Aventon Level E-Bike Display Repair and Removability Upgrade

prusaprinters

I ride my electric bike (Aventon Level) down to university everyday to save money on gas. As a part of my daily commute, I use a university-provided shuttle service for the final leg of the journey. The bike is too heavy for me to lift up onto the bike rack at the back of the shuttle, so instead I store it underneath the motorcoach in the cargo bay. After my third day of doing this, the glass controller screen had cracked from impacts with the walls of the bus. Because I had no real way to avoid this (the display was fixed to the bike), I tried bringing bubble wrap to protect the screen from further damage. It did not work, and the cracks grew worse and worse. Thus, I needed a way to repair the screen, as well as prevent it from breaking again. My solution was to break out the rest of the glass, and replace it with a piece of laser-cut acrylic. Because the glass was held in seamlessly to the display assembly with glue, I needed some way of securing the acrylic in place. I did not want to use glue, as if it breaks again somehow, I want to be easily able to fix it again. Additionally, this would not be waterproof, as the acrylic does not seal the LCD like the glass did. Thus, I 3D printed a housing to wrap around the new acrylic screen using my Prusa Mini+. I also replaced the old clamping mounts with my own mounts, so that I could embed magnets in both the mounting side and the screen side. These magnets are what makes the screen easily removable while still holding it securely in place. Overall, I'm really happy with it. The acrylic is just as clear as the glass, and it sure beats packing tape. I can now take the display off my bike when storing it on the bus, so further damage is avoided. There are definitely further improvements that I could make, such as removing a magnet pair, so its only three magnet connect points. Currently, the screen rocks a little as it switches between the four contact points. Additionally, a strong impact (such as a sharp bump in the path) will knock the screen out of place. This is not a huge deal, as it does not happen often, but adding something like a printed dovetail or Velcro in addition to the magnets may help prevent this. It was actually a harder problem than I expected. I had to de-solder 8 wires that are the input and outputs of the display, and then find a solution to secure those cables, as well as seal them from possible water splashes. Additionally, there is a large button array at the end of one of the cables, so the base had to have a large enough hole in it to prevent future soldering during repairs. Sealing this large hole was a design challenge. I also made everything printable without supports.