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A very much needed improvement...  

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vintagepc
(@vintagepc)
Utenti
Topic starter answered:
RE: A very much needed improvement...
Posted by: guy.k2

Chocki, just to be clear.

Do NOT hook up all the pins of the MIDAS VATN to the controller board. Holes 3 and 15 must NOT be connected to the controller board. Leave 3 and 15 without header pins. Instead, bridge 3 and 15 with a 9.8K resistor to set contrast. Hole #1 is rightmost in this picture.

 

 vintagepc, Does the LCD unit you installed use all 16 pins just like the stock LCD module?

yes, it's a drop in with no mods, just a tweak of the contrast pot on the LCD/SD slot PCB.

Postato : 01/06/2019 6:46 pm
Bunny Science
(@bunny-science)
Noble Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

So, the zebra stripes you mention were during removal of the LCD itself to install colored diffuser? 

 

Postato : 01/06/2019 6:55 pm
vintagepc
(@vintagepc)
Utenti
Topic starter answered:
RE: A very much needed improvement...
Posted by: guy.k2

So, the zebra stripes you mention were during removal of the LCD itself to install colored diffuser? 

 

Yes, they connect the LCD's glass to the PCB w/ the controller chips. They are very susceptible to alignment and contamination, e.g. finger oils, etc and best left undisturbed if you can at all help it. It'll become obvious when I post my write-up with pictures.

Postato : 01/06/2019 6:58 pm
Chocki
(@chocki)
Prominent Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

Thanks guy.

I am probably going to use a 10k multiturn pot hot melt glued to the board and a hole in the case for a terminal screwdriver, so this way I can adjust the contrast if needed.

If the new LCD comes with pins already fitted, I'll just snip them off on the back of the board after reading how weak the solder pads are. The less soldering the better, just two wires on the top to the pot and of course the base PRUSA board, but with a solder sucker, braid, flux syringe and good quality thin solder this wont be a problem.

Questo post è stato modificato 6 years fa 2 tempo da Chocki

Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.

Postato : 02/06/2019 8:27 am
scott.b47
(@scott-b47)
Trusted Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

Well, that was easy!

Managed to come across a Noritake CU20045SCPB-W2J, which I believe is an older/obsolete part. Went right in, in place of the LCD.

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Questo post è stato modificato 6 years fa 3 tempo da scott.b47
Postato : 04/06/2019 3:30 am
Vojtěch
(@vojtech)
Honorable Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...
Posted by: scott.b47

Well, that was easy!

Managed to come across a Noritake CU20045SCPB-W2J, which I believe is an older/obsolete part. Went right in, in place of the LCD.

I see you were faster. My Noritake CU20045-UW5J arrived yesterday, but I'm still waiting for an orange VFD filter and a circular polarization filter to arrive to achieve the proper color and contrast before I post photos. 🙂 It'll take another month.

I was quite surprised that despite the bigger PCB, it still fits perfectly into the display case.

Postato : 04/06/2019 10:48 am
scott.b47
(@scott-b47)
Trusted Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...
Posted by: Vojtěch
Posted by: scott.b47

Well, that was easy!

Managed to come across a Noritake CU20045SCPB-W2J, which I believe is an older/obsolete part. Went right in, in place of the LCD.

I see you were faster. My Noritake CU20045-UW5J arrived yesterday, but I'm still waiting for an orange VFD filter and a circular polarization filter to arrive to achieve the proper color and contrast before I post photos. 🙂 It'll take another month.

I was quite surprised that despite the bigger PCB, it still fits perfectly into the display case.

Ha! I ordered a couple of those filters last week. 🙂 I'm probably at 6 weeks out on mine, but one never knows with China shipping. 

I was happy with the fit in the case, I had a few worries that the glass nipple on the VFD or some large unfortunately-positioned component was going to interfere with the case. Prusa left us plenty of space.

Postato : 04/06/2019 1:52 pm
bobstro
(@bobstro)
Illustrious Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...
Posted by: vintagepc

Update: I've been asked to make a how-to. I'm currently away from my workshop where my printer is but when I have access again in a bit over a week I will put together a write-up on how I did this, what parts, etc.

Just wanted to say, you've done a great job. I've seen a variety of replacements, but yours is the 1st I've seen that managed to match that Prusa orange. Nicely done. I'm looking forward to your howto!

My notes and disclaimers on 3D printing

and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

Postato : 04/06/2019 3:14 pm
vintagepc hanno apprezzato
Chocki
(@chocki)
Prominent Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

😲 They are not cheap those Noritake displays!, at least not in the UK.

Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.

Postato : 04/06/2019 3:42 pm
Chocki
(@chocki)
Prominent Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

LCD done, I did try to upload pictures in the correct orientation and video showing viewing angles but gave up fighting with this wordpress forum. Sorry

Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.

Postato : 07/06/2019 10:51 am
scott.b47
(@scott-b47)
Trusted Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

Made a short video on the VFD upgrade that I performed:

There's not a whole lot to it (the upgrade is, after all, nothing more that soldering the VFD board to the LDO display board, and I didn't even film that part!), but in case anyone is curious for more images, there are some closeups.

Postato : 08/06/2019 4:36 pm
vintagepc
(@vintagepc)
Utenti
Topic starter answered:
RE: A very much needed improvement...

Sorry for the delay folks, I kept hitting the "502 bad gateway" issue when logged in; now that that seems to be resolved I'll work on getting a writeup together some evening this week.

Postato : 12/06/2019 12:04 am
Chocki
(@chocki)
Prominent Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

For anyone contemplating doing this mod, get yourself a new pin header strip to solder the connections back unless you really like to try to get all 15 solder joins apart in one go. It can be done, but you risk lifting tracks.

If you do decide to use a MIDAS display, then cut 1 pin for pin 15, miss out 15, cut the next 11 for pins 4 through 14 and cut 2 for pins 1 and 2.

Assemble but only solder pins 1 and 15 on the display, keeping both boards held together so the pin headers dont fall out, (a bit of tape) put back into the front cover so that the display and back board are sitting correctly, then solder some of the pins exposed inc 1 and 15.

This will hold everything in alignment so that when you remove both boards, the pin headers are held by pins 1 and 15 being soldered on both boards and now you can solder the rest of the pins.

Add the resistor across pins 3 and 14 and add a bit of hot melt glue to the back of the display board opposite from the pins, this is one of the places the front display can rattle from (Sticky backed foam should also work).

 

Note: the MIDAS display has some strange viewing angles but not in a bad way.

With the printer assembled and on, you have to be above and in front of the display to see it clearly, as you get more eye level with the display, it becomes dim (Quite dim actually). This can be a benefit as it means the display no longer lights up the other side of the room or across the hallway into a bedroom in my case. But if you have the printer set back in an enclosure with an overhang at the top front, you may not get the best display.

Best I can describe it in words is with the display angled at 45 Degrees, looking straight down vertically gives you the brightest display, looking at it straight on horizontally (90 degrees from the previous view) results in the dimmest display. It does actually start to brighten again if you look at it from below horizontal.

 

Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.

Postato : 12/06/2019 5:43 am
vintagepc
(@vintagepc)
Utenti
Topic starter answered:
RE: A very much needed improvement...

As promised. This is not for the faint of heart, some nimble fingers and technical aptitude are required for success. If you built your printer from kit successfully you're probably in good shape - though the ability to solder is also required here.

Parts:

Steps: (Note, display looks slightly different, I'm "reconstructing" some of the images as my modified one is already assembled and in my printer)

  1. Desolder the LCD backlight with desoldering braid or a desoldering tool. (the two pins on the left.)
  2. Twist the black tabs holding the new LCD frame with a pair of pliers so they align with the holes. (Already done in the above image)
  3. Gently push the black frame through the holes. Support the LCD with your finger so only the frame comes out. Try not to dislodge the LCD glass from the zebra strips (pink/black in the image below) that connect it to the board, or the strips from the board. They are very sensitive to contamination and alignment. While they can be realigned, it's best to avoid disturbing them if at all possible. 
  4. Carefully work the backlight assembly/panel loose from the through-holes and slide it out form behind the LCD to work on it. (The white bit on the left.)
  5. Peel off the front diffuser of the backlight panel.
  6. Cut a piece of orange adhesive film to fit the panel. Best to cut slightly oversize and trim it down later. The sample size has plenty for at least three screens.
  7. Clean any residue or fingerprints off the front of the panel. 
  8. Carefully apply the orange film, from one side to the other (like vinyl car wrap or phone screen protectors - plenty of YT videos on how to apply those for reference) to minimize bubbles. Smooth down the film and work them out as much as possible. 
  9. Trim film to size
  10. Reinsert backlight assembly behind LCD and through the holes. Solder it back in place. 
  11. Gently reinstall the black frame over the LCD glass. Push the clips through the holes and twist them to secure it again. You may need to push down a little more once it hits the glass, the zebra strips are typically under slight compression for good contact. 
  12. Install the display on your display board, and install it in your printer! Might be smart to find a way to test it first since it's hard to remove once soldered down. I put it on the pin headers and tilted it slightly so it wedged on the pins and made contact; this let me quickly check that all rows/columns were functional. If they are not, check for missed "clips" or contamination/dirt/alignment issues, especially if the zebra strips came loose during the previous steps.  
  13. Enjoy!
Postato : 13/06/2019 12:13 am
bobstro e vaxxi hanno apprezzato
scott.b47
(@scott-b47)
Trusted Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

My VFD filters have arrived. Haven't installed them yet, but this is what they look like over the VFD.

Attachment removed
Postato : 21/06/2019 3:50 am
vintagepc hanno apprezzato
ben_r_
(@ben_r_)
Trusted Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

Nice! Glad I checked this thread out! That Midas display is just what I was looking for!

If at first you don't succeed, redefine success!

Postato : 03/09/2019 9:34 pm
91d3on Mining
(@91d3on-mining)
Eminent Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

Has anyone tried or thought about using an electronic ink display? Similar to what's on a Kindle Paperwhite?

Postato : 16/09/2019 8:43 pm
vintagepc
(@vintagepc)
Utenti
Topic starter answered:
RE: A very much needed improvement...

I don't think that's practical. You'd need to completely re-engineer the display comms and interface. And when you have tens of watts of heaters... the LCD vs e-ink savings is negligible.

Postato : 16/09/2019 8:47 pm
ben_r_
(@ben_r_)
Trusted Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...
Posted by: @jadedreddragon

Has anyone tried or thought about using an electronic ink display? Similar to what's on a Kindle Paperwhite?

I dont think Ive seen any e-ink displays that are 4x20 and use the HD44780 lcd controller. So definitely no drop in replacement.

If at first you don't succeed, redefine success!

Postato : 16/09/2019 8:49 pm
Antonín Paš
(@antonin-pas)
New Member
RE: A very much needed improvement...

@guy-k2

@chocki

Please guys, which resistor have you used? I see that guy-k2 has probably used 10k CFR, but is MFR okay and does W ratio matter? (for instance is MFR 10k 0,6W okay?) Also sorry for this rather elementary question, I just want to make sure I dont screw things up.

Postato : 18/05/2020 9:29 am
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