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3D Printing a stand for the 7-inch BB View LCD and BeagleBone Black

Estimated Print Time: 60 Minutes | Estimated Filament Usage: 56 Cubic MM
Download this project from: Thingiverse

While working on a series of projects for Element14 I found the need to mount a 7-inch BB View Touchscreen LCD to something that would easily allow for development around the screen. A quick search on Thingiverse yeilded me several BeagleBone Black cases, but only one stand for the 7-inch BB View Touchscreen LCD. Fortunately this mounting solution was exactly what I was looking for! It allowed me to mount the screen at an angle for better desktop viewing, as well as providing a mount behind the screen for the BeagleBone Black and the BB View Cape. I printed the entire mount in a plate on my Lulzbot AO-100. Total printing time was about an hour with a 0.35 layer height and an average print speed of 60mm/sec. Infill was set to 0.60 and support was turned on at default settings in Slic3r. 

BeagleBone Black BB View 7-inch LCD Stand

Overall the print turned out excellent, but I did have an issue removing the support that was printed inside the screen mounts. I could have prevented this by adjusting the support settings, but I simply did not think it would be an issue. I managed to remove the support material using a pair of needlenose pliers and an exacto knife. Once removed, I found the octagonal holes slightly too small to press the BB View's stand-offs into. This turned out to be a blessing in disquise though as I was able to heat the stand-offs with a small torch-style cigarette lighter and then press them into the holes with pliers. This provided for a very strong mount which I suspect to be permanent. If you do not want to permanently press the BB View stand-offs into the mount, four stand-offs from a PC motherboard will work as substitutes.  

BeagleBone Black BB View 7-inch LCD

With the stand-offs pressed into place I was able to quickly mount the LCD screen and then move onto mounting the BeagleBone Black. When mounting the BeagleBone Black, you only need to remember to orient the board with its ethernet port facing left when viewing the entire assembly from the back. If you mount it the other way around, the mounting holes will not align properly. Once mounted, you can then attach the BB View Cape. Then all that is left is attaching the ribbion cable to the BB View Cape. It is important to note that before you install the BB View Cape, you should first make sure that you have the right OS flashed to the BeagleBone Black. If not, flash it before installing the BB View Cape as you will need to access a button that the cape covers. If you would like to download the STL files for printing, hit up the Thingiverse link at the top of this post. 

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