't for me) and I snapped one off. I had success though - I bought a cheap pack of epoxy repair putty pellets (from a £1 shop) - I used a little of the pellets and rolled it around in my hand (it has two colours & when mixed together, will harden in 30 minutes). I applied a small bit to the "back" of the metal part (where the two "plastic" rods can be seen) to cover the rods, making sure none of the epoxy was covering the screw holes. I prodded with a small screwdriver to ensure the epoxy was pushed into the spaces around the rods, and left well alone to harden. It set really hard, and the plastic parts do not now come out when the mute switch is operated. works like a dream. I might even use this as the first fix, rather than replace the ribbon assembly for non working mute switches that have simply come away from the metal connector.
by Diddy