From the Loftsmith Workshop

10 inch rack screen panel, sized to your display (2U-4U)

Gives a small display a proper home in a 10 inch rack, so it sits flush in the front instead of balancing on a shelf. The dark front plate has a window for the screen, with a slot behind it for the flat ribbon cable. Enter your screen's size and it fits.

7 parts · 63 g · 254 × 80 × 88 mm

by Loftsmith Workshop

Long dark rack panel with a rectangular window and screw holes, a small orange screen tray behind it
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No adjustable sizes

Ask for the sizes you want to tweak, e.g. “make the width adjustable”.

Change it in the Studio

Parts

  • panel-left · PETG · Face down (front on the bed), 134.5 x 88.1 x 9.0 mm

    About 20 g, 31 min at 2 walls/15%. Carries the dovetail tabs and three M3 heat-set inserts. PETG because a rack with a NAS or switch runs warm, and PETG holds its shape to about 75 °C where PLA softens near 55 °C.

  • panel-right · PETG · Face down (front on the bed), 126.8 x 88.1 x 9.0 mm

    About 20 g, 30 min. Carries the dovetail sockets and three M3 heat-set inserts.

  • retainer-top-left · PETG · Flat, 9.6 x 16.2 x 3.2 mm

    Turn-button, about 5 min. Same shape as the other three.

  • retainer-top-right · PETG · Flat

    Turn-button, about 5 min.

  • retainer-bottom-left · PETG · Flat

    Turn-button, about 5 min. Only generated for screens wider than about 181 mm. Narrower screens are held at the bottom by the clamp bar alone.

  • retainer-bottom-right · PETG · Flat

    Turn-button, about 5 min. Same rule as the bottom-left button.

  • bottom-clamp · PETG · Shelf down, 124 x 71 x 14.4 mm (flat on its panel side if you pick Clamp bar only)

    About 21 g, 32 min. Clamp bar plus Pi 5 shelf with four M2.5 insert standoffs. Its two screws go one into each panel half, so it also holds the seam together.

Print settings

Layer height
0.2 mm
Walls
2 walls (page default); 3 walls recommended around the heat-set inserts
Infill
15%
Supports
None. The window bevel is about 50 degrees, so it prints face down without supports.
Notes
Whole set at the defaults: about 65 g and 1 h 56 min at 2 walls/15%. At 3 walls/15% (recommended, so the inserts have more plastic around them) it is about 88 g and 2 h 33 min. Each half fits a 180 mm bed. With Split off, the whole 254 mm plate needs a 256 mm bed. Taller screens make taller panels:

Hardware

  • 6 × M3 heat-set insert (5.7 mm long) · Four for the turn-buttons, two for the clamp bar, pressed into the rim from behind.
  • 6 × M3 x 8 screw with a washer · Four through the turn-buttons (washer under the head so they turn smoothly), two through the clamp bar.
  • 4 × M2.5 heat-set insert · In the Pi 5 standoffs.
  • 4 × M2.5 x 6 screw · Pi 5 to the shelf.
  • 4 × Rack screws with cage nuts (M6 by default; M5 or 10-32 via the Rack screws choice) · Two per ear, through the slotted holes.
  • CA glue or 2-part epoxy · For the dovetail joint between the halves.

Assembly

  1. Print both panel halves face down, the four turn-buttons flat and the clamp bar shelf down, all in PETG.
  2. Press six M3 heat-set inserts into the rim on the back of the halves, and four M2.5 inserts into the Pi standoffs.
  3. Dry-fit the halves by pressing the dovetail tabs straight into the sockets. Then glue them face down on a flat table so the front stays flush.
  4. Drop the screen into the pocket from behind so it rests on the window lip, with its flex cable through the FPC slot in the bottom edge.
  5. Screw the turn-buttons on loosely with M3 x 8 screws and washers, swing each one over the screen's back edge, then snug the screws.
  6. Screw the Pi 5 to the shelf with four M2.5 x 6 screws, power and HDMI facing back. Then fix the clamp bar with two M3 x 8 screws, one into each half.
  7. Mount the panel to the rack with four rack screws in the slotted ear holes. To swap the screen later, remove the clamp bar, turn the buttons 90 degrees and lift the screen out.

Good to know

  • Bare panels differ by vendor in outline, border and where the flex cable leaves. Measure your screen and set the outline, border and FPC slot sliders before printing.
  • The Touch Display 2 presets use the Raspberry Pi outline with an assumed 6 mm border. The 7 in preset comes out at 4U here, because the retainers need 9.75 mm above and below the screen.
  • The largest screen width is 206 mm. Wider bars, such as an 8.8 in bar at 231.3 mm, do not fit between 10-inch rack posts.
  • The space between posts is taken as about 210 mm, and the parts behind the plate are 209 mm wide at the default screen. Check your rack before printing.
  • The two halves are joined by glued dovetail tabs and the clamp bar's screws. The joint was checked for a 10 N push at the centre (glue ignored) and screens up to 400 g, not for leaning on the panel.
  • The screen sits with 0.1 mm of play behind it. Add a strip of thin foam tape if it rattles.
  • Ear holes follow the usual 1U spacing, 5.95 mm from the panel's top and bottom edges and 236.525 mm apart. Check them against your rack.
  • Strength and stiffness figures are estimates from typical printed PETG properties. The design was checked in the Loftsmith engine, not printed or tested.
I printed this Remix

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