E-paper / E-ink questions

[K3mHtH]

Hey guys,
This might be an odd question, but what happens if you drill or punch a hole through e-paper / e-ink displays?

If bad things happen, do you think it would be possible to have the e-paper manufactured with a hole in it on purpose? And what do you estimate the overhead and minimums would be on getting something like that made?

Cheers,

[6thimage]

This might be an odd question, but what happens if you drill or punch a hole through e-paper / e-ink displays?

You break the display - an E ink display will go badly wrong if you have a small crack on it (even on the back), so drilling a hole through it is just going to hurt your pocket.

If bad things happen, do you think it would be possible to have the e-paper manufactured with a hole in it on purpose? And what do you estimate the overhead and minimums would be on getting something like that made?

A hole in it sounds unlikely (or just very costly) as the screen is addressed in rows and columns. You'd stand a better chance with two arcs, or a grid of smaller displays. You might be able to find a company willing to manufacture a custom display for you, but I'm guessing you'll need to be ordering at least 1 / 10k.

[K3mHtH]

You break the display - an E ink display will go badly wrong if you have a small crack on it (even on the back), so drilling a hole through it is just going to hurt your pocket.

A hole in it sounds unlikely (or just very costly) as the screen is addressed in rows and columns. You'd stand a better chance with two arcs, or a grid of smaller displays. You might be able to find a company willing to manufacture a custom display for you, but I'm guessing you'll need to be ordering at least 1 / 10k.

I figured it worked in rows and columns, but I was more hoping it worked with magic. Can someone drill a hole into an old e-reader for me please?? Dave??

[uncle_bob]

You break the display - an E ink display will go badly wrong if you have a small crack on it (even on the back), so drilling a hole through it is just going to hurt your pocket.

A hole in it sounds unlikely (or just very costly) as the screen is addressed in rows and columns. You'd stand a better chance with two arcs, or a grid of smaller displays. You might be able to find a company willing to manufacture a custom display for you, but I'm guessing you'll need to be ordering at least 1 / 10k.

I figured it worked in rows and columns, but I was more hoping it worked with magic. Can someone drill a hole into an old e-reader for me please?? Dave??

Hi

Drill a hole in it? No problem at all. Send me the display and my trusty drill press will do the job. .... errr ... payment is cash in advance.

Put a hole in the display *and* have the display work? Also not a big problem. Can be done. Tooling is probably in the $20M range.

Bob

[xrunner]

Hey guys,
This might be an odd question, but what happens if you drill or punch a hole through e-paper / e-ink

You can, but it has to be an e-hole.

[6thimage]

I figured it worked in rows and columns, but I was more hoping it worked with magic. Can someone drill a hole into an old e-reader for me please?? Dave??

Search on google for 'e-ink broken' and hopefully you will understand why drilling into an e-ink display (or any display) is a pointless endeavour. There is no such thing as magic - sorry to disappoint you - there are only tricks and slights of hand. If you want a display with a hole in it, you'll either have to use smaller displays dotted around the hole, or you will have to get a company to manufacture a display where the rows and columns finish and start either side of the hole (essentially creating two sets of rows for the left and right of the hole, and two sets of columns for above and below the hole).

Why exactly do you want a hole in a screen, surely there is an easier, and significantly cheaper, alternative.