Assembling Pibow Frame for Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 - 10.1"

Our Pibow Frame protects the back of your shiny new Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 and helps it stand neatly on your desk. You can use it in portrait or landscape, at a variety of angles, and even mount the Pi in different orientations. This guide walks you through the assembly step by step.

What You'll Need

Pibow Frame - 10.1"
Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 - 10.1"
A Raspberry Pi 5 (the 10.1" touchscreen will only work with Pi 5)
A small cross-head screwdriver (we really like the iFixit ones).

Kit Contents

Here's what you get in the kit:

3x screen-sized acrylic pieces
2x mounting plates
2x legs with rubber feet

Pibow Frame 10.1 kit contents laid out: acrylic pieces, mounting plates, and legs

If you're missing anything, drop our support team a line and we'll get it sorted.

Assembling the screen

First up, unpeel all the protective plastic from both sides of the acrylic parts.

Acrylic frame parts with protective plastic peeled off

You'll then need to unpack your screen - it should come with a ribbon cable, a red and black power cable and 8x M2.5 screws. You'll also need your Raspberry Pi 5.

Touch Display 2 parts laid out with ribbon cable, power cable, screws, and Raspberry Pi 5

Lay the screen face down on a flat surface. We suggest leaving the protective plastic on the front while you assemble the frame. If you've already removed it, place the screen on something soft.

Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 placed face down on a flat surface

First, take the two large acrylic pieces with the big central cut-out. These two parts are identical. Align the cut-out edge with the notched side of the screen, then slot both pieces over the back of the display:

Two identical acrylic frame pieces slotted over the back of the display

Now is a good time to plug the cables into the display.

Open the ribbon connector on the display by sliding the grey tab sideways slightly. Be gentle, these FFC connectors are quite delicate and it's possible to break the tab if you try and open it too far.

Close-up of display FFC connector tab being opened slightly

Insert the short end of the ribbon cable into the connector with the metal contacts facing you. Secure the cable by pushing the grey tab back into place.

Ribbon cable inserted into display connector with contacts facing outward

Plug the two-pin end of the red and black power cable into the two-pin connector on the display (it will only go in one way).

Two-pin red and black power cable connected to the display

Here's what it should look like with the display cables plugged in.

Display with both ribbon and power cables connected

Thread the ends of the cables through the large hole in the third large acrylic piece and fit it in place over the back of the display. The rectangular hole should fit over the rectangular protrusion on the back of the display.

Third acrylic piece fitted over the back of the display with cables threaded through

Fitting the legs

Before you fit the legs, decide which orientation you want for your display. We're mounting ours in landscape, so we need to attach one leg to the long side of each mounting plate. Fit the tabs on the legs into the slots on the mounting plates.

Legs inserted into the slots on the mounting plates

Place each mounting plate on the back of the frame, then give it a gentle wiggle to make sure the leg tabs fit nicely into the holes in the acrylic.

Mounting plates positioned on the back of the frame before screwing down

To fix the mounting plates in place, use four of the screws that came with the screen. There are two holes in each bracket so they will work in both landscape and portrait modes, so make sure you use the ones that match up with the holes on the display.

Close-up of mounting plate and screw position on the display back Both mounting plates secured to the back of the frame

Adding the Pi

Next, add the Pi. We found it easier to connect the display cable before fastening the Pi to the display.

Open up display connector 0 on your Pi 5 (this is the one nearest to the USB and ethernet ports). This connector works in a similar way to the one on the display, but you need to carefully slide the tab up vertically (away from the Pi) rather than sideways.

Pi 5 display connector 0 opened by lifting the tab upward

Pop your Pi on top of the display's built-in standoffs, and use the remaining M2.5 screws to fix it in place.

Raspberry Pi 5 placed on the display standoffs

Raspberry Pi 5 fastened to the standoffs with M2.5 screws

Plug the power cable into the first three pins on the Raspberry Pi's GPIO header as shown. Make sure the red wire is going to pin 2, which is the first pin on the top row (check Raspberry Pi's helpful diagram if you're unsure!)

Display power cable connected to the first three GPIO pins with red wire on pin 2

Ta-da, you're done!

Completed Pibow Frame assembly shown from the rear

Don't forget to remove the protective plastic from the display when you're done!

Variations!

Portrait

If you want to use the display in portrait orientation, you'll need to mount both legs to the short sides of the same bracket.

Portrait mode setup with both legs attached to the short sides of one bracket Assembled frame standing in portrait orientation

Reclining

New for the 10.1" frame, you can use your touchscreen at a reclined, kiosk-mode-friendly angle. It's great for workshops, schools, or showing off a catalogue of goodies at a maker event.

Reclining mode with display supported at a shallow angle Side view of reclining display setup Front view of display in reclining mode

Next steps

You can rotate the display to match your chosen orientation in Preferences > Control Centre > Screens. For info on how to rotate without a desktop, check out Raspberry Pi's documentation!

That's all folks!

Search above to find more great tutorials and guides.