Poor Man's LCD Touchscreen Breakout Board

I recently picked up a graphic LCD display and a clear touchscreen panel for a project I’m starting.  They’re a lot of fun (and pretty cheap), but there are a lot of wires needed to get it hooked up, which means it’s somewhat fragile to move around.

If (like me) you like to move around when you code (couch/coffeeshop/bed/etc), then you’ll want to build a breakout board for your setup.  I soldered the level shifter IC (4050, required for 5V microcontrollers) and some stackable headers to a perfboard, then screwed the screen & perfboard onto a project box’s lid. I also added two screws to hold a full-sized arduino board in place, when it’s hooked up. The details:

I first soldered the 4050, headers, and jumpers to the LCD onto the perfboard.

I used my new mini drill press (with stand) to drill holes for the LCD, the perfboard, and the arduino.

The final product. It’s not pretty, but stable enough that I can toss it in my bag with a few jumper cables, and head to the coffeeshop for an afternoon of coding.