How to Mount LED Display in Cabinet

[CalgaryPT]

Does anyone have any good tricks on how to mount an LED (3x 7 segment) display in a project cabinet? It's a speed readout on a PMW speed controller for a automated plasma cutter I am building.

My thoughts are cut a rectangular piece of semi rigid plastic, drill mounting holes on either side of the display, then hot glue the display in the center of the plastic. Then I can mount the assembly into the cabinet. But this will probably look kind of ugly.

Does anyone have any tricks for a cleaner mounting solution?

Thanks.

 

[Bluejets]

Mount on the pcb behind a clear panel.

 

[CalgaryPT]

Mount on the pcb behind a clear panel.

Sadly there is no PCB (see pic). The wires are soldered onto the display leads and shrink wrapped.

 

[CalgaryPT]

 

[Bluejets]

Becomes a mechanical problem rather than electrical or electronic really, so up to you.

 

[Harald Kapp]

Ideas:

1. Glue directly to a transparent cutout in the project box. Disadvantage: difficult to remove.
2. Glue to a transparent sheet a bit bigger than the display, then screw that sheet to the front of the project box. Advantage: can easily be removed, Disadvantage: screws on the front of the project box. But: you could glue the scews head first to the project box, then fix the display (or rather the glued sheet) with nuts.
3. Instead of gluing the screws to the project box, glue standoffs to the box and use screws to mount the display (with the extended clear sheet as holder and front cover).
4. 3D print a custom holder for the display.

You may want to add a bezel for a tidy look.

 

[dave9]

What is the cabinet material? If it is think plastic you can just cut a hole, or if thinner metal, make a bezel out of a thicker material whether aluminum, plastic, etc, and then finish this bezel as you desire. Take your time making the cutout for the LED display so it is a very tight fit, slip the display in, put masking tape on the front face to seal it, then lay a bead of epoxy around the sides on the rear of the bezel. The rear of the bezel should be a slightly rough/sanded texture for better epoxy adhesion. If you prefer to use hot glue that can work but I'd rather something a bit more durable and heat resistant.

Once you have this bezel assembly you put countersunk holes in it so that the screw fasteners sit flush.... or don't, it's up to you how important that is. You can even wait till the whole thing is assembled to paint it with the LED display masked off if you want a perfect match with the screws too.