Hi all. My Epic slider started off very tight. It would slide nicely, and there was no issue with scratches or play. After a month of heavy use and carrying it around in pockets, the slider is noticeably looser, and there is a small gap on the sides between the two halves - it's almost like the top half is concaved.
Last week I started to hear a bit of a grating sound when opening and closing the phone, and a few scratches showed up on the keyboard. Looking at the mechanism, the bottom of the top half of the slider looks to be very smooth with a metal plate on it where most of these scratches seem to be occurring. So it led me to believe that it probably wasn't the phone parts themselves scrapping on the keyboard.
I was able to remedy my problem of keyboard scratching by using a can of perfect dust (compressed air) and lightly blowing out any dirt and debris that had accumulated in between the sliding mechanisms. Some small pieces of sandy grit definitely came out. Now when I use the slider, there is no longer any grating noise, and my keyboard no longer seems to be accumulating new scratches. I am planning on repeating the cleaning procedure every couple of weeks to ensure that no more debris can collect in that tight spot and scratch my keyboard.
I would definitely recommend being very cautious when using compressed air, and do not use anything high pressured, or i could see potential for damaging the connections in the mechanism. Also, be sure to hold the can upright and to spray only small amounts at a time to prevent freezing your device, and to keep any condensation from getting in between your two phone halves.
I can't guarantee that this will work for everyone, but it seems to have worked for my device. Now if I could only find a way to tighten up the slide mechanism that I am sure is only going to get looser as I continue to use my phone.
