I posted this to reddit but I figure it makes sense here as well.
I have done quite a few switch mods. I'm not even close to some of the more prolific modders out there but I am one of the few modders available in my area so I have a lot of mod traffic. About 20 percent of the switches I work on are botched attempts that need to be repaired. This post is my attempt to stem some of that bleed. Hopefully it helps someone. (all of the links I have here are direct links. I am not affiliated with any seller or product in this post)
My first tip is don't. Jk, first, practice. If you aren't already comfortable with micro-soldering, find a busted flatscreen TV and pull its motherboard. You want the main board, not the power board. A TV board has similarly sized components and plenty of real estate for you to practice all the different joint types you are going to have to work on. Start with the largest components and work your way down to the smallest components until you are comfortable and the results are solid. Losing an oled to a botched install hits hard and paying someone to fix it hits harder (if it's recoverable)
For reference, here are pics of each of the points you will have to deal with including a micro sd card for scale. If you can successfully replicate each of these joints on your practice board, then you are good to go.
For scratching the CLK trace, dont buy a grinder. You dont need mechanical assistance and a grinder makes it easier to mess up. You can just buy the needle tips for a grinder and scratch the trace by hand. It's more controlled and less likely to destroy the trace. Light pressure. You can see a good example of the tips you want here:
Grinder Tips (Amazon)
After you have soldered in the clk trace, you want to mask it. I use clear UV resin on a toothpick and then hit it with UV for about a minute. Don't go too heavy. You just want to be sure you arent going to rip that trace off.
I absolutely DO NOT recommend the flex pcb for the OLED ABCD points. DO use the cpu ribbon and the dat0 adapter (preferrably the gold full size dat0). The main flex cable for the rest of the points has caused more issues than you would believe.
34 AWG enameled wire works great. Hold the wire to your soldering iron until a bit of solder sticks to it so you know the tip of the wire is stripped. Pre-tin all points. Be conservative on the amount of solder on the tip of your iron, especially for the CMD and CLK points.
34 AWG Enameled Wire (Amazon)
Have some small sharp metal snips for cutting the frames where needed. Using snips that are too large may impact the apu and fracture the die or unintentionally slice traces or knock off other components. I have seen all of these on my bench. These are the ones I use:
Metal Snips (Amazon)
Flux makes a huge difference and all flux is not created equal. This flux works well. You don't need a ton, but use enough that you aren't soldering dry.
MG Chem Flux (Amazon)
If your APU ribbon exits at the top of the APU cover, don't solder the APU ribbon until after you have the rest of your points done. If you do it first, it will be in the way for the rest of your points and you may end up wrecking it unintentionally while working on other things.
On the APU cover, I bend the lock tabs under with small flat pliers instead of cutting. It makes a nice clean smooth edge that wont risk slicing into your ribbon and its much faster than making a nice clean cut.
Removing the APU cover can be challenging. The task itself isnt hard but it is easy to accidentally damage adjacent components and traces.
I use sharp tweezers with a tiny bend at the end to make inserting into the tabs easier. A pin can also work but tweezers are convenient because you can just twist them sideways and the difference in width of the tweezers at that angle will bend out the tabs. Straight pins require using some levering motion which can slip and impact other components nearby.
Unlock all the tabs on the bottom and right side and then lift up those edges and wiggle the cover slightly to release the remaining locks.
Below you will see pictures of how I prefer to work the lock tabs.
For removing flux residue and thermal paste, I use 99% isopropyl alcohol and a paint brush with cut down bristles. The paintbrush lets you get into a lot of cracks and crevices without much risk of breaking off components. Don't press. Let the alcohol do the work. Use a paper towel to wick off the excess alcohol on the brush before touching the board. Flooding the board can leave behind unevaporated water and destroy components. Put alcohol where you mean to and keep it there.
If you have access to a scope, definitely use the scope. If you don't (like most people), I use a 10x magnifier lamp. It works well and all the high res pics in this post were taken with a cell phone through that magnifier. I don't recommend eyeballing it with nothing even though some people do pull that off.
Lamp Magnifier (Amazon)
Hopefully this helps someone not wreck their switch. The last tip I would offer is that if while practicing you find that you can't do this, don't make the attempt on your switch. Going at your switch with the power of hope is not going to end well. It costs less to get a mod installed than it does to get a botched install fixed.
Good luck! My way is not the only way, but it is tried and tested.
If you have some oled install experience, feel free to chime in with any tips that you have found make the process easier or more effective.
I have done quite a few switch mods. I'm not even close to some of the more prolific modders out there but I am one of the few modders available in my area so I have a lot of mod traffic. About 20 percent of the switches I work on are botched attempts that need to be repaired. This post is my attempt to stem some of that bleed. Hopefully it helps someone. (all of the links I have here are direct links. I am not affiliated with any seller or product in this post)
My first tip is don't. Jk, first, practice. If you aren't already comfortable with micro-soldering, find a busted flatscreen TV and pull its motherboard. You want the main board, not the power board. A TV board has similarly sized components and plenty of real estate for you to practice all the different joint types you are going to have to work on. Start with the largest components and work your way down to the smallest components until you are comfortable and the results are solid. Losing an oled to a botched install hits hard and paying someone to fix it hits harder (if it's recoverable)
For reference, here are pics of each of the points you will have to deal with including a micro sd card for scale. If you can successfully replicate each of these joints on your practice board, then you are good to go.
For scratching the CLK trace, dont buy a grinder. You dont need mechanical assistance and a grinder makes it easier to mess up. You can just buy the needle tips for a grinder and scratch the trace by hand. It's more controlled and less likely to destroy the trace. Light pressure. You can see a good example of the tips you want here:
Grinder Tips (Amazon)
After you have soldered in the clk trace, you want to mask it. I use clear UV resin on a toothpick and then hit it with UV for about a minute. Don't go too heavy. You just want to be sure you arent going to rip that trace off.
I absolutely DO NOT recommend the flex pcb for the OLED ABCD points. DO use the cpu ribbon and the dat0 adapter (preferrably the gold full size dat0). The main flex cable for the rest of the points has caused more issues than you would believe.
34 AWG enameled wire works great. Hold the wire to your soldering iron until a bit of solder sticks to it so you know the tip of the wire is stripped. Pre-tin all points. Be conservative on the amount of solder on the tip of your iron, especially for the CMD and CLK points.
34 AWG Enameled Wire (Amazon)
Have some small sharp metal snips for cutting the frames where needed. Using snips that are too large may impact the apu and fracture the die or unintentionally slice traces or knock off other components. I have seen all of these on my bench. These are the ones I use:
Metal Snips (Amazon)
Flux makes a huge difference and all flux is not created equal. This flux works well. You don't need a ton, but use enough that you aren't soldering dry.
MG Chem Flux (Amazon)
If your APU ribbon exits at the top of the APU cover, don't solder the APU ribbon until after you have the rest of your points done. If you do it first, it will be in the way for the rest of your points and you may end up wrecking it unintentionally while working on other things.
On the APU cover, I bend the lock tabs under with small flat pliers instead of cutting. It makes a nice clean smooth edge that wont risk slicing into your ribbon and its much faster than making a nice clean cut.
Removing the APU cover can be challenging. The task itself isnt hard but it is easy to accidentally damage adjacent components and traces.
I use sharp tweezers with a tiny bend at the end to make inserting into the tabs easier. A pin can also work but tweezers are convenient because you can just twist them sideways and the difference in width of the tweezers at that angle will bend out the tabs. Straight pins require using some levering motion which can slip and impact other components nearby.
Unlock all the tabs on the bottom and right side and then lift up those edges and wiggle the cover slightly to release the remaining locks.
Below you will see pictures of how I prefer to work the lock tabs.
For removing flux residue and thermal paste, I use 99% isopropyl alcohol and a paint brush with cut down bristles. The paintbrush lets you get into a lot of cracks and crevices without much risk of breaking off components. Don't press. Let the alcohol do the work. Use a paper towel to wick off the excess alcohol on the brush before touching the board. Flooding the board can leave behind unevaporated water and destroy components. Put alcohol where you mean to and keep it there.
If you have access to a scope, definitely use the scope. If you don't (like most people), I use a 10x magnifier lamp. It works well and all the high res pics in this post were taken with a cell phone through that magnifier. I don't recommend eyeballing it with nothing even though some people do pull that off.
Lamp Magnifier (Amazon)
Hopefully this helps someone not wreck their switch. The last tip I would offer is that if while practicing you find that you can't do this, don't make the attempt on your switch. Going at your switch with the power of hope is not going to end well. It costs less to get a mod installed than it does to get a botched install fixed.
Good luck! My way is not the only way, but it is tried and tested.
If you have some oled install experience, feel free to chime in with any tips that you have found make the process easier or more effective.
Last edited by zamastyle,
