I set to work on its Display Module today, if anything to discover how much of a hit this machine took. Despite the shattered glass, it only took a few minutes with a heat gun before I could lift the entire glass panel out as a single piece. Underneath the glass told quite a terrifying tale. The magnesium frame has cracked around one of the screw bosses and has started to lift away from the aluminium outer skin. The corner has crumpled, meaning about a centimeter of aluminium had to buckle first with still enough force to split the magnesium that lay behind it.
In other words, nothing short of a reasonable drop on to a slate surface would have caused this kind of damage.
I rebonded the magnesium to the aluminium skin using a powerful metal epoxy with a slight flex additive designed to allow it to bend and stress without cracking, such as when the display is opened and closed. It's currently curing, which will take about 12 hours, about 4 hours away from the time this is posted.
What I can say is that the MacBook Pro officially has a display attached and working, although it's not incredibly attractive. :lol: If I don't end up converting this to a desktop unit, I'll turn it into a modified MacBook Pro with elements of the "rat rod" automotive scene. That said, the desktop conversion is still the most likely outcome.
It does look like I will get what I wanted out of it though - a functional system that excels at OpenGL tasks.
( Didn't get any pictures of the disassembly or epoxying, I was a little focused on making sure I didn't glue the display to the workbench or something along those lines. )
In other words, nothing short of a reasonable drop on to a slate surface would have caused this kind of damage.
I rebonded the magnesium to the aluminium skin using a powerful metal epoxy with a slight flex additive designed to allow it to bend and stress without cracking, such as when the display is opened and closed. It's currently curing, which will take about 12 hours, about 4 hours away from the time this is posted.
What I can say is that the MacBook Pro officially has a display attached and working, although it's not incredibly attractive. :lol: If I don't end up converting this to a desktop unit, I'll turn it into a modified MacBook Pro with elements of the "rat rod" automotive scene. That said, the desktop conversion is still the most likely outcome.
It does look like I will get what I wanted out of it though - a functional system that excels at OpenGL tasks.
( Didn't get any pictures of the disassembly or epoxying, I was a little focused on making sure I didn't glue the display to the workbench or something along those lines. )