DIY Project Valerie - Triple Screen Laptop (COMPLETE)

So the whole inspiration for this project is in the title: Razer's Project Valerie. Shoving 3 4K screens into a laptop while still maintaining some sort of resemblence to a laptop was an awesome idea (too awesome cause it got stolen I guess )
While a good idea, the execution of it didn't make a lot of sense in some areas. Triple 4K gaming on a GTX 1080 just wasn't feasable. If you wanted to use it as an actual laptop, you'd have to deal with the extra weight of the 2 unused screens. Battery life would go down the drain. A mechanized way of taking out the extra screens just added to weight and complexity although very cool etc.

How about something that had a more suitable panel (1080p 144hz), was detachable and ran on its own power source? Youtubers like DIYPerks and LinusTechTips have done something similar where they took an old laptop screen, connect it to a display board and you have another monitor. So I did the same and bought 2 B156HAN0.80 screens, this control board: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32823550655.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.4db14c4dW5TG8h and a brick to power it all. Here's the inital results:

20190828_153901_HDR by TheUberMedic posted Feb 1, 2020 at 5:10 PM

Success! Hardware-wise, it does work.

Since it's a 1080p 144hz panel (it can go to 165hz supprisingly), it needs 12V to run so powering it off USB is a no go. Because of this, there are two ways of powering this: stick to the brick or use a USB PD battery bank and PD trigger. Some control boards do support USB C power and video so that's a possiblity but the max they support I've seen is 1080p 60hz.
Also, the inital eDP cables that came with the board are only 30cm long so I kindly asked the seller for longer cables which they were kind enough to provide (for a fee :|).

Just a side note, the laptop I'm using is the XMG Pro 15 (Early 2019) / Clevo PB51 with an RTX 2070.

All that's left to do is make some sort of casing to shove it into that can be detached from the laptop and hold the battery in-place. 3D printing should do the trick. Got myself an Ender 3 Pro and an education edition of Fusion 360 to get going.

I did want to use the hinge design that DIY Perks used in his dual screen laptop video but if I did, the screen would overhang by 50cm so I'd have to make it stick out 50cm on the left and right of my laptop. Thankfully, I thought of a different design so I wouldn't have to resort to that:

Annotation_2020-02-01_163750 by TheUberMedic posted Feb 1, 2020 at 5:10 PM

This also allows for extra adjustments in the angle of the screens which is nice since I initially went for a 120 degree angle.
(The black bar is meant to represent my laptop screen)
With both screens on, it should end up looking like this:

From User View by TheUberMedic posted Feb 1, 2020 at 9:20 PM

Home View by TheUberMedic posted Feb 1, 2020 at 9:20 PM

Fully folded should end up something like this:

Folded Design by TheUberMedic posted Feb 1, 2020 at 9:20 PM

Unfortunately, my 3D printer is still back home and I'm at my uni flat for the time being so this is as far as I go until I go back and print it. Either that, or I just randomly turn up, grab my 3D printer and go back. Rather not cause a 2 and a half hour train ride carrying a 3D printer would be terrible...

I did grab the hardware of the screens last time I was back home so I'm using one of them like this now:

JPEG_20200126_231641 by TheUberMedic posted Feb 1, 2020 at 5:10 PM

(I may have broken one of the screens moving it here hence only 1 screen...)

 

Very awesome!!

Charles

 

Sounds awesome!

I can't see the pictures though

 

I found this battery bank on Amazon so Im gonna order it and start testing it for powering the screens:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B079KKY5QM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A35VVNIQ1RMVB2&psc=1
If all goes well, I'll have a power source to making this 100% portable and I can start integrating it into the design

 

Ceph thats awesome bro, but the pics dont work!

 

Aw it might be cause they're set to owner only, ill change it now

 

Update!
I managed to get that broken second screen working again so I'm using that now.

Second Screen Fixed + Battery Test by TheUberMedic posted Feb 4, 2020 at 5:39 PM

Also, my testing with that battery I ordered is halfway done. It does work to power both screens at once and does adjust the wattage itself to suit the output.

Battery Test by TheUberMedic posted Feb 4, 2020 at 5:40 PM

This is what I was most worried about since I didn't want it to blast the full 65W into the circuits. Now the final test is how long it'll last from full charge but it's taking ages to charge

(fun fact I found out about while charging it, using a micro B to type C adapter actually slows the charging than using the micro b itself. The adapter slows the charging to about 2W while the direct cable charges at 8W)

 

How much do you think it'll weight? I'm wondering if it'll still be portable.

 

Battery test has concluded!
The 20100mAH battery lasts for 3 hours, 6 minutes and 21 seconds. Not very good I know but there is also the option to power it via a brick so battery life isn't too important and I'm very unlikely to use it in public (maybe on the occasional train ride just to freak out fellow passengers )

I can actually check exactly how much it'll weigh using Cura.

According to Cura and taking into account the weight of the battery, the total weight of it will be 1.752Kg. Keep in mind this is still in design and I've yet to start shaving off weight from it (I used the undesigned models for the weighing, the decorated ones would be lighter)

Guess Ill get started on shaving some weight. I already managed to cut 4 pieces down to almost half their weight which is nice

 

i love these kind of mods.

 

UPDATE!
I have revised my casing for the actual screens. My previous prototypes (the ones in the pictures) required epoxy to have everything stuck together. This new revision is both lighter and less reliant on epoxy. The only thing that should need epoxy are the two side and top bezels while everything else should only need screws. Going to use Cura to determine how much this new one will weigh so I'll add that in later. I also added in mounting for both sides so no need for separate files for each side!

EDIT: New weights are in! One screen (including the hinges) will take 251g. The ones shown before took 320g. That's about a 22% reduction in weight for the screens itself and there's 2 of them so not bad.

 

UPDATE!
I went home for the weekend and took my 3D printer with me so now I can start printing it. I've finished the main design and most of the decals to make it more personal to me so printing is ready to go!
Might need to order more filament though...

Near complete model by TheUberMedic posted Mar 1, 2020 at 11:04 PM

Right Lower Bezel by TheUberMedic posted Mar 1, 2020 at 11:04 PM

Left Lower Bezel by TheUberMedic posted Mar 1, 2020 at 11:04 PM

 

First test print is done! I did this using a 0.6mm nozzle so the holes for the bezels didn't get printed sadly so that's been redesigned.


This whole thing is really janky. Snce there's no top bezel, the top two plates keep coming off so I've already made some redesigns to how the bezels are mounted so I can print using the 0.6mm nozzle. If I swapped to a 0.4mm, the mounting would also print but each print would take an extra hour so... Nah... Also, the top left plate had a layer shift while printing so that's gone badly. All in all, the dimensions are correct, it just needs more supports. Going to add some slots between the plates so they slide into each other and better align and redesign the back bracket so it better supports all 4 plates.

 

Here's the new revised screen casing

I've gotten rid of the side bezels since even with just the bottom bezel, the thing does stay in decently so the top bezel should be enough.
There's now guides inbetween the plates to make them fit better. I've also make the edges between them 0.1mm smaller.
Printing shall restart tomorrow. Right now I need sleep.

 

Im starting to go insane from this 3D printing!
I keep getting layer shifting half way through my prints for the bigger back plates for the screens which misaligns the holes :|
Doesn't help the fact that even though I use a 0.6mm nozzle, it still takes 2 and a half hours to print fully.
I think it's something to do with my slicer software because if I stop the print and restart it, it goes directly back to where it shifted even though it gets reset to home. Anyone got any tips for this? It always shifts on the y-axis and my belts are fine. I'm using Cura 4.4 and the Ender 3 Pro printer.
I've ordered an SKR Mini E3 board to improve its printing and hopefully print faster using a 0.8mm nozzle and the Hero Me duct

EDIT: Got it sorted, the new board doesn't have the issue. Also I went with a 1mm nozzle now so I can print out prototypes in 1hr 30 mins per part which is nice. Also, the new board makes the motors SO much more quieter now. The only loud part are the fans now.

 

UPDATE:

HUZZAH! The first practical prints have been done for the screen!



I need to reprint the black pieces but I've ran out of black filament (ordered some more) since I'm still using the older pieces missing some more mounting holes (and are just generally bad prints hence why there's some holes for screws yet I didnt put any in).

The screen now is solidly secured in the frame so wobble isn't an issue! The new mounting for the bezels also works well and is now aligned perfectly with the screen (minus the bottom left one with my username on it, that one was a test print and cba printing it out again to add an extra 3mm ). Since I'm gonna end up reprinting this almost entirely again, I might do some more adjustments so I can reduce the height of it.

Since I still have the white filament loaded, I'm gonna try printing out the covers for the circuit boards now.

 

The circuit covers came out decently. One was printed with supports, the other without so I might reprint that one with supports as well but they're good enough.

Dont have any M2 screws for the OSD controls to be screwed in so I'm just using tape to keep them in place xD Not too sure it's lined up properly though, there wasn't a diagram for it so I had to guess using a crappy ruler I got in a stationary kit
Also there's no hole for the LED, it just shines through the PLA which is nice. Didn't really care about that LED.

 

How thick is the housing ?

 

Each screen takes about 6mm and the panel that sticks to the back of the laptop will be around 22mm. So, in total, with both screens folded it will be around 34mm. The main reason for that thickness is the circuit housing since I need standoffs to keep it off the base and then another to attach the housing. If i had smaller standoffs, I could potentially shave off another 5mm (the board itself is 9mm due to the heatsink)

 

Interesting project, I would like to do the same on my M6700, I can connect two internal screen (LVDS and eDP) however I don't know how to handle this, should I make the 2nd monitor sliding behind the main monitor or should I use hinge to make it rotate.. and most importantly, how to not break the 2nd monitor ?

 

Wait there's both an LVDS and eDP connector on the main board? I'm not too sure how it'll handle both being connected. I'm using external controller boards to control my boards.

As for how you should make it, I originally wanted to do a sliding design but it'd make it much more thicker than I wanted so I went with this design as it's much easier to do.

 

At the same time?

 

yes

I just needed to manually enable the internal graphics with nvram editing.

 

Waiting on that thread....

 

Holy crap that's cool! Wish my laptop had more internal display connectors. Wouldn't need these external circuit boards and power supply.
Do eDP splitters exist? Something like an MST hub but using eDP connectors.

 

In theory, you could convert eDP to DP, then grab a MST hub, then convert it all back again. Thats a lot of work, but then again you've gone this far

 

Booooo Im practically already doing that. I meant taking the eDP connector on my laptop motherboard and making act like 3 eDP connectors so I could just wire all screens directly to my laptop. No need for external batteries or display cables.

 

UPDATE:
The final prints are done!

Final Print - Folded (Back) by TheUberMedic posted Mar 23, 2020 at 9:55 PM

Final Print - Folded (Side) by TheUberMedic posted Mar 23, 2020 at 9:55 PM

Final Print - Unfolded (Back) by TheUberMedic posted Mar 23, 2020 at 9:55 PM

Final Print - Unfolded (Front) by TheUberMedic posted Mar 23, 2020 at 9:55 PM

Unfortunately, I broke the panels again so I have to order more. Even more sad times is that this virus has make panel prices skyrocket. Before I got each panel at about £50 and now they're around £100 at the lowest and I've seen some at £200 :|

 

everything is 3D printed ? do the hinge seems solid enough ?

 

Very. And if they ever break, I can just use a stronger material to print them with

 

Hi, amazing build!
I am actually trying to make my own 144hz portable monitor, because there are no good options on the market. I have some questions if you dont mind:
1) Where did you buy the Panels and power supply? Lots of sellers send "equivalent" panels.
2) Just to make sure the link is correct, you are using the RTD2795UT V1.1 control board?
3) Have you tried to determine how much input lag is added by the control board?
4) Why did you choose this particular panel over say AUO82ED (faster pixel reponse)?

Thanks!

 

1) I bought them from eBay and Amazon. If you ask for specifically those panels, they'll give you them. There's also sites like https://www.laptop-lcd-screen.co.uk/shop/ that I've bought from as well.
2) Yep that's the board
3) Nope. No idea how to do that.
4) I just got whatever I knew would work (board seller tested it with that panel) BUT I did end up getting a AUO82ED and it works as well so use that if you'd like

 

Hey, thanks for the info!
to 1) What is the power supply called?
to 3) The panel of your XMG Pro is AUO80ED right? You could compare the input lag between that and one of the other AUO80ED panels by filming a button press in a slowmotion mode if your phone has one.
Here is an example at 8:50:
to 4) Besides the faster pixel reponse of the AUO82ED, any other visual differences?

Thanks again!

 

1) Since I'm using two screens, I'm using a 12V 3A DC with a 5.5x2.5 barrel plug. A 12V 1A adapter is enough for one screen.
3) That is the screen. Problem is, I accidentally broke the screen of my laptop and replaced it with the AUO82ED soo... yeah... That happened. So I can't give a direct comparison.
4) The only other visual difference I notice is that it "feels" brighter. Like, the 80 feels like the 82 is at 80% brightness. It's quite nice.

I'm actually planning on ordering a AUOA0ED (B156HAN10.0) screens and seeing if they work since they seem to be the exact same specs BUT with HDR, is more colour accurate, can reproduce more colours, is brighter and has a higher contrast ratio.
I've also got a B156ZAN05.0 screen (4K 120hz) to replace the 82 I've temporarily replaced in my laptop but I'm waiting on more stuff before trying to fit that in (it doesn't fit physically so I'm gonna chop off a couple of bits to make it fit)

 

Wow, those are some top of the line panels. The 4k 120hz is MiniLED as well!
Have you tried the B156ZAN05.0 with the control board?

And does the control board have brightness control with a good range? I like to use screens at quite low brightness 99% of the time

 

First thing i did was try it with the control board
Sadly it comes up looking janky (gets split into quadrants, right side is black, top left is copied on the bottom left) so the board needs a firmware update to get it to work.

As for the brightness, it's meh. Like you can notice the difference between min and max brightness but not by much. Also, it's split into "backlight" and "brightness". Backlight is actually how bright the screen is while brightness seems to be more colour

 

Ah too bad.
So, say the AUO82ED/AUO80ED at minimum "backlight" is still quite bright?
Thanks for all the info!

 

Here's two pics comparing it at min backlight and max backlight if it helps:

 

Thanks! However the exposure looks to be different in both photos (The background in second pic is much brighter)
Would you say at minimum backlight it is comfortable to use in a fairly dim room?

 

Id say yes it is comfortable

 

IT'S ALIVE! The triple screen laptop project is DONE. In the picture, I'm running the screens off a power brick instead of the battery since I'm at home.
Now how do I change the title of the post xD

 

to change title, report your own first post.

 

That's a really wacky project, nice work!

 

Incredibly awesome and a serious inspiration!

 

really incredible job. looks good.

 

Here's some Destiny 2 "gameplay" with the triple screens:
https://www.reddit.com/r/destiny2/comments/gnc2ag/playing_destiny_on_a_triple_screen_laptop/

 

Superb Stuff

Did you publish this project? or do you think to do?

I have had similar Project that working on Blender but it took too much time. and I stop it. Mine was adjustable for different External Screen from 10 inch to 17 with slider, Double or Tripple and 180 Degree RAM typer (heavy screen needs Strong PETG or ABS) or straight slider (Some external screen has internal battery+ Bluetooth or Wifi connection, Also some Android tablets has same application on market to connect via wifi) so the person who want to use which screen cheap or expensive could possible.

 

Im working on the MKII version of this cause I hated how this one mounted on my laptop and I have better tools and knowledge at hand to make something better.

So this one most likely will not have the STLs published but the MKII is more likely to be published if it comes out nicely.