SWMBO said " flat screen TV " so I jumped. Settled on a Vizio 42 inch
1080P. $1039 at Sears plus tax.
They don't stock them in the store, so don't have the tv home. But am planning on making my own wall mount. Should be simple enough. Plate screws to TV. Another screws to wall. And the one hangs on the other. I took a quick measurement of the distance between the mounting holes on the TV. Must be metric because they did not come out nice round numbers on my tape measure.
But before I start cutting metal, has anyone else done this? Any tips, good ideas, things to avoid? Yeppers, this is on topic.
Haven't done one myself, but I've looked at what's on the market and thought seriously about it if I couldn't find exactly what I need...
Rule One: Make it heavier than it appears to need to be, because even though those TV's aren't heavy there is all that leverage to consider - a light weight hanging out on a very long arm is still applying a lot of force at the wall attachment point.
Spread the load to two different wall studs, locate the stud precisely, and get lag bolts into the dead center meaty part of those studs with some decent vertical spacing to handle the shear loads. Two bolts at the top is mo' better, those are under tension.
Rule Two: Very expensive things will happen if you ever get woke out of a sound sleep to hear the mount go SNAP! at 2 AM. Followed immediately by assorted crashing and cracking sounds...
Oh, and when in doubt plan for both tilt and swivel - some sets really do need to be tilted to face the primary viewing position if you are sitting at an angle well below or above eye level. A lot of the "over fireplace" mounts have tilt but no swivel, and if the recliners are off-center in the room you'll be changing the mount.
I would just buy a good swiveling arm style mount. We have it and it would be difficult to make one as nice (and more expensive when billed for $5/hr for the time worked).
Use proper fasteners too. Do not skimp on fasteners.
"Rule Two: Very expensive things will happen if you ever get woke out of a sound sleep to hear the mount go SNAP! at 2 AM. Followed immediately by assorted crashing and cracking sounds..."
Second that Bruce ! An improper mount may not fall immediately, thus lulling you into a false sense of security (accomplishment ?) It recently happened to us. A large painting in the bedroom came crashing down early one morning. There's something about a loud crash and the sound of broken glass that makes one reach for his home-defense weapon before completely assessing the situation. There was nothing to shoot, though. The painting lay quite dead, already, on the carpet, garnished with thousands of shards of glass.
It had been up there for 2 or 3 years, hung from the recommended size of standard picture hanging loop-style hook; the type where the nail goes in at 45 degrees. Trouble was it was hung from dry-wall because of the SWMBO's required location. Apparently, the sheet rock gradually gave way over a period of time.
Fortunately, the painting or the frame was not damaged, only the glass broke. So, off I go to a framing place to blow $40 on new, anti-glare glass. The frame guy goes," you should have hung it from 2 hooks to better distribute the weight". Of course, SWMBO would not budge on the mounting location, so I put in 2 hooks 4 inches apart. I didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling about the longevity of those new hooks. I could visualize them both pulling out at some indeterminate time in the future - possibly longer than before but still gradually working loose in the sheet rock. I clipped the top off the hooks, enlarged the nail holes slightly and mounted them with Molly Bolts.
Bob Swinney
Haven't done one myself, but I've looked at what's on the market and thought seriously about it if I couldn't find exactly what I need...
Rule One: Make it heavier than it appears to need to be, because even though those TV's aren't heavy there is all that leverage to consider - a light weight hanging out on a very long arm is still applying a lot of force at the wall attachment point.
Spread the load to two different wall studs, locate the stud precisely, and get lag bolts into the dead center meaty part of those studs with some decent vertical spacing to handle the shear loads. Two bolts at the top is mo' better, those are under tension.
Oh, and when in doubt plan for both tilt and swivel - some sets really do need to be tilted to face the primary viewing position if you are sitting at an angle well below or above eye level. A lot of the "over fireplace" mounts have tilt but no swivel, and if the recliners are off-center in the room you'll be changing the mount.
I don't anticipate any problems making the mount. But as you say I might be making it twice, as I plan on making it without any tilt or swivel and have it as close to the wall as possible. Right now that is what the customer wants.
The weight should be no problem either. The TV weighs just under 50 lbs and should not have a big lever arm as it is only 4 inches thick. I am still pondering ideas and looking at the stock I have on hand, but I expect whatever I do to be stronger than most of the store bought mounts.
Your mounting is probably more than adequate, but would be pretty much bullet proof if you added some sheet metal about 4 inches by 18 inches. Anchor the sheet metal to two studs and then attach the hooks where you want them using moly bolts thru the sheet metal and thru the dry wall.
I've looked at these to support just a 15 inch LCD computer screen. Everything local is grossly overpriced IMO.
The measurements for the plate are available, I've looked them up before and probably still have them located somewhere on the hard drive. Be aware that more than one pattern is used. The bigger the LCD the larger the pattern plate. If you look at the commercial mounts they usually have an X slot pattern to accommodate different sizes. There was at least two sizes when I was looking to make one for my puny little computer screen. A comparable device to what I wanted was ~$300, more than what I paid for the LCD itself...
I would probably mount a firring strip/bar across 2 to 3 studs to attach the wall side with some long deck style screws.
Don't know about yours but it takes two sized men to pick up ours. That sucker has a slab of glass on it!
The problem might be weight and liability. I'd go and buy the one they sell. It is rated. Find a stud or make a strong wall point.
Ours is on a heavy table. It is plasma. I plasma cut - :-)
We bought it before LCD's were 1080 and real High def. We run three HD able TV's - two are full HD - one internal - one external. The third does nice work on 1080 since it has a high resolution screen already and had internal circuits for early HD. (lucky on that one) - it is in my office.
Mart> SWMBO said " flat screen TV " so I jumped. Settled on a Vizio 42 inch
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