Archived "Contact Us" discussions
The following comments were originally posted to our Contact us page, but were "lost in translation" to the new web site, and were absent for nearly a year. We've brought them back in this archived form, for your reference, and for the search engines. ;)
Hi
I was wondering if you ship to the UK as I am desperate for some decent iPad adhesives.
Donald
Hi Donald,
We certainly do! Feel free to fill out an account application if you’d like us to send you some samples.
does this adhesive sticky on two sides or just one?
it’s two-sided, I have a repair store and try it recently – works good!
Hey guys, I just ordered a 5 pack of your special adhesives, and I hope they do a better job than some of the generic 3M sets that come with the iPad digitizers I purchase to replace broken screens. But I was wondering about your research; in my experience, the adhesive that works the best is when I purchase a digitizer and it has the black adhesive pre applied directly to the back of the digitizer. The black adhesive seems to be really thin, incredibly strong, and works great. I was wondering what your experience has been, did you experiment with a black adhesive, and what you ended up going with for your final product? Thanks for any input and I look forward to trying your product.
Kenneth
The adhesive you are describing sounds like the OEM adhesive. It’s plenty strong, but its major shortcoming is that it is (as you say) quite thin. This means that there is no cushion for overcoming subtle bends or imperfections that form when an iPad frame has been dropped, and any tiny piece of debris accidentally left on the frame will prevent the adhesive from contacting that general area. We found that 6 mils (0.006″ or ~0.15 mm) of a flexible/gummy adhesive was ideal. It’s not so thick that it causes problems with the home button (9 mils is roughly the threshold for that) but it provides a lot more cushion for overcoming irregularities. For comparison, I believe the OEM adhesive is in the 2-3 mil range, and I’ve measured other replacement adhesives at 4.5 mils.
We knew that the best results we’d had in the past were with kits marked “3M 300LSE”, but this is actually the name of an entire product line – not an individual product. Since we’re in the same city as 3M’s world headquarters, we were able to meet with engineers there, and discuss the technical requirements of iPad digitizer replacement in extensive detail. They provided us with samples of several different adhesive candidates, and the one which matched our desired characteristics most closely was also from the 300LSE line.
Since we switched to this 3M adhesive (having previously used a generic mounting adhesive), our oldest customer has seen his return rate for lifting issues drop to 0. Obviously, there a variety of other factors that can contribute to this, so we can’t guarantee that this will always be the case, but we are confident that the adhesive we are using is as strong as, or stronger than, anything else currently on the market. The practical reality is that anything stronger would be impractical to work with – like spreading a layer of super-glue over the frame.
Thanks for trying our adhesives – let me know if you have any feedback, or additional questions!
Do you have any plans on making a kit for the Mini?
As a matter of fact, we have already developed such a kit! It’s currently available on our bulk ordering page, and we’ll be giving it a proper page on this site (with photos, and PayPal links for ordering single kits) very soon.
Hi Ben, Just spent 10 minutes trying to sign up for a pro account and place a bulk order for a bunch of ipad 2/3/4 and mini adhesives—anti spam filter won’t allow the submission on pro sign up. Bulk order won’t submit without pro account. Help?!
Jessa
Hi Jessa,
Very sorry for the trouble! Perhaps I need to improve the description for the anti-spam field. The intended value for that field is “apple” – is this what you were entering?
Regardless, I’ll set up an account for you, and include a couple of extra kits in your recent order, in order to drop your effective price into line with bulk orders.
Thanks for your patience, and your business!
After two failed repairs on my iPad 2 using strips purchased on eBay, I received and installed Benji’s today.
At this stage, I can say that installation was INFINITELY easier than any other product tested thus far!
It’s always gratifying to hear that the kits are making people’s lives easier.
Just finished Ipad Mini with your tape. I did remove the old tape and took care of the digitizer flat cable (Bend in such a way that the upward pressure was not much).
I’m happy with the result. Tape sticks very well and my son is happy also. Previous Ipod or Ipad 2 fixes will be redone with your tape.
Thnx
P.s: Can I use the Ipod 4 th gen tape for an Ipod 2nd ?
Glad the adhesive kit served you well!
As for your question: I don’t have an iPod 2nd-gen on-hand for testing, but based on a quick Google image search I don’t think our 4th-gen kit would fit it very well. I’ll add that to the R&D list.
Hi,
I've been using your products for a while now, and absolutely love them! I would hate to have to do an iPad or iPod repair without them. Which brings me to my point…
I recently did my first iPad Air repair and had to do it without an adhesive kit from you guys. It's actually probably the easiest iPad to repair, in my opinion, but the iPad Air adhesive kit that I bought from a random eBay retailer was pretty awful. So, I wasn’t too surprised when my client called me a week later and said that the new digitizer was coming up around where the digitizer cable tucks in. Thankfully, it was pretty easy to modify your iPad 2/3/4 kit for use with the iPad Air, and as I expected, that seems to have taken care of the problem.
So then my question is…do you have plans to make a specific iPad Air kit?
Thanks!
Brian
Hi Brian,
Thanks for writing! We definitely have plans to develop an iPad Air kit. I’d expect it to be available within the next couple of months.
Great! Thanks for letting me know. I’ll look forward to that, and in the mean time I’ll keep adapting the regular iPad kit and won’t even bother with the random kits available online!
Hi Ben, I’m overwhelmed by the great personal experience I’m getting from your website(s). I manage a brick and mortar snowboard shop and I love that people support us instead of faceless websites selling cheaper product.
you’ve managed to put a face to my online experience while looking for your product, and I am happily going to throw some money at you. i wish i could place a large order, but I’ve only recently started repairing iPods out of my home office. i was trying to stick to just iPhones, due to them being screwed together not glued, making (as you would know), reconstruction a breeze.
Thanks, Andrew.
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for writing! I definitely want people to have a clear sense of exactly who they are interacting with – especially since the BowlerTech brand name is relatively young. Having a large back-catalog of music and other content on YouTube and my personal web site has been helpful in this regard.
Best of luck with your business! Even if you can’t afford bulk orders right now, feel free to sign up for a professional account if you’d like to request samples of any of the kits we make.
Regards,
- Benji
Hi,
I’ve recently started repairing Apple products in my spare time and I’ve found suitably strong adhesives to be one of the most difficult things to find so I’m very happy to have found you guys!
I’ve placed and order and will no doubt be placing a much larger order if these are successful.
I have a specific question about the iPad Mini. On occasion when the new digitizer is fitted to the frame I experience phantom contacts where the screen moves on its own. I think I’ve narrowed this problem down to being caused by the digitizer making contact with the metal frame of the iPad.
Have you ever experienced this with the iPad Mini? With your adhesive being slightly thicker have you found that this problem is eliminated?
Thanks guys.
Hi Patrick,
Glad you found us!
I’ve only seen phantom screen touches in connection with defective digitizers, so I may not have encountered the same issue you’re describing, but our adhesive is about 50% thicker than anything else I’ve seen on the market, so I’d be interested to know whether you find that it mitigates the problem.
Keep me posted.
Any heat require for installation, or just stick and go ? I received mine today and want to install soon. Thanks
No heat required.
Repairing my wife’s IPAD, I opted for the adhesive set that came with the new digitize I ordered. I found that set not strong enough and annoying to apply. Having work with a lot of small electronics before, I preferred to apply the adhesive to the main body (bulky part) and not the digitize but the set was not designed for that. I considered buying a liquid adhesive for the job, but on a good Google search turned up BowlerTech Adhesives made just as I wanted.
One order, one repair. I am very pleased. The tape is stronger than the cheaper tapes – using a great 3M adhesive. This will be my go-to source if I ever need an adhesive for repair of other devices.
David Taylor
Thanks for writing – glad we could help!
Hi
Do you ship to Australia, how long would it take and what would be the shipping cost??
Thanks
Ian
Hi Ian,
As a matter of fact, we ship quite a lot of kits to Australia. The fastest shipping service available to us takes 3-5 business days, while the cheapest often takes around 4 weeks. You can get the complete details on our shipping information page.
Regards,
- Benji
The replacement digitizer screen came with the black adhesive already applied. Can I still use the adhesive I bought from you in addition to the black adhesive or will it be too thick for the digitizer screen to sit flush into the frame?
Thanks!
Stephanie in Virginia
I’d recommend removing the adhesive from the screen. In addition to the possible cosmetic problem you point out, the resulting bond would only be as strong as the weaker of the two adhesives, which would almost definitely be the stuff on the screen. If you’re lucky, however, you may be able to simply peel it off.
Be careful of using anything metal to remove the old adhesive, as the paint on the back of the glass often scratches easily. If this happens, it can be passably touched-up with Wite-Out or a Sharpie, depending on the color.
A Q-Tip dipped in acetone (which can be purchased as nail polish remover) should be very helpful in removing whatever remains of the old adhesive. This is also an excellent tool for cleaning up the iPad’s aluminum frame.
Hope your repair goes smoothly, regardless.
- Benji
Hallo there !
I’m tired of messing around with bad adhesive to do iPad repairs, I’ve tried a lot of different types, but need to keep a pressure with tool (Special tool i make) in a while to make it last. it sounds like the tape your provide is better and much stronger. I would like to try it. Do you have a supplier in Denmark where i can buy it, or do i have to order and import a larger party to try it. I think it will be expensive postage to send it to Denmark. Can you help me out here ?
Thanks for trying to make life easier for repair people
//Allan
Hi Allan,
We don’t currently have any distribution within the EU, although it’s definitely something we’re looking at for the future. International shipping does, indeed, get expensive, but roughly 30% of our business currently comes from outside the US. You can see a complete list of shipping prices and delivery times (not including any applicable import duties or VAT) on our shipping information page.
We’d be happy to send some samples for you to evaluate. Just stop by the professional account sign-up page, and let us know where to send them.
Wishing you all the best!
- Benji
You wont be disappointed in their product. I too find the adhesive these vendors who sell replacement screens are very low quality. I don’t work for Bowlertech nor do I make any money from them but they have the right idea on providing more adhesive space on the unit not the glass screen to seal the unit like it should be. Now if my wife drops our ipad 2 again I wont be so happy but at least I know im set with the resources at my fingertips to repair it.
Done that, looking forward to check it out
God Bless !!
//Allan
I’m just getting into the repair business as a side project. I’ve ordered your iPad 2/3/4 adhesive kits and look forward to trying them. I’m seeing more minis come to me and would like to know, with your experience, you can recommend the best replacement digitizer or supplier for the mini? I won’t buy bulk at this time but one off screens.
I’m also looking forward to trying your mini adhesive after I test my recent order.
In order to keep the information consolidated for now, I’m going to refer you to this link, which should take you to a couple of comments on the iPad 2/3/4 adhesives page, which contain links to parts-suppliers that have been recommended by other customers. If you find any other vendors you’d care to recommend, please feel encouraged to post a reply there!
First off I ordered the ipad2 screen from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JU1WOR2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 which was a great product. It had the camera mount and home button installed. Bad part was the crappy adhesive they used. I wasted the first repair on this unit. Then I ordered another from the same company and removed their adhesive and purchased from this company the much more substantial adhesive strips from this company and repaired my Ipad 2 today with no problems at all. Its solid and sticking very well. So my suggestion is to order the adhesive from bowlertech as it will ensure a fix the first time. Glad I found this site.
We’re glad you found us too! Thanks for writing!
Should this adhesive be used with a primer? Are there other specific cleaning requirements before applying adhesive to frame?
The adhesive we use creates a very strong bond without any primer. Just ensure that the surface is free of debris (such as glass shards). It’s fine if some residue from the OEM adhesive remains – but flatten out or scrape off any thick lumps. Generally, hitting the frame with a few q-tips dampened with acetone should do the trick.
Although a primer is not needed for normal repairs, 3M AP111 would probably be a good place to start, if you’d like to experiment with one.
Have you researched a liquid adhesive for screens. Something that can be used on ipods screens along the edges. Or even the ipad. Must have a strong enough hold but also will come off with future repairs. Thank you for any input
Hi Devin,
I’d recommend searching for “liquid psa”. PSA is an industrial acronym for Pressure Sensitive Adhesive, and the search phrase “liquid psa” turns up some potentially interesting results. I’ve responded in greater detail to the email you sent, but wanted to respond to the web site comment in case anybody else reading this page has the same question.
This was helpful – thanks for posting that…I was looking for the exact same adhesive (hint hint – maybe you should stock them too)
Always glad to be helpful! If you end up ordering any such adhesive, I’d be interested to know whether you find it suitable. I’ve been too busy to look into it myself, but I know it’s becoming a point of interest and experimentation. Good luck!
Thanks for the free sample guys. I have used the adhesive to repair an iPad mini which kept lifting with other adhesives. I am happy with the quality of repair and will definitely be ordering again. Highly recommend, great service and quality.
Glad to hear of your success and glad to be of service to you!
You know, I became frustrated when my screens would pop off the adhesive. I came across your site and was kind of skeptical that an adhesive would really help that much. I wouldn’t know if I didn’t try, right? I went ahead and ordered. They came in about 4 days and got right to replacing our 2 ipads. All i can say is WOW! Your adhesives literally solved all of my ipad problems. The ipad feels genuine! The screen doesn’t spas out when you touch it and it doesn’t pop off anymore!! Thank you very much and I will definitely be back for more.
Glad we could change you from a skeptic to a believer!
My sister handed me 2 completely gutted ipad 2s that her kids obviously used for kickball practice. After some major surgery and cleanup (goof off hello), removing the crapdhesive that came with the digitizers and installing yours, the ipads are now as good as new. Repair shop quoted $400 for the repairs, I managed to fix both for $80 in parts and my time.
I felt so confident that I went and bought 2 ipad minis off ebay with cracked screens and performed the same surgeries. your adhesives make the difference between a screen that stays in place versus the knockoffs that popoff with a sneeze.
So that’s $2,000 worth of ipads salvaged thanks to finding you
Thanks!
It is so wonderful to hear great stories like this! Thanks for letting us know!!!
Hi Benji,
After performing many successful iPad digitizer repairs, I have had repeated frustration using replacement digitizers that come with pre-installed adhesive strips. Extremely annoying when you get a great repair, only to find the digitizer lifting up from the frame the next day!! I’m so glad I found your site when researching this issue. I ordered a 5-pack kit from you recently, and have already repaired 2 iPads with excellent results – what a difference, and brilliant design!
Thanks again,
Robert
Hi Robert,
It really means a lot to me that we continue to receive unsolicited feedback like this. Thanks!
- Benji
Hi Benji, I just placed an order for a set of iPad 3 adhesives, and I’m very excited! My kids have broken the screen on their iPad a few times, and I went with a very expensive screen for the first repair (from iFixit.com), mistakenly assuming that the premium they charged would result in a better product. The screen did not stay on and I believe the resulting gaps led to it being cracked again. I went with a cheaper product from Amazon for the 2nd and 3rd repair attempts (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MRAYNGI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), but the digitizer is still not sticking. I’m VERY excited to try your product. I don’t think I’ll have a problem removing the screen this time around since it’s completely intact and not sticking very well, but do you recommend completely removing the adhesive from the digitizer and the frame before applying your adhesive? Thank you!
Hi Jeff,
I’d definitely recommend removing the old adhesive first. A bit of residue from the original (factory) adhesive is fine, but residue from a weaker adhesive could compromise the strength of the repair, and we both want this to be the last time you have to repair this iPad.
Cheers,
- Benji
Thanks Benji, I’m really looking forward to this being the last time as well! I will let you know how it goes once I receive the adhesive. Have a great weekend!
Hi Benji,
I received the iPad 3 adhesive kit, and I was so excited when I was done, the iPad looked almost new! I let it sit overnight, but this morning there was still a little “lift” around the home button (nothing like the large/obvious gaps I had with the other kits I have tried), but there was definitely some space between the glass and frame. I pushed down really hard, and I cracked the glass around the home button. I was reading through old comments, do you still recommend the following sites for a new digitizer?
http://qualityrepairparts.com/
http://www.mayvillagetrading.com/
And since the kits I purchased previously sucked, they were really easy to remove, how do you recommend removing the digitizer with your adhesive? Thanks Benji!\
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
I know that Bea has already responded to you via email, so I’m just replying here in case other visitors to the site have similar questions.
Both of those web sites were recommended by customers, at some point in the past, although I don’t have any firsthand experience with either of them. One of the things I’d like to add to the BowlerTech web site at some point in the future would be a way for customers to easily and publicly exchange information and recommendations about various parts suppliers. In the more immediate future, I’ll probably put something into the Frequent Asked Questions list. For now, however, the information is scattered around the site in comments like this.
As for removing the digitizer, you should be able to use the same tools and techniques you used to remove the original. The only difference would be that our adhesives seem to release at about 200 degrees F, vs. about 195 degrees F for the original.
All the best,
- Benji
Ugh! I was able to get your adhesive off, and re-repaired my iPad (again!), but during this repair I also had to replace the wifi cable, which required removing the dock connector. When I got everything back together, I tried plugging in the iPad to the charger, and I must not have re-attached the dock connector well, because it doesn’t charge. Experienced iPad repair people like you would probably have checked the wifi cable and dock connector before securing the digitizer, but it looks like I’ll be opening up the iPad again. This will be my 3rd order of adhesive for the same iPad, at some point I should have looked in to bulk ordering!
But I did want to let you know that my experience with Quality Repair Parts was great. Their pricing was slightly higher than the “generic” products on Amazon.com, but the quality of everything I received (including the packaging) was light years ahead. Thank you and Bea for all of your help, hopefully this will be my last order from you folks!
Hi Benji,
I just wanted to say thanks for this kits you’ve made, I’ve replaced my iPad 4 digitizer and, not like poor quality adhesives I bought before, it’s hold the frame!
Best
Julian
Hi Julian,
Thanks for writing! Always glad to receive comments like this!
Cheers,
- Benji
Hi just curios how much longer for the samsung adhesives to be ready?
Regards
We should probably post another update on the main page of the site, but here’s what has been going on.
Benji has been trying to get those completed, but he is so busy that much has gotten in the way. He purchased parts some time ago, in order to try to figure out what exactly he needed for these other phones which he had never personally worked on. Then he trained a couple folks to see if they could produce something, but so far to no avail. He now has someone he is just starting to train, so we are hopeful that by the end of the year, at least, we will have success….Time will tell.
He also has been busy working on a major computer program for new cutting machines that are coming out and which will eventually replace our present ones. This has occupied much of his time, besides moving to a new apartment last month in the A-Mill Artists Lofts! We really want to get these done and will keep working on them until we succeed!
Hi how do I request an example of your adhesive please
Hi Charlie – To request samples you go to the Bulk Ordering page and fill out the form for a Professional account with the “Create an account” link. You can request samples then. See here:
http://pro.bowlertech-adhesives.com/order
Your account enables you to place large orders with a discount, though you can always order from the normal ordering page as well.
Hope that helps!
Bea Flaming
Shipping and Customer Service
Seeking a quality adhesive to use on a Surface Pro 2 screen/LCD replacement. 3M 300LSE or a VHB variant and do you sell the recommended adhesive in sheets?
Hi Allen, I realize I just answered an email from you. Was out of state last week and am slowly catching up. As I said in the email, most folks who would like to use our adhesive, but we don’t make an appropriate kit for them, order our adhesive blanks and cut what they need.
http://bowlertech-adhesives.com/adhesive-blanks/
Hope that helps you and anyone else who has that question.
Bea
How do I go about getting a sample of adhesive strips for the iPad mini? I’ve heard great things about this company and would love to try them before making large purchases!
Hi Noah,
To request samples you go to the Bulk Ordering page and fill out the form for a Professional account with the "Create an account" link. You can request samples then. See here:
http://pro.bowlertech-adhesives.com/order
Your account enables you to place large orders with a discount, though you can always order from the normal ordering page as well.
Hope that helps!
Bea Flaming
Shipping and Customer Service
The best adhesive I have ever used. Not one complaint about “lifting screens” since I have been using Bowlertech adhesive. I have been replacing screens since the iPad 1st gen. I have tried many types of adhesive. NOTHING compares to Bowlertech! They are the BEST sticky stuff around. Don’t shop anywhere else.
Thanks so much, James! We are always glad to hear that feedback!!!
Bea
My iPad comes with pre-installed adhesive. Can I stick both “sticky sides” together or should I remove the pre-existing on the screen and stick with yours?
Hi Ed!
Yes, you should definitely remove the pre-installed adhesive, as the bond will only be as strong as the weakest part and so you would gain nothing by adding our stronger adhesive. Hope that helps!
Bea
Hi
I’ve ordered adhesive on Feb 4th (ref 1JB31851B0043600U // 4PL211325W376331A, not sure which one). Could you provide tracking number as I’ve paid for express shipping but I haven’t received the items yet.
Thanks
Hi Teera,
Took me a while to find you. What I needed was the company name in the address to which your order was shipped (or name of person), but I found you!
You should have received a tracking number from PayPal when we shipped your order on the 4th, so you could follow the progress. I see you are in Australia. Here is a link to our shipping info:
http://bowlertech-adhesives.com/shipping-information/
As you can see, the USPS claims that it should take 3-5 business days, which would bring us to today, so it should arrive soon. When I look at the tracking, it says it is in transit:
https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction?qtc_tLabels1=EC573648069US
I would not think there would be any customs problem, as it is not a large order. We recently had an Australian customer who had placed his first large order over Australian customs limits. The tracking said it had arrived in customs and it sat there at least a couple weeks without them ever notifying him! When he finally contacted customs, he was able to retrieve his package! You can keep checking the link above, as it should say when package gets there, etc.
Keep us posted!
Bea
When can we expect to see some iPad Air 2 Adhesive Kits, Now that the price of screens have dropped I’m starting to see a lot more iPad Air 2′s
Very soon, John! Some customers have been using our original Air kits for Air2, but just today I will be shipping some Air2 prototypes to a customer who provided us with the “guts” of an Air2, so we knew what to design for. When they say that the design is right (we previously sent prototypes and they sent photos with measurements on where to adjust), then we will go into production. It should be within the month, if not sooner.
I am very hopeful that there will be a number of new kits in the coming year!
Bea
I fix a good number of tablets and I haven’t found a good adhesive made for the iPad 2. I did some digging on my computer and found your company’s name from a few people that made good comments. I ordered 2 kits and if this works as good as you say, you will have a new customer for a long time and I will tell everyone that I know. That can be your best and your worst advertising – “word of mouth”!