Anti-Glare Scratches?
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- mg33
Hello. This is for anyone who has scratches on a CRT monitor that has an anti-glare coating, Viewsonics mostly but I'm sure others use something similiar. It's a long read but might solve your problems if you have scratches.
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More than a couple years ago I got some scratches in prime viewing area on my Viewsonic PF790 that I bought in 2000. It's been a great monitor, 19" and only now do I realize how great this thing has been.About a year ago I researched how to remove the scratches and came across some conversations about liquid compounds, scrubbing with steel wool, different chemicals, etc. etc. (you know what I'm talking about) After reading more than enough people talk about wearing themselves out trying to scrub the surface off for 8 hours or more, I just decided to live with the scratches.
As a Christmas present to myself this year I decided to buy an LCD monitor as an upgrade, doing a ton of research on them and basing my purchase on the quality of the Planar PL1910 19" LCD I have at work. I do a large amount of graphic and web design work as well as photo editing. The Planar has been excellent, but I decided to try out a Dell 2007 20" widescreen just to see how I liked the switch to widescreen.
Now then, that brings us back to the Viewsonic. Sitting here tonight thinking, "Gee, new monitor on the way, possibly no use for the Viewsonic after this, wonder if I can research a little more about removing those scratches...
Came across this thread and the eureka moment that the coating was removable if you took the monitor apart. Didn't want to go that far, so I simply created a tiny hole with the tip of an X-Acto knife and looked around the house for something non-metal that I could wedge into the whole and open it up.
In the end, a simple pair of wooden chopsticks did the trick. You can see below how I opened the hole up:
Once you're in there it's rather easy, and I mean very easy, to lift up and separate it. Then you kind of have to act like a surgeon and cut into what you're lifting away to give yourself more room and more direction to move around.
Here's a little more torn away from the corner, you can see where the chopstick has advanced a little further from the starting point.
Much more pulled away now. You can see some adhesive aspects still stuck on the glass. Quite frankly, this would be the ONLY really annoying part of the whole thing. (But, no worries, I've got good tips below to either avoid that or get rid of it easily. Gotta love trial and error!)
This is where I got clever. Ran an X-Acto blade horizontally along the top of the screen and vertically down the left, cutting hard enough to go through the anti-glare screen. (Did the same thing above to remove the right side)
Already had it pulled away some from the right so basically just started peeling it back, and it was a piece of cake.No adhesive left behind, nice smooth pull and it was off. Pretty much pulled it straight across to the right and it was off!
You can see the adhesive areas left behind. Started using Windex, then water, then just getting it all wet and scraping with the edge of the X-Acto. Did pretty well to get it loose, no scratches to the glass and probably put about 30 minutes into it before I figured out the following:
A simple white Staedtler Mars Plastic eraser got rid of the adhesive junk with almost no effort. Didn't need a metal sponge, just the eraser and a little water. A lot of back and forth between having the monitor off and on to see little areas that needed some clean up, and I was done.
Total time, honestly, about 1 1/2 hours, and I feel like I have a brand new monitor. To be honest, not sure if I like the anti-glare gone now or not... it did the trick for not getting glare, but I feel like the colors and screen are more detailed without it.
SUGGESTION:
If you're going to approach peeling away the coating, I would fully suggest using an X-Acto around the edges of the monitor. I won't say that you won't scratch it, but if you go along the edge just right you wouldn't see it anways.After doing that, start in a corner and just wedge the edge of the blade under neath so you can get a tiny portion of the corner up. Then use something to open it up a bit, and grab a pair of pliers and pull slowly. If you've fully cut through all the edges on all four sides, it should be nice and smooth. The only area you might have trouble are in the corners. I see a little bit of the coating there but very, very little.
Anyhow, I hope this helps many of you out who had the same problems. STOP SCRUBBING AND USING STEEL WOOL AND OTHER THINGS TO RUB THE ANTI-GLARE COATING OFF. YOU'LL JUST END UP WEARING YOUR ARM(S) OUT.
Of course, I hold myself totally unresponsible for any problems you encounter, but this worked very well and there's nothing wrong with the glass. Makes you realize just how tough glass is!
I'm now left with what I'll do with the Dell... Going to compare them and see what I think. Might just stick it out with this big CRT for a little longer.
- robotron3k0
please lay off the LSD.
- mg330
LMAO
- radar0
still using the OS from the year you bought the moniter too I see!
- mg330
Nah, just too much hassle to upgrade to XP. And now, I'd rather wait and build a new computer when that Vista comes out, if it's all it's cracked up to be.
- HelixDnB0
"Nah, just too much hassle to upgrade to XP. And now, I'd rather wait and build a new computer when that Vista comes out, if it's all it's cracked up to be.
mg33
(Jan 2 07, 07:28)"From what I've read and seen - it's OSX for people who secretly long to use a Mac but can never bring themselves to.
- OeufOeuf0
So is it harder or easier to work with now that the anti-glare coating is gone? Or are you just using the Dell?
- mg330
I've not gotten the Dell yet, should be today.
Honestly, the Viewsonic is much brighter now. When I had the anti-glare half pulled off you could just see how dull it actually made the monitor. Things seem even sharper now. It's weird... seems even more accurate now.
I'll still have a look at the Dell, but it will probably be $400 I don't need to spend now. I did want more screen space and something new, but might be a stupid expense.
- komkrktprod0
o rly?
- OeufOeuf0
I've been aching to get the Dell 24" widescreen. I've freelanced at a few places and have had the pleasure of working on 24" and 30" widescreen LCD's. I have a 21" CRT at home and find that the extra real estate provided by a widescreen is nice. For while I had a dual 21" monitor setup at home but my desk couldn't handle the 2 monster CRT's. Dualies are also nice granted your desk can handle the weight. I forgot where I was headed with this reply, oh yeah, i'm sure you'll enjoy your Dell, they make some nice LCD's.
- mg330
OeufOeuf,
Only thing is, Dell is shipping 2007WFP's with two different kinds of LCD panels, either the PVA or the S-IPA.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthr…
I've read so many forums where people talk about receiving PVA panels and sending them back hoping to get the better S-IPS panels. So, no idea what I'm getting just yet.
- OeufOeuf0
Ah, I remember reading about these so-called revisions to their LCD's a while back. Please repost when you've put your Dell through it's paces.