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[ResidentWeevil13]

I just found out first-hand. They didn't get my Switch, though. I taped a Windows tablet firmly to a piece of cardboard and it's almost exactly the same width as the Switch(<1mm). Slid it in the dock 5 times and got multiple scratches in perfect alignment with the bezel and rails on my dock[bent].

Is your windows tablet screen glass or plastic?

Edit: I ask because it's less likely the plastic dock scratched the glass screen, than it is the glass screen scratched the plastic dock. Mohs Hardness Scale being what it is... if that is the case, the mark on the screen would be plastic residue from the dock

 

[Poppyseed]

Nighttime update:

In the name of further science, I slammed my Switch into the dock a few more times (like, another 100), and yep - there are now some SUPER fine, curving hairline scratches in the plastic. I had to shine a flashlight on the screen to see them.

I mean, I had to WORK at it to make these scratches, but yep, it does happen. This is on the right side, extending onto the screen (probably from my slamming the Switch around in the dock). On the left side of the screen bezel area there are a few very fine vertical scratches. Again, VERY hard to see without a flashlight shining on them. I can't even get them to show up in pictures.

Bear in mind there are no scratches from rubbing my car key over the screen, so these scratches happened from being super aggressive with the plastic dock... but there you go.

Hard to take a photo... But everyone freak out again, I'm sure! lol.

 

[ResidentWeevil13]

Nighttime update:

In the name of further science, I slammed my Switch into the dock a few more times (like, another 100), and yep - there are now some SUPER fine, curving hairline scratches in the plastic. I had to shine a flashlight on the screen to see them.

I mean, I had to WORK at it to make these scratches, but yep, it does happen. This is on the right side, extending onto the screen (probably from my slamming the Switch around in the dock). On the left side of the screen bezel area there are a few very fine vertical scratches. Again, VERY hard to see without a flashlight shining on them. I can't even get them to show up in pictures.

Bear in mind there are no scratches from rubbing my car key over the screen, so these scratches happened from being super aggressive with the plastic dock... but there you go.

Hard to take a photo... But everyone freak out again, I'm sure

For science! Thanks Poppy

 

[ggx2ac]

Nighttime update:

In the name of further science, I slammed my Switch into the dock a few more times (like, another 100), and yep - there are now some SUPER fine, curving hairline scratches in the plastic. I had to shine a flashlight on the screen to see them.

I mean, I had to WORK at it to make these scratches, but yep, it does happen. This is on the right side, extending onto the screen (probably from my slamming the Switch around in the dock). On the left side of the screen bezel area there are a few very fine vertical scratches. Again, VERY hard to see without a flashlight shining on them. I can't even get them to show up in pictures.

Bear in mind there are no scratches from rubbing my car key over the screen, so these scratches happened from being super aggressive with the plastic dock... but there you go.

Hard to take a photo... But everyone freak out again, I'm sure! lol.

Thank you for that. Especially that you used your Switch because the results need to be consistent.

That clearly looks like some bad scratches but as you said, they'd need to be reflected off light to be seen.

At least we can see now how bad wear and tear can be on the Switch with plastic on plastic contact although with stress testing, this is from docking the Switch as hard and rough as possible.

 

[Poppyseed]

For science! Thanks Poppy

Well, nobody else was going to do it, so... you know...

I'm torn about the whole situation, really. I can't say the dock didn't scratch the Switch (cause it DEFINITELY did), but I also can't say when in the process it happened, and how hard I had to put the Switch in the dock for it to happen...

I'm now doing further stress testing: Rubbing my finger nail back and forth on the screen HARD (as hard as my puny fingernails will go): NO scratches.

Rubbing the JoyCon grip plastic against the screen (not super aggressively): NO scratches.

Rubbing 12W iPad charger against the screen (yeah, really) : NO scratches.

 

[Poppyseed]

OK, now the scratch-REMOVAL test!

Sensodyne toothpaste, where are you!?

Be right back, folks...!

 

[NoMoreTrolls]

Well, nobody else was going to do it, so... you know...

I'm torn about the whole situation, really. I can't say the dock didn't scratch the Switch (cause it DEFINITELY did), but I also can't say when in the process it happened, and how hard I had to put the Switch in the dock for it to happen...

I'm now doing further stress testing: Rubbing my finger nail back and forth on the screen HARD (as hard as my puny fingernails will go): NO scratches.

Rubbing the JoyCon grip plastic against the screen (not super aggressively): NO scratches.

Rubbing 12W iPad charger against the screen (yeah, really) : NO scratches.

Good work, sir. This may bring up a new question... Is there a difference in plastic quality of the screen covers of different Switches?

 

[Rappy]

Nighttime update:

In the name of further science, I slammed my Switch into the dock a few more times (like, another 100), and yep - there are now some SUPER fine, curving hairline scratches in the plastic. I had to shine a flashlight on the screen to see them.

I mean, I had to WORK at it to make these scratches, but yep, it does happen. This is on the right side, extending onto the screen (probably from my slamming the Switch around in the dock). On the left side of the screen bezel area there are a few very fine vertical scratches. Again, VERY hard to see without a flashlight shining on them. I can't even get them to show up in pictures.

Bear in mind there are no scratches from rubbing my car key over the screen, so these scratches happened from being super aggressive with the plastic dock... but there you go.

Hard to take a photo... But everyone freak out again, I'm sure! lol.

Okay, so what? My Switch got scratches pulling it out of the dock twice. They're not on the actual LCD portion of the screen so it's not a big deal, but this shouldn't be happening to anyone at all and it could have likely been more preventable. I've been defending the Switch on many fronts and I still stand by those views, but I'd like this issue fixed or repaired/replaced even if I had to part from BOTW for a couple weeks.

 

[Spy]

I still have yet to put my Switch in the dock but would really like a solution before Mario Kart comes out next month. What do you think the chances of Nintendo doing a recall are? Would definitely build some good will.

 

[ggx2ac]

I'm now doing further stress testing: Rubbing my finger nail back and forth on the screen HARD (as hard as my puny fingernails will go): NO scratches.

Rubbing the JoyCon grip plastic against the screen (not super aggressively): NO scratches.

Rubbing 12W iPad charger against the screen (yeah, really) : NO scratches.

From that other video with the durability test, there was a thread on it, I forget the name.

The guy did a scratch hardness test or whatever it was called. Plastic has a hardness of 3, iirc fingernails have a hardness of 2 so you shouldn't be able to scratch plastic with fingernails anyway.

However, car keys will definitely scratch it. Don't do that, the guy in the video did and it did leave permanent damage.

 

[linkboy]

From that other video with the durability test, there was a thread on it, I forget the name.

The guy did a scratch hardness test or whatever it was called. Plastic has a hardness of 3, iirc fingernails have a hardness of 2 so you shouldn't be able to scratch plastic with fingernails anyway.

However, car keys will definitely scratch it. Don't do that, the guy in the video did and it did leave permanent damage.

JerryRigsEverything is the channel, and he used the Moh's Hardness Scale.

 

[Poppyseed]

Okay, so what? My Switch got scratches pulling it out of the dock twice. They're not on the actual LCD portion of the screen so it's not a big deal, but this shouldn't be happening to anyone at all and it could have likely been more preventable. I've been defending the Switch on many fronts and I still stand by those views, but I'd like this issue fixed or repaired/replaced even if I had to part from BOTW for a couple weeks.

I still have yet to put my Switch in the dock but would really like a solution before Mario Kart comes out next month. What do you think the chances of Nintendo doing a recall are? Would definitely build some good will.

OH don't get me wrong. The Switch dock is a TOTAL POS. Like, completely an utterly a POS. I still can't fathom why they didn't make it much simpler like the PS Vita official dock, which is so awesome. Probably because it doesn't MARKET as well as the Switch dock does. There's something a great deal more visceral about the Switch dock than the Vita dock.

Doesn't stop it being a terrible waste of plastic, of course.

PS Toothpaste won't get the scratches out. Matter of fact, I ALWAYS read about how toothpaste is great for getting scratches out, but I've never successfully seen it done, personally. Go figure.

 

[ggx2ac]

JerryRigsEverything is the channel, and he used the Moh's Hardness Scale.

Thanks for reminding me.

Okay, so what? My Switch got scratches pulling it out of the dock twice. They're not on the actual LCD portion of the screen so it's not a big deal, but this shouldn't be happening to anyone at all and it could have likely been more preventable. I've been defending the Switch on many fronts and I still stand by those views, but I'd like this issue fixed or repaired/replaced even if I had to part from BOTW for a couple weeks.

We aren't saying that the scratches don't exist. We're finding causes of it and to see how bad the damage can be.

You will never not have a scratch on the Switch screen because there will always be friction when you slide the Switch down the dock especially if there are dust particles on the rails or the screen.

OH don't get me wrong. The Switch dock is a TOTAL POS. Like, completely an utterly a POS. I still can't fathom why they didn't make it much simpler like the PS Vita official dock, which is so awesome. Probably because it doesn't MARKET as well as the Switch dock does. There's something a great deal more visceral about the Switch dock than the Vita dock.

Doesn't stop it being a terrible waste of plastic, of course.

PS Toothpaste won't get the scratches out. Matter of fact, I ALWAYS read about how toothpaste is great for getting scratches out, but I've never successfully seen it done, personally. Go figure.

Yeah, it's too bad they went with a dock design instead of a cradle so this problem wouldn't be occurring.

Sorry, that you got scratches you can't remove.

 

[Poppyseed]

JerryRigsEverything is the channel, and he used the Moh's Hardness Scale.

Yes, JerryRigsEverything is a fun channel. The one issue with JerryRigsEverything whenever I've watched it, is that he uses a sharp tool to do the Moh's scale test. For the real-world, we're not usually dragging a sharp pick down our screens.

In any case, it's still a good indicator, but given that it's plastic his results are no big surprise.

 

[Poppyseed]

I just found out first-hand. They didn't get my Switch, though. I taped a Windows tablet firmly to a piece of cardboard and it's almost exactly the same width as the Switch(<1mm). Slid it in the dock 5 times and got multiple scratches in perfect alignment with the bezel and rails on my dock[bent].

In the name of science, thank you!

What kind of tablet is that? Surely not glass?

 

[JetBlackPanda]

My switch has been in it's dock 3 times and I put it in like a surgeon. Just now while looking at my switch with the flashlight there is definitely some very very thin hairline like scratches on my bezel.

Woooow what the fuck.

I've even posted in this thread that I don't see how anyone could scratch their switch.

 

[ACE 1991]

Damn, hope I can find a screen protector tomorrow now that I have the switch. Ya'll got me scared of docked mode.

 

[ggx2ac]

In the name of science, thank you!

What kind of tablet is that? Surely not glass?

The problem is that regular glass has a higher frictional coefficient compared to plastic. I don't know what gorilla glass has as it's frictional coefficient.

It could be creating more friction than what the Switch would do.

That's why it is more preferable to use actual Switch units to keep results consistent.

 

[Poppyseed]

My switch has been in it's dock 3 times and I put it in like a surgeon. Just now while looking at my switch with the flashlight there is definitely some very very thin hairline like scratches on my bezel.

Woooow what the fuck.

I've even posted in this thread that I don't see how anyone could scratch their switch.

Using a flashlight on any screen is just a recipe for misery.

It really is kind of amazing how much Nintendo got right and how much they got horribly wrong with the Switch release. There's no question the dock is flawed. Mine took quite a battering to get my screen to scratch, but with the docks built SO POORLY (I have two, and one is reasonably straight, and one is laughably angled inward), this isn't too much of a surprise.

But if you know Nintendo, they'll not do anything, and will expect us all to put screen protectors on. I wish they'd made the thing glass... I really do.

 

[Poppyseed]

The problem is that regular glass has a higher frictional coefficient compared to plastic. I don't know what gorilla glass has as it's frictional coefficient.

It could be creating more friction than what the Switch would do.

That's why it is more preferable to use actual Switch units to keep results consistent.

Makes perfect sense. My Switch has been through the wars a bit too much, now, and I'm a bit tired of trashing it.

It would be nice if there were some real confirmation of a reliable USB C female to male adapter, and then we could just leave the dock plugged in, and connect a regular USB C cable to the Switch from the dock, and leave this misery behind.

I've seen a few reports of cables *working,* but nothing that says definitively down the line that the the power draw won't be an issue for these cables.

 

[co1onel]

Is there anything I can do to safely dock my switch while waiting for a screen protector to arrive? I docked and undocked it super carefully just a few times today and there is already a hairline scratch on the right bezel that won't come off. It's only visible in direct light, but very annoying nonetheless. If stuff like foam, electrical tape and furniture pads are no good because of the added friction, do I just have to stick to handheld mode?

 

[ACE 1991]

Is there anything I can do to safely dock my switch while waiting for a screen protector to arrive? I docked and undocked it super carefully just a few times today and there is already a hairline scratch on the right bezel that won't come off. It's only visible in direct light, but very annoying nonetheless. If stuff like foam, electrical tape and furniture pads are no good because of the added friction, do I just have to stick to handheld mode?

Would like an answer to this as well.

 

[JetBlackPanda]

Is there anything I can do to safely dock my switch while waiting for a screen protector to arrive? I docked and undocked it super carefully just a few times today and there is already a hairline scratch on the right bezel that won't come off. It's only visible in direct light, but very annoying nonetheless. If stuff like foam, electrical tape and furniture pads are no good because of the added friction, do I just have to stick to handheld mode?

This is exactly me. Same exact spot.

 

[Poppyseed]

Would like an answer to this as well.

This is exactly me. Same exact spot.

Unfortunately, your best bet is to just wait for the screen protector. Maybe a software update will fix this?

In the meantime, open up your dock with a hardback book etc. It does make a difference.

 

[ggx2ac]

Is there anything I can do to safely dock my switch while waiting for a screen protector to arrive? I docked and undocked it super carefully just a few times today and there is already a hairline scratch on the right bezel that won't come off. It's only visible in direct light, but very annoying nonetheless. If stuff like foam, electrical tape and furniture pads are no good because of the added friction, do I just have to stick to handheld mode?

Sometimes marks may not come off from using a dry cleaning cloth.

That happened for me so I used Windex Electronics Wipes to remove them.

There may be other methods you can use to clean it off if it is a mark.

At this point it's expected there will be wear and tear over time from friction between the dock rails and the bezel.

If you don't want to use a screen protector, people have stuck books in the dock gap to make it wider, or you could also remove the front part of the dock if you want like some others have.

 

[ACE 1991]

Ok thanks! Which protector is the defacto recommended one? Tempered glass or plastic?

 

[MaulerX]

Is there anything I can do to safely dock my switch while waiting for a screen protector to arrive? I docked and undocked it super carefully just a few times today and there is already a hairline scratch on the right bezel that won't come off. It's only visible in direct light, but very annoying nonetheless. If stuff like foam, electrical tape and furniture pads are no good because of the added friction, do I just have to stick to handheld mode?

I bought a USB-C extension cable and now I just plug it in and avoid the whole docking/undocking. They could have easily done something like this from the beginning but then it would mess with their marketing and they don't want the Switch to be viewed as a portable with HDMI out.

 

[blame space]

wait, can you plug in the switch to the dock's USB port and have it output to your TV?

 

[ACE 1991]

I bought a USB-C extension cable and now I just plug it in and avoid the whole docking/undocking. They could have easily done something like this from the beginning but then it would mess with their marketing and they don't want the Switch to be viewed as a portable with HDMI out.

Great idea.

 

[MaulerX]

wait, can you plug in the switch to the dock's USB port and have it output to your TV?

You plug the extension cable to the USB-C port in the dock (where it normally connects with the Switch). Then you just plug the Switch to the end of the USB-C extension cable. Profit. No more docking and undocking. It works great.

 

[Seik]

Thanks Poppy for the effort, I'll keep the foam there until I get my tempered glass.

Now treat your Switch carefully! :lol

 

[jose1]

PS Toothpaste won't get the scratches out. Matter of fact, I ALWAYS read about how toothpaste is great for getting scratches out, but I've never successfully seen it done, personally. Go figure.

Try a 3M headlight lens restoration kit from your local auto parts store. It is great for removing scratches from plastics. You must carefully use a drill+sandpaper pad to sand down the deeper scratches and then polish the plastic with the drill+polishing pad and compound. Doing it by hand will not give anywhere near as good results. You could also just skip the sanding stage and go straight to polishing if the scratches are really light. If that doesn't work, then you will have to sand.

I've never used such a kit on a screen, but I'm positive it will work as long as it is a hard plastic surface ( not soft plastic like a resistive screen). Don't apply a ton of pressure, it really doesn't need for you to push down. Also tape off the rest of the switch so you don't sand the grey finish off, and tape the screen plastic crevice on the edge so the compound doesn't get in there, as well as any vents just in case.

 

[Ecto311]

Try a 3M headlight lens restoration kit from your local auto parts store. It is great for removing scratches from plastics. You must carefully use a drill+sandpaper pad to sand down the deeper scratches and then polish the plastic with the drill+polishing pad and compound. Doing it by hand will not give anywhere near as good results. You could also just skip the sanding stage and go straight to polishing if the scratches are really light. If that doesn't work, then you will have to sand.

I've never used such a kit on a screen, but I'm positive it will work as long as it is a hard plastic surface ( not soft plastic like a resistive screen). Don't apply a ton of pressure, it really doesn't need for you to push down. Also tape off the rest of the switch so you don't sand the grey finish off, and tape the screen plastic crevice on the edge so the compound doesn't get in there, as well as any vents just in case.

This is 100% bad advice. Those kits fuck up plastic and are designed to get pelted with rocks plastic back to letting light out. I have tried this on cellphone screens in the past and it is a disaster requiring a new screen all together. It makes a milky haze over the plastic that will never be close to clear. Also hard to tell what it would do to the touch sensitivity.

If anything rub with damp white printer paper or toothpaste but even that is a trial and error nightmare when it is involving a screen. Maybe polish an amiibo or controller but screens are tricky to get clear.

 

[Poppyseed]

You plug the extension cable to the USB-C port in the dock (where it normally connects with the Switch). Then you just plug the Switch to the end of the USB-C extension cable. Profit. No more docking and undocking. It works great.

Sent you a PM about this. Cheers!

 

[Manzoon]

This is 100% bad advice. Those kits fuck up plastic and are designed to get pelted with rocks plastic back to letting light out. I have tried this on cellphone screens in the past and it is a disaster requiring a new screen all together. It makes a milky haze over the plastic that will never be close to clear. Also hard to tell what it would do to the touch sensitivity.

If anything rub with damp white printer paper or toothpaste but even that is a trial and error nightmare when it is involving a screen. Maybe polish an amiibo or controller but screens are tricky to get clear.

Listen to this guy, polishing plastic is not easy and the Switch is not a pair of headlights.

I've had jobs where I've had to take 80 grit sanding discs (always wet sand) to acrylic windows, and then bring them up to optical clarity. Especially at higher grits and using polishing compounds, it is an extremely involved process that requires a ton of steps and time. I can't imagine trying to polish something as small as a Switch screen while preventing warping in the surface. Any mechanical polishing will be removing material and you have to feather it out if you aren't polishing the entire surface.

Without knowing exactly what kind of plastic that screen is, you could easily screw it up with an unwanted chemical reaction or just getting it too hot. It could turn milky or craze (lots and lots of small sub-hairline fractures in the material that will go deeper than the surface).

 

[LFMartins86]

Someone just took out the front panel of the dock.

It actually makes more sense if the dock was like that.

 

[Piggus]

Someone just took out the front panel of the dock.

http://i.imgur.com/wMFt6q0.jpg[img]

It actually makes more sense if the dock was like that.[/QUOTE]

I think Nintendo designed the dock more with kids in mind, otherwise they probably would have gone with some kind of iPhone-style dock. With the current dock there's no way you or a reckless child could break off the USB port like you can with typical phone and tablet docks.

 

[Conan-san]

Someone just took out the front panel of the dock.

It actually makes more sense if the dock was like that.

How hard woudl that be as a mod, technicaly speaking?

 

[kfpkiller]

Nighttime update:

In the name of further science, I slammed my Switch into the dock a few more times (like, another 100), and yep - there are now some SUPER fine, curving hairline scratches in the plastic. I had to shine a flashlight on the screen to see them.

I mean, I had to WORK at it to make these scratches, but yep, it does happen. This is on the right side, extending onto the screen (probably from my slamming the Switch around in the dock). On the left side of the screen bezel area there are a few very fine vertical scratches. Again, VERY hard to see without a flashlight shining on them. I can't even get them to show up in pictures.

Bear in mind there are no scratches from rubbing my car key over the screen, so these scratches happened from being super aggressive with the plastic dock... but there you go.

Hard to take a photo... But everyone freak out again, I'm sure! lol.

Thanks for the test.
But what about the back of the Switch? Any scratches?

 

[Sevenfold]

Good work, sir. This may bring up a new question... Is there a difference in plastic quality of the screen covers of different Switches?

More inconsistencies with the gap between the front and back of the dock. I mean we've established the dock is garbage cheap. So even without taking bending into account (which anyone who's worked with plastic can attribute to temperature at storage as well as humidity given the quality of the plastic in question) there are going to be differences.

What I don't get is, why isn't the dock open at the front with hdmi pass-through (the only thing disabling the joycons right?) on a switch, so that it doubles up as the stand for tabletop mode. Tablet on a slight angle to the rear and a molded (OMG $$$) bottom that allows the tablet to still be sat in rather than resting on. In this age of rapid prototyping there's really no excuse for this slab if 90% of it serves as a way of damaging the console. It's like they went out of their way to make it bad.

Fedit:

Someone just took out the front panel of the dock.

It actually makes more sense if the dock was like that.

Ok just a matter of time phew

 

[Impulsor]

The back of my switch got scratched a bit.Right side if looking at the screen, left side if looking at it from the back, with the logo facing you.

Yeah, the dock is shit XD

The screen is safe though, I have a screen protector (the one that came with the offical case) and it's pretty decent.

 

[Amalthea]

Feels like the WiiMote rubber-glove situation all over again. I'm not gonna remove my screen protector until Nintendo offers a proper solution.

 

[Impulsor]

Feels like the WiiMote rubber-glove situation all over again. I'm not gonna remove my screen protector until Nintendo offers a proper solution.

Then you will never remove your screen protector lol

 

[jts]

1) Take electronics out of dock
2) Have a 3D printer
3) ?????????
4) Profit!

 

[Amalthea]

Then you will never remove your screen protector lol

Not that it would be smart anyway since I'm moving it around in handheld-mode too.

But I hope they gonna give an easy fix.

 

[BlondeTuna]

Had my Switch for a few days now, and I've been waiting to open because my tempered glass screen protector hasn't shipped from Amazon. I decided to open the box because the anticipation was killing me.

I noticed my dock seems to be somewhat warped; the gap is smaller towards the top open end than it is the bottom. After reading this thread, I'm not docking anything until the protector arrives!

 

[mrback]

Someone just took out the front panel of the dock.

It actually makes more sense if the dock was like that.

I'm not sure if this will completely eradicate the issue, I have noticed the marks on my screen from the x 2 rubber stoppers which touch the bottom left & right of the screen at the bottom. I have a tempered screen protector which is slightly above the normal screen though so that maybe why I get the marks from the rubber stoppers. just thought I would mention is all.

 

[eoa-swam]

More inconsistencies with the gap between the front and back of the dock. I mean we've established the dock is garbage cheap. So even without taking bending into account (which anyone who's worked with plastic can attribute to temperature at storage as well as humidity given the quality of the plastic in question) there are going to be differences.

What I don't get is, why isn't the dock open at the front with hdmi pass-through (the only thing disabling the joycons right?) on a switch, so that it doubles up as the stand for tabletop mode. Tablet on a slight angle to the rear and a molded (OMG $$$) bottom that allows the tablet to still be sat in rather than resting on. In this age of rapid prototyping there's really no excuse for this slab if 90% of it serves as a way of damaging the console. It's like they went out of their way to make it bad.

Fedit:


Ok just a matter of time phew

This was actually done a few days ago (I also did the same after seeing it).

It's relatively easy, you just need a long tri bit screwdriver and one normal philips screwdriver. You can see the size of the screws on the back of the dock.

 

[Sesuadra]

Quick update. With charging/playing zelda while charging/playing zelda and a few times cleaning with an alcohol pad/my sleeve there is nothing to be seen about the amFilm getting tiny bubbles.

 

[AndyMoogle]

Based on the test video earlier and the pictures of deep scratches, there has to be something very wrong with some docks. Like some kind of very sharp edge somewhere along the rails. Those who has gotten scratches should take their finger along the inside of the dock and see if there is something sharp that could have caused it.