Galaxy S5 Disassembly Guide

Warning

This is a terrible guide for fixing your phone. If you are here to learn how to take apart your phone and put it back together then you will find yourself at a very unfortunate place by the end of this guide. Not only will you have a Galaxy S5 in many number of parts, but you may find yourself gluing your phone to your wall ensuring that you will never have a complete Galaxy again. That is unless you purchase another since as previously mentioned this is not a guide for how to put your phone back together.

If you did recently purchase the Galaxy unfabricate kit for your Galaxy S5 then you are in luck. This guide will teach you how to take apart your Galaxy S5, glue it to your poster template, and hang it on your wall.

Step 1.

The first step in taking apart the Galaxy S5 is to remove the rear case.

The Galaxy S5 makes this easy for us since all you need to do is grab a fingernail and pop the back-off! No tricky glue or screws.

Tip: Read each step in its entirety before beginning the step and only glue at the end.

Step 2.

This step is the trickiest part of taking apart the Galaxy S5. Put on some good vibes and relax.

Use the metal pry tool to open the midframe connector and disconnect the connector.

Next, grab the metal pry tool. Then place one of the pointed edges of the metal pry tool between the glass and the housing of the device (underneath the home button) and push it down parallel to the screen.

You might want to try it in a few different spots along the bottom edge until you get it wedged between the screen and the casing. It’s okay if you scratch up the metal a bit or if you hear some metal scraping noises. Once you have it between the glass and the housing, you will want to angle the pry tool down (parallel to the screen) and push inward to get it slightly under the screen. Once you feel the tool underneath the screen, you should slide the metal pry tool around until you are able to get a gap between the display and the frame. The screen is held down by glue.

You may also need to slide the metal pry tool several times around the screen. It's a much smaller gap between the earpiece grill at the top so be careful. Once the screen is freed from the frame, slowly lift it but be careful as it is still connected to the logic board. Go grab a drink of water because it’s all downhill from here.

Step 3.

Next, we will disconnect the screen from the body of the phone.

Grab the metal pry tool to remove the connectors holding the screen. Set the screen aside for now.

Tip: the screwdriver tips are brittle so don’t press too hard unless you need to.

Step 4.

Let's remove the midframe from the housing.

Grab the Phillips screwdriver bit and remove the 10 Phillips screws holding down the midframe.

Flip the phone to the other side and unscrew the 3 Phillips screws holding down the midframe.

Grab the metal pry tool and unclip the midframe by sliding the tool underneath each tooth as shown in the image below.

Once that is complete, you should be able to remove the midframe by pulling the silver frame away from the midframe and using the metal pry tool to lift the midframe from the device.

Step 6.

Let's remove the logic board.

In order to remove the logic board, we will need to remove the screw and the connector. You should grab the Phillips screwdriver bit and unscrew the sole Phillips screw holding the logic board and the 3 connectors.

Step 7.

Cameras. Action.

Ok actually not so much action in this step. Locate the rear and front camera, disconnect both, and place on the template.

Step 8.

Charging port time.

Remove the sole Phillips screw holding down the charging port and slide the metal pry tool from the top of the connector to lift the charging assembly from the midframe.

Step 8.

Two parts remain in the casing.

Remove the headphone jack and the vibrator motor. Both of these are held down with a bit of adhesive so use the metal pry tool in order to remove both.

Step 9.

The last step!

Bring back the screen and let's wrap this thing up. Grab the metal pry tool and slip it underneath the home button in order to remove the part from the screen. The home button's flex cable is a bit too unruly for the template, so feel free to snip it at a point that feels right to you.

Step 10.

Five gluing tips before gluing commences:

1. Place all of the parts on their outlines without glue and plan out how to glue them using the dotted grid lines as references.
2. Note which surface area of the Galaxy S5 part is touching the paper since not all parts lay completely flat.
3. When possible, place the glue on the paper first and then put the Galaxy S5 piece on the glue. The Galaxy part and paper bond nearly instantaneously so it’s important that you are confident in the placement.
4. Be very conservative with the glue and place it in the thicker parts of each piece. You should only need a dot of glue (smear > dab > dot > nothing).
5. After you get the majority of an individual piece glued down, you can dot a little bit of glue on the extremities that may be sticking up.

Let the gluing begin! Take the superglue and start with a larger/easier piece. I would recommend the logic board or the vibrator motor. Move from easier piece to easier piece in order to gain confidence in your gluing skills then advance onto some of the smaller/thinner pieces. Do this until all the pieces are glued. Let it rest for about 20 minutes before placing it in a frame.