Is the Interface controller screen replaceable?

Well, I dropped the Interface twice. First time, the screen only cracked. Second time, it's gone white while the control itself boots up and jogs the machine just fine.

Can the screen be field-serviced or am I out the cost of another whole Interface controller?

 

Thanks, Peter. I'll order the LCD and make the decision on whether to solder or use the connector once I've received the screen.

 

Thanks, Peter. I'm wrestling with Duckduckgo right now trying to find the right display. I think I found one, but it doesn't have the cover glass with it.

 

Got one on the way from east Asia. Guess I'll be working from the PC until April.

 

I decided to take a look at everything and see if anything obvious had been knocked loose that a touch with a soldering iron might fix.

The only thing obvious was a tiny resistor that apparently popped free from the flex PCboard that joins the display to the main board. I tried to solder it, but working with something that small that appeared to have a questionable joint in the first place proved to be unworkable.

I don't have a diagram, of course, so I wonder if losing one of those teensie-tiny resistors floods the display with light or dumps power across all of the LEDs simultaneously or something.

Gives me a bit more confidence that replacing the LCD will fix the problem and that there's nothing wrong with the board itself.

 

Well, Peter, there is going to be a pause before I replace the screen.

I received the new screen this afternoon in the mail, much earlier than expected. Excited, I went out to the shop and powered up the system to make sure the Control was still operational for jogging and whatnot since I'd - once again - knocked it onto the floor while bumbling my way around the shop. My intention had been to verify functionality and then get about replacing the screen.

Except...the screen lit up like it was supposed to and the Control booted properly, as if the previous white screen of death had never happened.

So now I have a spare screen in case this one craps out. Either the last knock reset something that had been previously mechanically percussed out of shape or that little rodent excretia resistor that I lost while trying to solder it back on was actually causing the issue by being loose as opposed to absent.

I have no idea. Since it's working, I'm going to keep using it until it dies and then worry about it.

 

Well, once more the Interface controller hit the floor, but this time no amount of percussive maintenance could restore the screen to visibility. Post-mortem of the screen after removal indicated that the root cause of the failure was component displacement due to impact. I.E. the little surface mount components on the flexible circuit board got blown off by the impact.

Thus, I finally installed the new screen on the Interface.

I used my soldering iron to disconnect the old screen. It came apart in pieces. Inspected the lands for any excess solder, found none.

I attempted to use the connector on the board as we discussed. However, the connection tab on the new screen was insufficient long to engage the connector and remain locked. Additionally, attempting to use the connector on the first go-round located the new screen very low in the screen cut out.

At this point, I realized that the new screen was significantly smaller than the older screen. I also removed the touch-screen portion of the new screen to improve fit.

Given that the connector was not retaining the tab, I determined to go the route illustrated by Peter in another thread and solder the connection. This was actually a very simply process and took only a minute since the soldering iron was already hot.

Flipping the screen, I recognized that the locating pins on the back of the screen would not engage the pre-existing locating holes, so I removed them. The double-sided tape applied to the back of the screen would not engage the board, so I added a strip of double-sided woodworking tape to the top edge to give the screen some stability and impact protection.

With nothing to lose at this point, I re-assembled the unit. The screen is now short by about 6 mm from the top of the screen opening.

Connected the unit to the Black Box controller and powered up.

And, miraculously enough, it worked! Looks just like it ought to, just a bit smaller. Touch buttons don't line up exactly as they should, but it's close enough for government work. Additionally, all touch buttons are functional.

Pictures attached for reference.