Assembling Picade Max (3/4)

2025-02-06 | By Pimoroni

License: See Original Project Project Kits Raspberry Pi SBC

Guide by Pimoroni

This tutorial will help you assemble Picade Max. This is a bit of a mammoth ‎guide, so we'll be splitting it into several parts.‎

Part 1‎

Part 2‎

Part 3 <- you are here

Part 4‎

Time to add some smarts! For this step you'll need:‎

Panel K
The bag containing the display driver boards and associated cables.‎
Picade Max USB Controller board
Qw/ST cable
Picade Max USB Audio board
‎9 pin JST-PH cable
A bundle of cable ties
Display driver cover
‎2x M2.5 22mm screws (longest)‎
‎9x M2.5 14mm screws (flat headed)‎
‎4x M2.5 6mm screws (shortest)‎
‎7x M2.5 nuts‎
‎9x M2.5 4mm standoffs (shortest)‎
‎6x M2.5 10mm standoffs (medium)‎
‎2x M3 12mm screws (shortest)‎
‎2x M3 nuts‎

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Prepping panel K

Panel K is the one that we're going to attach all the driver boards so first we'll ‎need to install a bunch of bolts and standoffs to use as mounting points. ‎Position the panel with the cable cutouts at the top edge and the big K facing ‎you.‎

Thread the 9 flat headed M2.5 14mm screws through panel K, so the threads ‎are pointing out of the side of the panel with the labels on. Then screw the 9 ‎M2.5 4mm short standoffs onto the screw threads.‎

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Flip the panel over and poke the two long M2.5 22mm screws through the ‎remaining two holes, so that the screw threads are pointing out of the non-‎label side. Add two M.2.5 10mm medium standoffs to secure them in place.‎

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Mounting the smaller display driver board

Open the 'Display Driver board' bag and locate the smaller display driver ‎board - this one provides the screen backlight. Attach the white cable and the ‎red and black cable to the appropriate connectors as shown.‎

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Mount the board onto the two screws on the non-label side of panel K. The ‎components on this board should be on the underside.

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Then add two M2.5 nuts to secure it in place.‎

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The white cable should thread through the slot in the panel. We added a cable ‎tie to keep it in place.‎

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Mounting the USB Controller board

Flip panel K over again. We're mounting the Picade Max USB Controller board ‎next, there are some markings on the panel to show you where it should go. ‎Secure with three M2.5 nuts.

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Mounting the USB Audio board

Next, we're mounting the Picade Max USB Audio board (the speaker ‎connectors should be on the top side, and the text should go the same way up ‎as the text on the controller board.)‎

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Fix it in place with two M2.5 nuts.‎

You can also plug in the 4 pin Qw/ST cable now - this will eventually connect ‎the USB Audio board to the Encoder volume control. Make sure you use the ‎connector marked 'Encoder' on the USB Audio board. Once it's plugged in, ‎you can thread the cable through the cutout in panel K to keep everything tidy.

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Mounting the larger display driver board

Locate the other, larger display driver board. It plugs into the other end of the ‎white cable.‎

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Place the display driver board over the remaining four screws. Then secure it ‎in place with four M2.5 10mm medium standoffs.

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Plug one end of the 9 pin JST-PH cable into the connector into the 9-pin ‎connector on the display driver board.‎

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Next, we're plugging in the cable with the red, black and blue wires - this is the ‎cable which will eventually connect to the display panel. The 2x15 connector ‎is not keyed, so make sure to double check that it is plugged into the ‎driver board the correct way around. The end of the connector with the red ‎power lines should be at the end of the board with the 9 pin JST-PH connector. ‎There should also be a dot on the connector at the end of the cable that ‎should be at the same end as the white dot on the board.‎

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Use the 4 M2.5 6mm short screws to attach the display board cover - this ‎protects the display driver board and keeps everything nice and neat.‎

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Once you've attached everything to it, your panel K should look something like ‎this:‎

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Attaching the speakers to the USB Audio board

Now is a good time to attach the speaker wires to the Picade Max Audio board. ‎One by one, loosen the screw terminals and slot in the wires, matching red to ‎‎+ and black to -. Then tighten up the screws and give the wires a little tug to ‎make sure they're securely anchored in the terminals.‎

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It's easier to tidy up the speaker wires now, before you attach this panel to the ‎cabinet. Tuck the cables through the cutouts in panel K above the Audio board.‎

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Flip the panel over and cable tie the wires to the rear of the panel.‎

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Turn panel K the right way up again and attach it to the brackets on the ‎cabinet using 2 M3 12mm short screws and nuts.‎

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Plug the red and black wire from the smaller display driver board into the ‎connector at the bottom left corner of the display panel.‎

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Then plug the red, black, and blue cable from the larger display driver board ‎into the connector at the top of the display panel. This connector will only go in ‎one way round, with the red wires on the right-hand side of the connector.‎

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Adding the display controls, volume knob and power button

For this section you'll need:‎

Volume knob
Picade Max Encoder board
Picade Max LCD Keypad board
Picade Max Keypad Legend
Square black keycaps for LCD Keypad
‎4x M2.5 14mm screws (flat headed)‎
‎4x M2.5 nuts‎
‎4x M2.5 4mm standoffs (short)‎
‎2x M3 x 18mm screws (long, find them in bag 2)‎
‎2x M3 nuts‎
The illuminated power button
‎4x power button cables (from the wiring loom)‎

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Fitting the volume dial

Attach the dial to the encoder board (it just pushes onto the shaft of the ‎encoder).‎

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Plug the end of the 4 pin Qw/ST cable (from the USB Audio board) into the ‎encoder board.‎

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Poke the 4 M2.5 14mm flat headed screws through the holes surrounding the ‎larger hole in panel E, from the outside of the cabinet.‎

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Screw on the M2.5 4mm short standoffs (inside the cabinet).‎

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Then slot the encoder assembly through the hole from the inside of the ‎cabinet, so that the screw threads pass through the four mounting holes in the ‎board and the dial goes through the big hole in the middle. We'd suggest ‎positioning the cable, so it points upwards out of the top edge of the encoder ‎board. Fasten everything in place with four M2.5 nuts.‎

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Fitting the power button

Unscrew the metal hex ring from the power button if you haven't already and ‎take a look at the contacts on the underside of the button. There are five ‎contacts, but we'll only be connecting wires to four of them.‎

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First, we'll connect up the LED part of the button. Push the spade connectors ‎on the red and grey wires onto contacts 1 and 2 (the ones sticking out of the ‎blue bit), either way round.‎

Then we'll connect up the switch part. Push the spade connectors on the two ‎black wires onto the contacts labelled C and NO (they're the two contacts ‎between the wires that you just plugged in).‎

Check that none of the metal connectors plugged into the back of the button ‎are touching each other, you can gently bend the contacts slightly to separate ‎them if they are.‎

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Thread all the wires and the button through the smaller hole in panel E, from ‎the outside.

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Then attach the metal hex ring to the inside of your Picade to hold the button ‎in place.

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Now you can plug the other ends of the wires into the Picade Max Power HAT. ‎The DuPont connectors on the black wires should slot onto the SW (switch) ‎pins on the HAT (polarity doesn't matter). The connectors on the red and grey ‎wires should go to LED (polarity also doesn't matter here, assuming you're ‎using our button.)‎

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Ta da! The volume dial and power button should both now be safely plumbed ‎in.

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Fitting the LCD controls and legend

Add the square black keycaps to the Picade Max LCD Keypad board (they ‎should just push on to the switches, but they do require quite a bit of pressure.)‎

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