SOLVED: X230 & S230u panel swap

[beesyrup]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I wanted to ask a question that I couldn't find an answer to.

Some context: I have a X230 with a LP125WH2-SLT1 panel in it that has a minor bit of damage to it (a slight diagonal line on the top). It also seems that it's gone a bit dimmer over the years. It was sourced from an S230u upper assembly several years ago.

I recently came across a great deal on an Thinkpad Twist S230u that was pretty minty on a local flea market site, so I pulled the trigger on it. I've seen a ton of posts where people have instructions on how to disassemble the S230u screen and transplant the panel to an X220/230.

Has anyone ever reaffixed the digitizer to a spare panel for reuse in the S230u? I could use the SLT1 panel inside my X230 after swapping it, or the spare SLB3 panel in storage. If not, I figure I could just use it as a non-touch laptop. The specs seem OK. I just hope that the coating on the outside isn't goopy. Worst case, I use it as a decapitated computer hooked up to a screen, or use it as a headless system in my homelab.

Cheers!

EDIT: Mods, I'm so sorry, I posted this in the wrong board! May I ask for your assistance in migrating this to the ThinkPad X230-X280 / X390 Series board?

EDIT 2: Answered my own question. It works. It's possible!

[beesyrup]

Update: I did it, and it works!

Just in case you decide to harvest a panel from a working S230U for use in a X220/X230, you can swap the panel in with ease, and have the added benefit of being able to use the S230U as well.

I prepared the donor ThinkPad Twist S230U's SLT1 panel's edges using a hair dryer after removing the panel assembly. I then slowly cut around the foam-backed tape with a clean plastic spudger. The bottom part of the foam tore a bit, but the top and left and right strips were intact. Panel is OK. Whew.

I swapped in a spare SLB3 panel I had from my X230. I sandwiched the assembly back together, carefully using a camera lens blower tool to push as much dust away as I could. The digitizer and the new panel work perfectly.

Tips:
- Heating up the panel assembly's edges to loosen up the glue worked really well and allowed me to use the original tape that came with the unit.
- Dust will be a concern, but it's pretty forgiving since the digitizer and panel isn't bound by OCA or some glue that fuses it together. Just some simple old foam tape.
- Perhaps doing this in the bathroom after increasing the humidity with a shower might help.

Now I have a happy X230 with a bright screen (I'm a bit green when it comes to soldering so no FHD mod for now), and a functioning S230U with not as nice of a screen. Next part of the plan is to remove the terrible oxidized rubber coating on the S230U.

[RealBlackStuff]

"Remove oxidized rubber coating..."
See if this helps: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=121754

[beesyrup]

Thanks for your reply, @@RealBlackStuff. That was definitely something I was looking into before I began the project. I had another S230U case from a project from before, and I tried the suggestions of the soft scotch brite sponge with some dish soap. That would not destickify the S230U. I ended up going with the approach of using 99% IPA and a credit card. That worked, but no matter how much I scraped, it remained sticky, so it ended up being scraped down to the base material.

Top case near the keyboard seems like black ABS plastic, and the lower seems like the classic magnesium/aluminum metal frame. I kind of did a Thinkpad equivalent of a bubba* on this case. I'll go on and use some plastic model car primer paint paint, and at least get the bottom cast to make it matte black. The upper case looks fine nude. As for the display assembly, only the top is affected, so I might just get a big vinyl sticker cut to size.


*

In gun culture, "Bubba" is a term used for a person who permanently alters or modifies historic firearms, with no regard for its historical value, or as a verb or adjective to describe the act of or an already modified historical firearm.

- From the wikipedia article linked above.