Clever Geek Handbook

Found an adhesive solvent that sticks MacBook Pro batteries



Apple is very serious about the fact that users themselves or third-party masters in no case could not fix its equipment. This is an important part of a closed ecosystem that is designed to maximize profits. For example, lithium-ion batteries lose their capacity after a few years, and a person has no opportunity to replace them independently. And here the presentation of the new MacBook just arrived - and the person decides to buy a new laptop, because the old ones no longer hold batteries. So Apple supports sales.



The powerful glue Apple used to stick batteries to the body of a MacBook Pro laptop has become a nightmare for repairmen. In factories for the disposal of electronics, workers tear off these batteries with scrap iron, breaking both the hull and the retina, and everything else.



New glue began to be used in MacBook Pro models from 2012. As the engineer Brett Hartt from iFixit says, this is a powerful industrial glue - about the same used for gluing glass panels in skyscrapers, in hospitals, etc.



Brett Hartt is the first person who managed to disassemble the 2012 MacBook Pro. At first, he tried using a spudger - a metal double-edged spatula, which is often used to repair and open Apple equipment. But at one point, a sharp instrument accidentally cut the battery, toxic smoke began to spread from it, and the company had to evacuate the building.



Then iFixit tried several other ways, trying to separate or cut off the battery, but the glue did not respond. In the end, the engineers stopped to heat the glue. This is a very hard work that can hardly be recommended for a non-professional at home. The fact is that when heated to very high temperatures, the battery actually turns into a bomb. And if you heat the glue on the other side of the case, you can easily melt the touchpad and keyboard. So the battery compartment is a long, painstaking and dangerous procedure.



At least, it was a few years, but now iFixit still found a suitable composition based on acetone, which reacts with glue and dissolves it.



Now you can really separate the battery on your own at home without risk to life. IFixit has put up a MacBook Pro battery removal kit for sale and has published step-by-step instructions on how to do it. Instructions are published for those Apple laptops that use industrial glue and where batteries can be removed in this way (the latest models are not included in the list):





The duration of the procedure for replacing the battery is estimated from 20 minutes to 3 hours, instructions contain from 32 to 73 steps. The difficulty level is maximum. You will need a standard set of tools for opening the case (this is also an easy task): 5-position Pentalobe screwdriver, spugger, T5 Torx six-screwdrivers, T6 Torx and T7 Torx, tweezers.



Directly set to replace the battery with a solvent is sold at prices ranging from $ 89.95 to $ 109.95, depending on the laptop model.







Included - a new battery, all the necessary tools, a solvent, a syringe, plastic cards, which you need to hook the battery after the glue has dissolved, rubber gloves and goggles.



The manual says that to dispense glue, it is enough to pour about 1 ml of solvent under the battery - and wait two or three minutes until it spreads all the way around. Then pry the battery with a plastic card. The procedure begins with the rightmost block.







Then repeated with the rest.







Fortunately, Apple applies glue only around the perimeter of the battery, and not over the entire area.







After removing the old battery, you can use a solvent to remove residual glue from the case. Acetone-based iFixit solvent. There is a suspicion that he has a fairly simple composition, and the engineers might well have guessed using acetone earlier, but for some reason it took them five years to do it.



After installing a new battery, you can fully use an excellent laptop for another two or three years. Apparently, Apple is not going to simplify the life of repairmen, so the use of special chemicals when replacing components will become commonplace, you need to get used to.


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