So he asked me a question regarding the good way to mount a standard LCD display and want to have it look very good and pass the the asthetics standard of SWMBO ???
And I thought I would be a good idea to post it as the separate post.
So other people can throw in their ideas, and comments.
Here is his message:
[quote]… I have a need to mount some of those SMT push buttons at the same level as the face of a standard LCD text display, got any thoughts on making that asthetically pleasing? I was thinking a spearate daughter-board that I mount switches on and that I somehow mount off the side of the LCD screen (it’s destined to be a wall-mounted control board, in the house, so it needs to pass the asthetics of SWMBO - please help
ok, so a standard LCD is mounted on a PCB. The LCD itself and the bezel/frame of the one I have here sits about 11.2mm above the bottom of the PCB. The PCB itself is the same width as the bezel. Above and below the bezel in the corners of the PCB are two mounting holes. Top right has an edge connector or as I’m using it it has a set of down-facing male .1" headers, intended to mount on a custom shield.
For my push button switches, i have thru-hole 6mm tactile PBs the same as the reset and loader buttons on a Fez. At the moment they’re just on a separate daughter board, and I might just leave them there until I get the LCD properly mounted on it’s shield and then I can put in some stand-offs. Am still trying to figure out how to make it presentable as well - need a black bezel over the lot I think.[/quote]
Feel free to throw in your opinion, comment, and feedback, please.
Here is the sketch for mounting the standard LCD.
Take a look and tell me if this will help you.
using 5/16" standoff with 1/8" plexiglass or material with the same thickness
will fit perfectly well with the LCD that have the 11.2mm as you mentioned.
in my opinion the 6mm button seem to be too small for this kind of operation.
So I purpose the 12mm with the cap instead.
I have an image show the same assembly in my next reply.
Certainly there are larger push button options that might be better things to try. Mouser and Digikey are pretty hard sources to use in AU for small quantity gear, I’ll have a more detailed look at Jaycar to see what options they have (maybe this or similar will work [url]http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=SP0621&CATID=28&form=CAT&SUBCATID=652[/url]). I have already mounted everything on stripboard, see image. The red button is another possibility (not in red though :))
I agree with your layout in general - I’m hoping to use black coloured plexi as the faceplate. If only I had a CNC or some way of accurate milling the cutout - guess there may be a trip to the toolstore on my horizon
I found this store, Little Bird Electronics, in Australia. It seem to me that they carry a very decent and wide varieties of electronic components, and also have the 12mm button available as well. Check them out.
The name is so cute, too.
I wish I had that too, The way I do it is using the small bit to drill the holes along the cutout line, continuously. Then just tap the cutout plate off, and then sand the rough line out and smooth the line down. A lot of works but it the best I could do without the CNC.
Black or color Plexiglass is a good idea! Go for it.
Ah, that’s an awesome “long cut”, drill lots of holes and then file/sand as needed. Sweet. Except I guess that means no CNC for me
Little Bird are a Fez reseller (well they have Domino anyway), as well as a sparkfun reseller, so they have an ok range of misc things like those buttons. I still like Jaycar as I can lay my hands on stuff
