diy transparent lcd display free sample

I saw a really cool video of a PC case called "Snowblind", that had a transparent LCD Screen as a side panel. I was amazed over how cool it was. The only problem was that it was really expensive. Therefore, I tried making my own! In this instructables I will go through how I made it, and how you could make your own. The best of all, since it was made from an old monitor that was thrown away, it was basically free! I just added some LED strips on the inside of the case to get better contrast on the screen. You could probably re-use the monitors backlight, but it"s safer and easier to just get some cheap LED strips.
First, remove the frame of the panel. It is fixed with clips, so just bend the frame a little and lift the frame up. Next, separate the front LCD from the backlight. For the next step, you will have to be careful. This step involves removing the anti glare film. It is glued to the panel, and therefore it"s easy to break the LCD when trying to remove it.
Then you are done modding the LCD! Now, you can hook it up to the panel and test it. Just be careful with the ribbon cables going from the LCD PCB to the panel.
The side panel of this case fits the LCD perfectly. Just line it up to the side facing the back, and to the top, and use some tape to tape it to the glass. Then, use some vinyl on the outside where the LCD is not covering the glass.
It"s really important to have lots of lights inside the case, to make it easier to see the LCD. Therefore, try to fill the case with even more LED strips.
You can now power up the computer, open the screen settings and set it up for dual screens. You might have to flip the display 180 degrees too. When you have done that, open Wallpaper Engine and set a wallpaper of choice!
Hey I have a little question, I also have a Dell 1905FP, but I think it"s an older model because I don"t have a ribbon cable but a normal cable with a plug. My problem is that I have peeled off one film but it still looks like there is a second film on the back because it is still a little blurry. But I"m afraid that if I try to pull them off, my LCD display will break. Maybe you have an idea. Thanks in advance
Terrific job! May I ask why you would need to remove the front polarizer? If my understanding is correct, both the front and back polarizers are needed in order for the LCD to work properly (i.e., the light gets polarized by the back polarizer first, and then passes through the front polarizer)? You comments will be appreciated!
I think you should have more pics and info about the re- mounting the LCD. After all if you don"t do it right all that work is for nothing. While I understand your wiring diagram, I think that it should be explained and a larger part of this Instructible...for example to get white lite your are powering all 3 lanes (red,green,blue) on the RGB tape.
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The next thing you have to do is choose where in your room you want the monitor to appear transparent from. In other words, which one vantage point in space do you want the illusion to hold up? Do you want it to be right in front of the computer, so anyone using it gets to enjoy your hard work? Do you want it to be at eye-level if someone peeks over the cubicle partition to see what you are working on? Do you want it to be from the eye level of your 6 year-old so if he stands in the doorway he "gets it?"
If something looks "too skinny" on your monitor compared to the background object, you need to crop the sides. If something looks "too short" on your display compared to the background object, you need to crop the top and bottom.
actualy almost all can do it but you wont have a backlight which makes using it difficult. lcd is a liquid crystal display that changes color based on the currrent going through it so yea its posible the liquid crystals are inside a plastic like case i dont know if the back of it is clear and i dont recomend doing it0
Once my lcd screen of my n95 was broken, so i disassembled it, and i found in the back side a white plastic, then between the glass and the plastic there is many sheets topped with aluminuim (i think because it looked like that!), and a tiny paper was directly stuck to the glass from it"s black side( of the paper) !!!0

The transparent display we offer for sale (CFAL12856A0-0151) is an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display. OLED displays produce images by emitting light in the corresponding color. To produce black in a normal OLED, the pixels are simply turned off. With the transparent display, if the pixels are turned off, the display is transparent rather than black.
We’ve heard from a few customers requests for transparent displays with black graphics as well as requests for larger transparent displays. This guide will walk you through creating a transparent display out of a graphic LCD.
A few caveats before we get much farther. First, doing this will definitely void your warranty on the display. Second, the display we’ll create is significantly less transparent than a transparent OLED displayas you can see in the above image with the hacked transparent display on the left and the transparent OLED on the right.
Using the x-acto knife, get between the back polarizer and the display and pull the transflective polarizer off of the display. Unlike our pictured engineer, you should wear some hand protection to keep your fingers safe.
Rotate the display relative to the polarizer until you find the optimal transparency. This is why it’s important to use a larger polarizer so the polarizer can accommodate the display at any angle.
If you harvested a polarizer from an existing display it already has adhesive on it and you can simply carefully adhere it to the display. Take care while applying the polarizer or bubbles will form between the display and the polarizer.
When cutting the polarizer near the tail, be aware that there are traces connecting the tail to the display and cutting these traces will ruin your display.

I saw a really cool video of a PC case called “Snowblind“, that had a transparent LCD Screen as a side panel. I was amazed over how cool it was. The only problem was that it was really expensive. Therefore, I tried making my own! In this instructables I will go through how I made it, and how you could make your own. The best of all, since it was made from an old monitor that was thrown away, it was basically free! I just added some LED strips on the inside of the case to get better contrast on the screen. You could probably re-use the monitors backlight, but it’s safer and easier to just get some cheap LED strips.

Adding a display to your Arduino can serve many purposes. Since a common use for microcontrollers is reading data from sensors, a display allows you to see this data in real-time without needing to use the serial monitor within the Arduino IDE. It also allows you to give your projects a personal touch with text, images, or even interactivity through a touch screen.
Transparent Organic Light Emitting Diode (TOLED) is a type of LED that, as you can guess, has a transparent screen. It builds on the now common OLED screens found in smartphones and TVs, but with a transparent display, offers up some new possibilities for Arduino screens.
Take for example this brilliant project that makes use of TOLED displays. By stacking 10 transparent OLED screens in parallel, creator Sean Hodgins has converted a handful of 2D screens into a solid-state volumetric display. This kind of display creates an image that has 3-dimensional depth, taking us one step closer to the neon, holographic screens we imagine in the future.
Crystalfontz has a tiny monochrome (light blue) 1.51" TOLED that has 128x56 pixels. As the technology is more recent than the following displays in this list, the cost is higher too. One of these screens can be purchased for around $26, but for certain applications, it might just be worth it.
The liquid crystal display (LCD) is the most common display to find in DIY projects and home appliances alike. This is no surprise as they are simple to operate, low-powered, and incredibly cheap.
This type of display can vary in design. Some are larger, with more character spaces and rows; some come with a backlight. Most attach directly to the board through 8 or 12 connections to the Arduino pins, making them incompatible with boards with fewer pins available. In this instance, buy a screen with an I2C adapter, allowing control using only four pins.
Available for only a few dollars (or as little as a couple of dollars on AliExpress with included I2C adapter), these simple displays can be used to give real-time feedback to any project.
The screens are capable of a large variety of preset characters which cover most use cases in a variety of languages. You can control your LCD using the Liquid Crystal Library provided by Arduino. The display() and noDisplay() methods write to the LCD, as shown in the official tutorial on the Arduino website.
Are you looking for something simple to display numbers and a few basic characters? Maybe you are looking for something with that old-school arcade feel? A seven-segment display might suit your needs.
Next on our list is the 5110 display, also affectionately known as the Nokia display due to its wide use in the beloved and nigh indestructible Nokia 3310.
These tiny LCD screens are monochrome and have a screen size of 84 x 48 pixels, but don"t let that fool you. Coming in at around $2 on AliExpress, these displays are incredibly cheap and usually come with a backlight as standard.
Depending on which library you use, the screen can display multiple lines of text in various fonts. It"s also capable of displaying images, and there is free software designed to help get your creations on screen. While the refresh rate is too slow for detailed animations, these screens are hardy enough to be included in long-term, always-on projects.
For a step up in resolution and functionality, an OLED display might be what you are looking for. At first glance, these screens look similar to the 5110 screens, but they are a significant upgrade. The standard 0.96" screens are 128 x 64 monochrome, and come with a backlight as standard.
They connect to your Arduino using I2C, meaning that alongside the V+ and GND pins, only two further pins are required to communicate with the screen. With various sizes and full color options available, these displays are incredibly versatile.
For a project to get you started with OLED displays, our Electronic D20 build will teach you everything you need to know -- and you"ll end up with the ultimate geeky digital dice for your gaming sessions!
These displays can be used in the same way as the others we have mentioned so far, but their refresh rate allows for much more ambitious projects. The basic monochrome screen is available on Amazon.
Thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal displays (TFT LCDs) are in many ways another step up in quality when it comes to options for adding a screen to your Arduino. Available with or without touchscreen functionality, they also add the ability to load bitmap files from an on-board microSD card slot.
Arduino have an official guide for setting up their non-touchscreen TFT LCD screen. For a video tutorial teaching you the basics of setting up the touchscreen version, YouTuber educ8s.tv has you covered:
With the touchscreen editions of these screens costing less than $10 on AliExpress, these displays are another great choice for when you need a nice-looking display for your project.
Looking for something a little different? An E-paper (or E-ink depending on who you ask) display might be right for you. These screens differ from the others giving a much more natural reading experience, it is no surprise that this technology is the cornerstone of almost every e-reader available.
The reason these displays look so good is down to the way they function. Each "pixel" contains charged particles between two electrodes. By switching the charge of each electrode, you can influence the negatively charged black particles to swap places with the positively charged white particles.
This is what gives e-paper such a natural feel. As a bonus, once the ink is moved to its location, it uses no power to keep it there. This makes these displays naturally low-power to operate.
This article has covered most options available for Arduino displays, though there are definitely more weird and wonderful ways to add feedback to your DIY devices.
Now that you have an idea of what is out there, why not incorporate a screen into your DIY smart home setup? If retro gaming is more your thing, why not create some retro games on Arduino?

If you want to display items at your shops in the most impressive way, Alibaba.com can help you do that with the sturdy and trendy diy transparent display collections. These stylish and freestanding diy transparent display are ideal for displaying all types of products at your space in a fabulous way. The quality of these diy transparent display is very rigid and made of superior raw materials to ensure long-lasting performance and stability. These products are easy to assemble and can be maneuvered with ease from one place to the other.
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Alibaba.com offers an exciting range of diy transparent display according to their sizes, shapes, shelves, designs, and colors to let you choose as per your requirements. These diy transparent display are made from all types of sturdy materials such as stainless steel, white acrylic and hardware, metal wire, wood, cardboard, and many more. The diy transparent display come with powder-coated surface treatments and can be completely customized in terms of designs.
Check out the varied diy transparent display ranges at Alibaba.com and go for the products that meet your finances and requirements. These items are offered as OEM products on bulk orders and you can enjoy brilliant deals at regular intervals. Customized packaging is also available along with free shipping.

Transparent display technology surrounds us, even if we aren’t aware of it. In this article we look at transparent head-up displays, LCDs, OLEDs and transparent electroluminescent technology and delve into the pros and cons of the four main transparent technology displays.
However, if you think this is new technology, think again. While most transparent technology has come to the fore since the millennium, it was being used as far back as the mid-20th century.
In this article, we’re looking at four types of transparent tech which include typical projection head-up displays (HUDs), LCDs, OLEDs, and transparent electroluminescent displays (TASEL). We’ll look at the pros and cons of each and show you how transparent display technology plays an essential part in our working lives and free time. An explanatory
Of our four featured displays, we start with the oldest, HUDs. The HUD we’re referring to here is a typical projection head-up display. These use a projection system to project images onto a piece of glass in front of the viewer.A typical HUDcontains three primary components: a projector, a combiner, and a video generation computer.
The first steps into creating transparent head-up displays can be traced back as far as 1937. However, it wasn’t until the 1950s, following perfections to the technology by the US and British Royal Navies, UK Ministry of Defence and, finally, the Royal Aircraft Establishment in 1958, that the first true projection ‘head-up display’ was incorporated into aircraft.
There is also an emerging technology calledTASEL, which makes it possible to laminate displays in glass and show information without a projection system. However, as this a different transparent technology, we’ll mention thislaterin the article.
The most common transparent projection HUD is a display composed by a piece of flat glass used to project images in front of the pilot. This allows the pilot to keep their head up (hence the name ‘head-up display’) so they’re not distracted by looking down at their control panel for information during flight.
Why have we included LCDs as a transparent display when, at first glance, they’re not truly transparent? In fact, we’re only able to see the information on our monitors, such as laptops, with the introduction of a backlight and a reflector shield.
Take these away and we see true transparency of the LCD display - which is something Samsung did in 2012 with the production of theirSamsung Transparent Smart Window.
However, to see the information, it needed the reintroduction of a backlight at all times to view it and, although this technology has been used to display products in stores, the need for constant light at the rear of the display makes its use limited outside of a strictly controlled environment.
LCDs are also one of the most popular screens on the market and this rise occurred early in the 21st century when liquid-crystal-display sets rocketed in popularity. In 2007, LCDs eclipsed sales of competing technologies like plasma, cathode ray tube, and rear-projection TVs.
They were thinner and lighter, easier to scale. And for the manufacturers, the cost of production was lower, so it’s easy to see how LCD displays quickly became a favorite with manufacturers and consumers.
Organic light-emitting diode displays, orOLEDsfor short, are a step up from LCDs when it comes to transparent technology. For starters, unlike LCDs, OLEDs do not require the use of a backlight or any other filters due to the use of pixels which produce their own light.
This means they’re thinner and lighter and have higher levels of brightness which is why they’re used to create displays in smartphones, tablets, computer/laptop monitors and portable games consoles.
Lumineq’s Transparent Electroluminescent displays consist of a glass panel with a luminescent phosphorous layer and a circuit board. The circuit board contains the drive and controls which are connected directly to the glass panel making the panel light up.
As it’s an inorganic display with solid-state design, it’s unaffected by environmental changes, meaning it will withstand extreme temperatures (high or low), humidity, moisture, vibration and shock - none of which affects its response time.
The transparent electroluminescent displays are good solutions for transportation vehicles such as cars, buses, trucks, trains, trams, boats, and airplanes because they can be laminated in glass and turn windows/windshields into information and functional displays.
It’s viewable from all angles, is visible in all types of weather conditions and is theonlytransparent display capable of working in the most extreme environments, from the freezing temperatures of the Arctic winter to the blistering heat of a desert summer.
However, due to the limitation of monochromatic images, transparent electroluminescent displays shouldn’t be used as entertainment screens in vehicles - they should be used to display only the most critical information in the eye-line of the driver without distractions.
This comparison of different transparent display technologies is conducted by the Ph.D. reseracher Jose Rosa for theImmerSAFE project. The project stands for "IMMERSIVE VISUAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR SAFETY-CRITICAL APPLICATIONS".
Each transparent display has its positives and negatives, and they’re all fantastic ways to showcase transparent display technology at its best when applied in areas which suit their purpose perfectly.
HUDs are ideal for planes and cars, however, Lumineq’s in-glass displays rival HUDs, doing an equally good job with the bonus of it using less space and costing less to implement too.
Lumineq’s transparent electroluminescent displays are ideal in transportation vehicles, heavy machinery, such as tractors, and optical devices, like range-finders and night-vision goggles.
To read how in-glass technology is making giant strides in optical devices, read our post ‘Bring augmented reality to optical devices with transparent displays’, or to find out more about Lumineq"s transparent electroluminescent technology,contact ustoday.
As exciting as these unlimited possibilities are, they also create a new need for understanding and embracing the benefits of see-through displays. The eBook from below will provide you with ideas, inspiration, basic guidelines and industry examples for designing transparent displays for vehicles – from cars, tractors, and ships to aircraft.

CDS as you can see offers an entry level up to high performance rugged range of panel Computer solutions. This stylish range offer integrators an alternative designs and performances whether that be rugged industrial or sleek sealed operator interfaces. The CDS Clearvue Transparent showcases, Hypeboxes and clear OLED display range offers affordable and reliable quality Panel PCs. These are used in Human Machine Interfaces (HMI), home automation, Building control, factory automation, touchscreen table, process control, SCADA and CAN BUS.
Our new generation of Panel PCs are very impressive utilising powerful technology as well as attractive designs. Users of the CDS products can reliably utilise operating and monitoring processes in your systems to give the impression of an invisible display.

The transparent LCD is a kind of LCD screen that you can see through it when it’s working. You can read the information on the screen and see what’s behind it at the same time. Such a screen is not a new technology. It’s a branch of the traditional screen which has been more than 20 years.
The biggest difference between a transparent LCD and with traditional LCD screen is its light transmittance is higher. In theory, the higher the light transmittance, the better the effect that you can see through the screen.
The transparent LCD is the core part of the transparent monitor. It can not emit light by itself, so the backlight is essential when it’s working. If you don’t like the backlight, then what we recommend is the transparent OLED.
The transparent LCD is widely used in lots of applications, for example, video walls, vending machines, display boxes, and others. It usually is used with a touch screen. Such LCD with touch screen is interactive and interesting.
The transparent LCD is made by a daily used liquid crystal display screen. Such a product is an LCD panel without an LED backlight. It has a proper name which is called open cell LCD panel. It doesn’t have a frame and the thickness is just about 1.4mm.
The transparent LCD has many custom features, such as size, resolution, and so on. If you want to use the such product normally, there are also some details that you need to pay attention to.
Plenty of clients buy a such product from us, but they can not use them or sell it to their customers right now when they get them. That’s because the transparent LCD is just a semi-finished product. Most of the clients need to install it on their machines.
GECEY can provide the full sizes of the transparent LCD. Please don’t worry about there is not having the proper size for your application. The most commonly used resolution of such a screen is 1920 x 1080 (FHD). If you need the 4K resolution( 3840 x 2160 ), please feel free to contact us first.
The transparent LCD has a professional name which is called open cell panel. You can see its appearance in the picture on the left below. It looks like a black panel with a driver board. The picture on the right below is its internal structure. We can see that the structure is complex. It contains two polarizers, two glass substrates, liquid crystals, and so on.
The reason why we introduce the polarizer is that it can greatly influence the light transmittance and brightness of the screen. For the manufacturer, we usually change the polarizer to improve the light transmittance. The production process requires special workplaces, skilled workers, special materials, and special care. This is because the transparent LCD is very fragile and easy to be damaged.
Light transmittance is a very important parameter for transparent LCD. The higher the transmittance, the higher the brightness, and the more you can see the product behind the screen.
How much is the light transmittance of the common screen? The picture below is the SPEC of the AUO 32” open cell panel the model is T320HVN05.6 CELL. From the picture, we can see it’s 6.5%. If you check the SPEC of LCD screens which are from super manufacturers, such as Samsung, LG, AUO, and so on, you can find the transmittance of them is around 6.5%.
However, 6.5% is not enough for the transparent LCD display. So it’s essential to change the polarizer. Some special materials and polarizers are needed. The process is not easy, especially the big sizes. If the operation is wrong, the screen will be damaged.
The super manufacturers of open-cell panels will not do this for you. The process is finished by the manufacturer of a transparent LCD. So, finding a professional manufacturer is very necessary, if you want to buy some.
LED backlight: LCD can not emit light by itself. So it needs the backlight so that you can see through when it’s working. For details, please see the rest content.
Controller: Same with the common LCD panel, it needs the controller to work. The controller receives the signal from the computer or U disk and sends it to the panel, then the panel can display the letters, pictures, and others.
Glass: The glass is used to protect the transparent LCD. Although glass is not essential, it’s used in most applications. The LCD screen is glued on one surface of the glass.
Frame: The frame is essential. It’s used to hold the LCD screen, glass, backlight, control board, and other parts. Some clients need their supplier to make the frame for them, some others can make it by themselves.
First of all, you need to make a LED backlighting system for it. Maybe your products are display boxes, cabinets, vending machines, and others. Whatever they are, the most important is to design a space for the backlight.
The LED strips are driven by a small controller so that they can work in sync with the transparent LCD. The LED backlight panel can also be used to make the backlight system. The key points are the light of the space should be bright and even enough.
Second, the transparent LCD is not suitable for playing pictures or videos with complex colors. The large area of complex colors will affect your to see through the screen. It would be hard to see the products behind the screen clearly. Please keep most areas of the LCD to play white color.
When the screen displays white, it’s the most perfect condition to watch the product behind it. So, when you make the pictures or videos, please keep the background to be white. Just use the transparent LCD to play the introductions or videos with simple color.
First, the transparent LCD can not emit light by itself. Second, the space around the screen can be divided into two parts: the dark area which is in front of the screen, and the bright area with backlight which is behind the screen. People can see through from the dark area to the bright area, but they can’t see through from the opposite direction.
Most of the transparent LCDs we exported are frameless. The clients have the frame and can install the product by themselves. If you don’t have the frame, then we can also make it for you. Most of the frames are made of aluminum and iron plate. The aluminum frames are light, strong, and easy to be produced. The frames have many custom features, such as sizes, thicknesses, and so on.
Plenty of clients want to use the transparent LCD to modify their products and they just need only one piece. For example, the LCD side panel PC case is very popular. There is a transparent screen on one side of the PC case. You can see the inside of the PC and play the videos you love at the same time.
Such a case for gaming looks very amazing so lots of people want to have one. However, it’s hard for them to find a supplier to buy just one piece of transparent LCD and it would take a long time to get one. So, they want to DIY by themselves.
There are some guides online that teach people to use a common monitor to DIY a transparent LCD. For example, use the screen of a second computer monitor to make one. The simple process is to remove most parts of the LCD panel of the monitor, leaving only the LCD screen( open cell), then install some LED strips and the open cell on their PC case.
Does it work? Yes, but there are many problems in the DIY process. First of all, you need to be very careful in the DIY process. The LCD open-cell glass is very fragile. There are several flexible PCB cables at the bottom of the screen. If either of them is damaged, then the screen can not work normally.
Second, the transmittance of the screen that you DIY is much lower than the professional transparent LCD. So the final effect is not as good as you think. There are also some other problems, for example, you need to put one tempered glass to protect the LCD screen. We recommend buying one transparent LCD directly.
Ms.Josey
Ms.Josey