Picade (new) 10" screen upgrade kit concerns

Support
1

I’m somewhat disappointed in how the Picade 10" screen upgrade was packaged.

1. Instructions were not appropriate for the upgrade kit
It seems like the addendum from the new 10" Picade kit was thrown in with the upgrade kit. There’s nothing really specific to upgrading the 8" Picade to the 10" screen in those instructions. I had to go through the addendum slowly to see what I needed to do. It should have been in the format of 1. Disassemble Picade, 2. Remove old top 2 bracket., etc.

2. LCD Keypad - what to do with it?
There was a LCD keypad and cable included and no instructions on if this was specific to the new display driver board. I went ahead and swapped them nevertheless.

3. Missing nuts
Screws were included but no nuts. I had to find leftover nuts from when I assembled the Picade. This wasn’t too much trouble for me since I had just assembled the Picade cabinet, but I can see this being a problem for those who have had their Picade for a while and may not recall where the leftover bits are.

4. Cardboard bezel not protected well
The black cardboard LCD bezel arrived very bent up. I was able to smooth it out and having it sandwiched between the screen and the display cover helps as well. I can see the cardboard getting torn while in the box - which would not be a good experience.

5. Screen blocks top bracket screw holes
This is the biggest issue - and I’ve already posted in another topic about it (Screen upgrade issue), but it needs to be mentioned here - the top screw holes for the screen assembly do not line up correctly. The new 10" screen blocks the holes, so there’s no way to screw the screen assembly together.
What’s especially concerning about this issue is that @raindog had posted about the screen/screw hole issue on Dec 24 (5 days ago as of this writing) and nobody from Pimoroni has responded yet. Granted, it’s the holiday season, but yet - people got this kit for Christmas and need support.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the bigger screen, and appreciate the upgrade path, but it could have been prepared with more care and attention to detail.

2

Sorry you’re disappointed, but thanks for the feedback. It’s really useful, and we’ll take every bit of it into account and do what we can to improve things. Here’s what we’ll do:

  1. We’ll rework the instructions in the ways that you suggest. When we have, we’ll link to them from the product page and share them on social media to help early adopters out.

  2. We include an extra keypad and cable with the new screen to let you use the old display and keypad in another project if you like. The keypad and cable are exactly the same in both the 8" and 10" displays. We’ll make this clearer on the instructions and on the product page.

  3. The intention is that you use the nuts and bolts from the original display. We’ll make this clearer on the instructions and also consider including them anyway, as it makes more sense really.

  4. I’ll feed the packing issue back to the packing team.

  5. See the other thread for a response about this. The holes are really confusing, I agree, and we’ll improve this. I’ve fed it back to Paul and we’ll look into tweaking the design. If we do, then we’d be happy to send you the redesigned parts.

Hopefully this helps a little to address your concerns, and do let us know if there’s anything else we can do. :-)

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3

Thank you for the response, @sandyjmacdonald! I appreciate the clarifications.

4

Just a little update on this, now that I’m back at my desk after the holidays.

I’ve reworked those instructions, and the updated sheet will be going in with kits from now on. You can download it and print it off, if you like, from here

I’ve added clarifications to the upgrade kit page, and to the instruction sheet, about the keypad and cables, re-using the nuts and bolts, and to say that the top part of the assembly is held in by the tabs and slots rather than nuts and bolts.

I’ve passed on the message about the card bezel, and they’re going to pack it more securely in future.

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6

The new instruction sheet looks great! The additional clarifications make a big difference too. Thanks for sharing!

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7

Not a problem! Thanks for your helpful suggestions :-)

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