Found someone selling just the screen and board, will try a swap. (I got the display made by BG6ADB)
After much himming and hawing I finally motivated myself to have at it. Rather than solder the display board
directly to the panel board, I decided to jumper it with #30 wire. The instructions said the IC on the new
display's board stick up a bit and may require some "milling" to be done on the underside of the white plastic
light box. The wires will allow me to reposition the board slightly and may eliminate the need for milling
the plastic box. Also, I'd much rather solder wires I can see, one at a time, rather than slapping down the
board and trying to get it all soldered at once, out of sight between the two boards. I'll be using my USB
soldering iron since it has a really fine cone tip and is very lightweight.
Good News, Bad News. Good News: the new LCD works! Bad News: while trying to reassemble it I discovered
the new LDC doesn't fit in the light box! Comparing the two, the new one is about 2mm wider and 0.5mm taller
than the original. So I guess I'm still going to have to find a way to shave a little plastic off the light
box before I can reassemble it.
Oh also the instructions said to soak the entire light box in IPA overnight to separate the glued LCD from
the light box, "tested and everything is IPA-safe". No, not really. It waterlogs a glossy white card in
the back of the box, and leaves white blotchy patches on both sides of the acrylic light panel and the front
diffusing film, from where the old glue was. Not sure how that's going to look when I get it together, it
might have a pretty funky looking backlight.
OK I also had to widen the light box to fit the slightly larger LCD panel. That went fairly smoothly and I
was able to get new new LCD to fit fine. When I reassembled there was pressure on the panel due to the bulk
added below it, and that messed with the display. I loosened the screws a bit and the LCD returned to normal.
Reassebled and test, works fine. The backlight lighting is a bit mottled though but I can live with that.
It's readable now and that was the goal. I'm not big on cosmetics, the most important thing is it WORKS.