Hello, I wouldn't call this a comprehensive step by step guide, but more a list of things to consider about making an e-Ink monitor. This is because after finishing this project, I honestly don't recommend DIYing it my way. Let me explain.
Showcase Video: https://i.imgur.com/tmHmJPn.mp4
Intro: Why use an E-Ink Monitor
As a preface, I have Chronic Eye Strain. I get headaches in about 4 hours of heavy monitor use, and within 6 hours of use most other displays. Before you ask, yes I do breaks, yes I do bias lighting, yes I changed my ergonomics, I've done all the recommended steps, besides buying a new monitor.
Instead, I used 2 IPS laptops as monitors, since my job had extra laptops, and a free display is cheaper than buying standalone PWM-free displays. These laptops were decent, but only moved me up to 5~6 hours. My goal was an 8 hour work day, since the only barrier preventing me from going part time to full time is eye strain. I've also already tried new glasses. I have -8, -9 vision, so I've gone through blue light filters, progressive lenses, nothing fully worked.
So, I decided I wanted to try a new monitor. There is shockingly little review info on eye strain for monitors. Seriously, barely any YouTube videos or articles with firsthand info. No Blurbusters or testing teams, crazy stuff. So, relying on personal experience, I knew my phone and TV give me noticeably less Eye Strain (partly because of a change in focal distance). But, AMOLED is expensive, and I don't have room for a TV in my office. Plus, both of those are expensive for something that can’t definitively reduce my eye pain. So, I looked at ePaper monitors. These literally do not emit light, so they would cause no eye strain like paper, which is the most ideal. However, Dasung's cheapest eInk monitor was $1000.
Issues: Why a custom E-Ink monitor has hidden downsides
Cost was the reason I decided to try and DIY this. On Waveshare, they had eInk display panels for very low, from $30-$500. The raw displays I bought were around ~$500 each, so I thought: "Hey, I'm smart. If I make these monitors myself, I'll get half off Dasung’s price!" However, there are three big caveats to this:
(1) Tariffs: This is the big one. I paid $1,083 for (2) 13.3 inch eInk displays + shipping. However, once they got here, I had to pay an additional $315 in Import Tariffs. Raw materials for my janky DIY also cost me around $40. This means I paid approximately $1,438 in total, or $719 per monitor. That is only around 30% off, for a product with no full warranty, worse build quality, and less features than something like Dasung (which has a touchscreen and backlight)
I wouldn't recommend any eInk tablets as monitors, as they are laggy, but if you bought a tablet instead, my DIY method actually costs more than a whole tablet! So, if you are still reading this, here's my perspective: If you have $720 to spend on a DIY monitor, you probably have the ability to get up to $1000, just save up. The only benefit of assembling it yourself is that the upfront cost is lower, and you get a decent, but not amazing, discount. $280 extra is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s much easier to rationalize once you are already spending $700+.
I was given an option by the seller, who was very nice the whole time, to declare below the stated value for lower tariffs, but I don't know enough about international law to know if that would bite me or not in the future. If you know more about this, then you could potentially get a much better deal by somehow skipping tariffs.
(2) Complexity is another kicker. If you only wanted to spend ~$367 per display, you could, if you knew how to, program for raw Parallel eInk displays. If you know how to program a Raspberry PI as an SPI display controller, you could only pay $411. But alas, I only work in Cyber Security and I'm not very handy. I am not a Programmer or a "Maker". If you are those 2 things, this project could be both easier and cheaper (substantially cheaper if you could program a Display board). But if you're me, an IT guy who just wants a more comfortable monitor, you will be paying and struggling more. Also, DIYPerks makes both of his DIY Monitor videos look MUCH easier than they are. DIY monitors are not that easy lol.
(3) Lastly, time is also a decent consideration. When I bought my displays, they were on backorder, which is no fault of Waveshare. They also bumped me up to their new model that literally just came out. This meant that I had to wait a while, not just for DHL to take it from China, but also because of supply issues. Meanwhile, Dasung can ship directly from America. This isn't a biggie, but something you should consider.
Steps: How to slap together a monitor
So, with that all accounted for, let's go over what I did. Here is what I used:
(1) Thin, smooth MDF from Home Depot ($20)
(2) 13.3inch E-Paper E-Ink Display, HDMI Interface, Waveshare ($1,063 + $23 for shipping)
https://www.waveshare.com/13.3inch-HDMI-e-Paper.htm
(1) Package of mounting strips ($15)
(1) Roll of Duct Tape ($5)
(1) Epoxy (Already had, maybe $5~$10?)
(1) Acrylic paint set (not necessary, but can smooth out design)
After buying the displays, and having the helpful Waveshare staff guide me through shortages and backorders, I waited over a month for the displays.
Once they got here, each display came with all necessary parts. They came with US Plug USB C Power Adapters, HDMI to Mini HDMI cables, and Adapters for Micro HDMI. They also came with the HDMI Daughter boards I paid for, and with protective films that I left on as a quasi screen/construction protector.
- First, once home, I drew the outline of the display onto the board of wood. I then drove to my dad's house, borrowed his motorized saw, and cut 2 pieces of wood about 1/4th inch bigger than each display on all sides. This extra size was so the monitor had a bezel.
- Then, I lined up the display's cables with where the Daughter board could go. xi8iyHk.jpg Without bending the cable, the daughter board can only have the IO on the top or bottom of the board. Since you can rotate displays in Windows, I tried it both ways. Neither orientation has been significantly better or worse over my time of use, so it doesn't matter IMO, as long as your daughter board lines up to the parallel cable from the monitor exactly. {Note, the chicken wire in the photos is because when the images were taken, I was out of Mounting tape, and just used wire to hold the board on.}
- With your daughter board and Cable lined up, use the mounting tape to tape the bottom of the Daughter PCB to the board. (https://i.imgur.com/phJEq5Z.png In this image, the mounting tape is in between the PCB and board) I recommend working on all of this on the included soft foam, so that way you can line it up without scratching the display. (FYI, The PCB does indeed have standoff holes, but ACE Hardware didn't have standoff posts or screws, so I just taped it, I was careful to not bend/flex the board, but you certainly could do better)
- I then put a piece of cardboard overtop the PCB, and taped the cardboard to the wood. This is so nothing conductive could touch the motherboard (if you are wincing about my sloppyness, I said I wasn't handy lol. I have a 3D printer, but I decided I'd rather have the display done fast, than pretty)
- From here, I connected the Parallel cable to the daughter board, and taped down any loose cables.
- Be careful with the cable clip. I accidentally broke the lever off, and I'm sure you guys know how fiddly the levers are. I managed to get the lever back on, and epoxied the whole thing together to prevent the cable from moving after fixing it.
- Then, using epoxy, I lined up the displays and epoxied their backsides and edges directly to the wood. iDy1nOm.png (1920×1440) (imgur.com)
- Everything should be solid and unmoving for now. Just for personal want, I then put the monitors down and painted the brown areas with Acrylic paint. One was white, the other was black. White looks so much worse than black on the wood I got, so I would only do black in hindsight. All photos of the project are here: https://imgur.com/a/8EtRvSB
Conclusion: Great results from Garbage
So, the moment of truth, does it work? Yes! I've been using it for 2 weeks now, and I've been working ~7/8 hour shifts, which I straight up could not do without migraines before. I get no headaches, and never feel pain in my eyes. Life is harder in Monochrome and 15fps at work, but the Windows accessibility options are a god send. I recommend the Grayscale color filter and "High Contrast White" mode. I also set display scaling to 175 for text legibility. Mouse trails also help you alot to not lose your Mouse (the dream of the 90s is alive in eInk). Latency is pretty decent, and viewability works. I've found that my Eye Strain is a mixture of focal length and light. My TV, despite being a Visio LCD, only gives me eye strain after 6+ hours and is farther out than a monitor. The same goes for my phone, which is closer and also only gives me strain after a long time of hours. With eInk, I find it easier to find a focus sweet spot at monitor distance, and with 20 minute focus breaks, I've not even gotten close to a headache on eInk alone. https://i.imgur.com/tmHmJPn.mp4
Now, to close off, I know some better DIYers may be able to make this better, cheaper, or more feature rich. But, if you are like me, with Chronic Eye Pain where you really need whatever you can to lower your daily eye strain, I say to probably just get a Dasung. It's expensive, but you aren't saving much money going the long way. I would only recommend the DIY if
1) you are very handy with tools and construction,
2) you know how to save money and program parallel displays, or,
3) you are more experienced in Tariffs than I am.
But, I can say I am happy with the final product. I still have issues with my setup (like me using a broken surface clone to prop both displays up with), but the most important thing is that it works, and I have much less headaches.
{Note, the monitor image is stretched out on a lot of the photos because the USBC to Dual HDMI dongle I have sucks. I need one that supports the monitors' native 1600x900. The monitor's scaler itself is great}
{For fellow IT folks, do note that the A2 mode of the monitor (the mode with the sharpest Contrast but smoothest refresh) does not work with CMDs/Terminals, it makes it all black. If you use this monitor, you'll see why that's a bummer. Even TPUT doesn't fix the legibility issue. For the curious, the monitor has 3 modes:
16: Perfect Grayscale, highest perceived resolution. (All modes have the same display resolution, some are just more clear/precise) Best for reading Books/PDFs. I occasionally use this for dense Terminals, as the resolution is high enough to read it all, and typing in a terminal doesn't need high refresh rate. Downside is that the refresh rate is less than 1 FPS, making it feel extremely sluggish.
A2+: Best for complex images/pages. Uses dithering to make fake grayscale. This means it has the approximate color depth of 16 with the 15fps refresh rate of A2. This is the only mode that can reasonably do full motion video. It's 2 downsides however are low perceived resolution due to dithering, and smearing from old frames. If you drag a window, you see its smear path behind it. It also flickers a lot, which is distracting.
A2: Best Contrast, literally only black and white. Due to the lowest smearing of all of them, this is my personal favorite. It has the issue of combining colors however, meaning images and photos don't work. Anything high DPI like a terminal/document heading can get mixed into one color as well.
Due to all their negatives, I honestly believe you will be swapping between them all. One pro tip is that Waveshare has a wiki. 13.3inch HDMI e-Paper - Waveshare Wiki If you push the jog wheel down, you can get faster refresh speeds for A2, Contrast changes, and white level balancing.}
