My Problem
The after school care program at my son's school uses iPads to keep track of the kids, and parents use the same tablets to check out their kids when picking them up. When one of the iPads was dropped, shattering the screen despite the protective case, I figured it was time to put my iFixit skills to good use.
My Fix
Repairs weren't as smooth as I'd hoped they'd be, but I'd budgeted 100% more time than I thought I'd need. Ended up taking 150% more time, but I was all done in about two and a half hours.
I had plenty of experience replacing the screen on my Nexus 5, but the iPad was a totally different ballgame. And the adhesive! Apple went all out making sure that the front panel stayed stuck. Forever.
Once the broken glass was cleaned out and the case empty of all the glass pieces I could find, the rest of the repair took about 15 minutes (though I used a pre-assembled front panel for ease). At the end of the day, folks at aftercare thought it looked and felt like a new iPad, though I noticed there were a couple spots where I'd missed glass in the adhesive, so there were some tiny waves along the border.
My Advice
Safety glasses: Wear them if the screen is broken. Even with tape down, I felt more than a couple small shards hit my face as I pulled up some of the bigger pieces of glass.
If you're working remotely like I was, spring for the iOpener. I'm comfortable with a heat gun, but it wouldn't have been practical in this case. Watch the wattage on the microwave - the school had the low-power college dorm kind of microwave. Consequently, the iOpener didn't get very hot the first time around. I kept reheating and working, at most every three minutes as directed, and it helped a lot.
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