Accessory DIY Portable-ish Triple Monitor Stand [Ongoing]

[nero626]

I bought this aliexpress 16" 2880x1800 120Hz OLED portable monitor around half a year ago for my Asia digital nomad trip, it's been nothing short of amazing, crazy what you can get for $185 USD these days.

However for productivity and coding I often wish for a second or even third monitor, hence this build.

A couple of simple goals for this build that I've set out:
1. at least 1000 px for the short side
2. +/- 10ppi with the main monitor (212ppi)
3. when folded, everything should fit in a 16" laptop case
4. everything should mount on the main boomarm (vesa holes)
5. symmetric, main monitor should to be in the center, secondary screens on the top/bottom/both sides not only 1
6. 60hz and IPS is fine

Since I'm currently staying in Hong Kong for a few weeks which means it is time to taobao, and hopefully a trip to shenzhen at some point to check out the tech malls.

It's insane the amount of extremely specific and niche hardware you can get in China, from display panels to driver boards to really obscure cables and adapters, things that you can think of or you can't think of, they've got it

now #2 has proven to be the most constraining which really limits the display I can get, most of the panels match the ppi for 16" 4k or 16" 2.5k panels but not 16" 3k (mine).

I've scoured hundreds of pages on taobao as well as multiple laptop display lists and I narrowed it down to 2 options:
14" 2560x1600 (215 ppi)
10.1" 1920x1280 (219ppi)

it's either 2x vertical 10.5" or 1x 14" on the bottom
Pros of 14":
Slightly cheaper $70 vs $82
144Hz (don't really care)
lighter overall
1 less cables
1 single monitor is better for videos

Pros of 2x10.5"
Same overall pixel width wise 1280x2=2560, but more vertical pixels (very big)
The extra height gives more tiling options for a lot of apps!! - comfortably open 4 windows on both monitors
More text for terminal and code
Closely matches the height of main monitor

Inspired by DIY perks' video I decided to go with 2 vertical screens, it should look similar to this:

Other things that caught my eye:

Combines power with video out, so only 1x cable per monitor:

Unrelated but everyone should grab one of these if you travel a lot with your PC.. hate those massive dangly wifi/bt antennae.
So far I haven't had any signal issues yet and it's neatly stuck to the back of my PC.

To be continued

 

[nero626]

Nice size

Both monitors are flawless, no dead pixels, minimal backlight bleed, decent color
Apparently they are the exact panels from surface go

One thing that they do here selling displays that I really love - different pricings tier for different panel binning (e.g. A- imperfect, A imperceptable, A+ perfect)

I'm quite OCD about dead pixels or dusts so I'm willing to pay slightly more ($5) for a perfect panel, sometimes even for big brands when you're paying $1k+ you're still playing a panel lottery, and then people end up returning them, they go to liquidation, it's just a massive hassle for everyone..

DP x2 + usb power

With the cover case it's basically half the size of the main monitor

Gonna brainstorm the mounting brackets now.. might take a hot minute
References:

 

[Curiosity]

Love this, and I've thought of doing the same a few times.

The side monitors being half of the prime monitor is perfect, it should pack up nicely!

 

[nero626]

Finally got time to get some CAD done, rough V1 prototype just to test the angle and ergo, and most importantly the weight I'm really not sure if the boom arm will hold 3 monitors.. but we shall see

pretty basic hinged butterfly design

max angle locked to 15 deg inwards

magnets to snap the monitors at 15 degs when open, I don't foresee myself adjusting the monitors when in use

what it looks like folded up

not sure if all of this will still fit in my 16" laptop bag..

some opening action

EDIT: not sure how to get imgur videos to load.. link if it doesn't work


3d prints in the next post

 

[nero626]

went smoother than i expected

couple of minor issues:
1. main frame needs more reinforcing, it's a bit bendy, doesn't help that i'm also printing at 10% infill right now
2. slight tolerance issues with the joints, doesn't close completely coz i'm printing the cylinders flat
3. 15 deg might not be enough, i might try to make it 25 or even 30 i think
4. i need shorter m4 screws for the main monitor mount, it's sticking out too much for the side monitors to close when folded

but overall not bad for the first prototype!

 

[nero626]

some minor revisions:
1. side monitors now open at 25 degrees

very optimal at the distance i sit from the screens, you can see the reflection of yourself right in the middle of each monitor

2. double magnets, the screens now snap shut with 0 wobble

3. sticks out way less on each side when folded, the whole thing now slides into a 16" laptop bag very nicely

4. way stiffer back plate and the bracket "clips" around the main monitor

bonus anti sag bar and cable management clips

pretty happy with the mount! will report back after a few months of use, gonna be flying back to asia soon

 

[Curiosity]

This turned out so well dude, gg.
Kinda inspiring me to make my own version to go with my 16" screen.

 

[nero626]

This turned out so well dude, gg.
Kinda inspiring me to make my own version to go with my 16" screen.

Thanks man! Having so much real estate on the go is quite nice
You definitely should! Let me know if you want the CAD files to play around with, I have it on onshape that I can share

In the future I do wish to make the gaps between the screens a little tighter but I am currently bottlenecked by the 180 adapter on the right side of the main display, hopefully I find something lower profile at some point

 

[Curiosity]

It wouldn't hurt to throw it up in the resources page, I might snag it and mess with it later on. For now my current project is eating all my funds lmao

Definitely interested in trying it with maybe some different screens though, I really liked using my iPad3 LCD with my 16", so maybe I can modify your designs to work for them

 

[nero626]

It wouldn't hurt to throw it up in the resources page, I might snag it and mess with it later on. For now my current project is eating all my funds lmao

Definitely interested in trying it with maybe some different screens though, I really liked using my iPad3 LCD with my 16", so maybe I can modify your designs to work for them

Here you go! The document is pretty messy though sorry in advance haha

Onshape

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cad.onshape.com

Also just came across a new form factor, 3072x1440 120Hz 100% DCI P3 21:10 ultrawide-ish 196 ppi, it appears to be the screen from the ThinkBook plus 17 that didn't sell very well

could be interesting as a bottom monitor.. but I really don't need more screens

 

[Phuncz]

could be interesting as a bottom monitor.. but I really don't need more screens

Oh my, finally something that fits better under my 34" setup than a Raspberry Pi monitor
For reference, the panel order numbers seem to be MNH300HB1-1 or 5D11H00536, but I'm coming up empty for finished monitors.

 

[nero626]

Oh my, finally something that fits better under my 34" setup than a Raspberry Pi monitor
For reference, the panel order numbers seem to be MNH300HB1-1 or 5D11H00536, but I'm coming up empty for finished monitors.

Oh dang just looked up the order numbers buying the controller and panel separately seems to be so much more expensive
hopefully taobao links are allowed, it's about $66 USD for the completed monitor and $80 for a binned 'perfect' panel

商品详情

item.taobao.com

 

[nero626]

actually upon further inspections I found 2 slightly different models of the same complete monitor sets but with different IOs:

version 1 with usb C (power only) + full size DP
$66 (reg) $80 (binned)

version 2 with mini hdmi, mini DP, usb C power, usb C data (single cable I'm assuming)

商品详情

item.taobao.com

$95 (reg) $110 (binned)

either way the bare minimum $66 for a 120hz 3k DCI P3 IPS panel is kind of an insane deal??

 

[Phuncz]

I'm hoping these will end up on aliexpress, I'm not familiar with Taobao or even know how to begin importing one.

 

[nero626]

I'm hoping these will end up on aliexpress, I'm not familiar with Taobao or even know how to begin importing one.

yeah aliexpress would be convenient for sure. taobao started doing international proxy service but the UI is still quite hard to navigate especially when you need to translate, otherwise you can look into agents like superbuy or parcelup where you simply paste the link of the item you want, and place an order through their website, they will handle everything from ordering, checking your items, taking photos of them, to repackaging and forwarding the parcel to your address; imo it's worth the hassle once in a while coz taobao is such a gold mine for random niche tech items

 

[nero626]

after 2 months, the mount is still going strong, but i recently saw some single print geared hinge design on reddit and got curious

so i played around with the design:

after a while i finally nailed down the size and form factor, it's surprisingly sturdy and doesn't have a lot of play

practical? probably not much more than the original, but i think it looks way cooler
gonna try to print it out and see how it goes..

 

[Curiosity]

That's so sick
Gotta try it

 

[nero626]

pretty nice

added a detachable mic mount

the mic is angled to point straight at me

the hinge is way lower profile than before, stick out less than 1 cm on each side when folded
it does come at a cost of ~6mm wider gaps between screens, which i knew when designing it, but it's still quite a bit wider than i expected
really wish i had a cnc sometimes