Screen Protector Installation
Last updated
Last updated
You can install the screen protector now, or leave it off until you are sure the system is working.
The included screen protector (two thin transparency sheets in the Core Board bag) may be a little too big. That's OK because you can trim it to fit with a sharp hobby knife after it is installed.
I recommend making a small cut out for the Ambient Light Sensor (ALS, upper left or top center depending on your version of the kit). You don't have to, because it will work just fine under the screen protector. But it lifts the screen protector and prevents it from laying flat. I prefer it flat. To make a cut-out for it, align the screen protector on the face of the Core Board, place the Core Board with screen protector face down on a soft flat surface (like cardboard), and press gently in the back side of the Core Board opposite the ALS. This will put small marks on the screen protector. Seperate the screen protector from the Core Board, and carefully trim out the little square with a hobby knife. Give yourself 1-2mm margin around it.
To install the screen protector, align it on the top surface of Core Board, and make it flush with two adjacent edges. If you cut an opening for the ALS, make sure that lines up with the ALS.
Heat up your a conical solder pencil, and clean the solder off the tip with solder wick. This prevents solder deposits on the plastic.
Hold the screen protector in position tightly (or use tape or binder clips) and touch the solder pencil tip QUICKLY in-and-out through the screen protector into one of the corner holes of the Core Board. Try to aim the tip slightly outward as you pierce the screen protector, as shown here:
Using the technique of "pointing outward" helps to keep the hole from being created too large on the outer edge.
For the best fit, insert the rivet after each hole is made to lock the corner in position.
Keep the screen protector stretched flat across to the opposite corner, and make another quick hole with the solder tip. Insert the rivet.
Repeat two more times for the opposite corners.
Once the screen protector is securely installed, you can place the Core Board face down on a cutting mat and trim the excess off the other two edges, and round the corners.
On the bottom is the Logic Board. Next up is the LED Matrix, and on top of that is the Core Matrix whose pins slide through the LED Matrix to connect to the Logic Board. I do not recommend soldering the Core Board header pins to the LED Matrix board. Except for SCL/SDA/3V3/GNDD if you intend the make use of the QWIIC port on the backside of the LED Matrix board.
Optionally, you can place diffuser sheet layers between the LED Matrix and the Core Board. They can be held in by soldering in single pin headers in the LED Matrix board J3/4/5/6 positions. Those pins are exclusively there to provide a mechanical mounting point for diffusers. They have no electrical connection.
