homebuilt triple-monitor stand

bsoder · Post by **bsoder** » 13 Oct 2008, 19:00

Anyone here built their own? I'd really like to see some pictures and people's ideas, and I think I can certainly beat spending $200+ on a stand for my new 22" monitors.

(Any threads on this already? I searched, but found nothing.)

Mud · Post by **Mud** » 13 Oct 2008, 19:04

I'm looking for a local retailer of Bosch Rexroth to mount my old 17" screens over my 21.6" ones.

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 14 Oct 2008, 06:27

If your monitors are identical and are fully adjustable then I personally wouldn't bother with a 'triple stand'.

However my monitor are different (middle 2407WFP and outers E2408, which don't adjust fully). So I purchased some cheapo single arm monitor stands that could be clamped to the desk (which worked fine when I used 3x19" see here). However the 3x24" are too big to work like that so I had to improvise!

These stands can also be screwed down so I bodged together a piece of wood, mounted (screwed onto the wood) the 3 single arms and that worked fine for me:

bsoder · Post by **bsoder** » 14 Oct 2008, 14:21

They are identical, but the stands are pretty short. They do tilt, although what I've found in the past is that I don't want them tilted, since that creates gaps between the monitors. The monitors I have right now are much older - they're 17" 4:3 style - and I have them on a stand I built a long while back, which is tilted. It would be easiest to just go that way again.

Funny to realize that I paid about $350 per 17" 1280x1024 monitor when I got these... and paid $230 per 22" monitor a couple days ago. :) WHY ISN'T MY 286 STILL WORTH THE TWO GRAND I PAID FOR IT??? ;)

Post by **BHawthorne** » 14 Oct 2008, 18:43

They are identical, but the stands are pretty short. They do tilt, although what I've found in the past is that I don't want them tilted, since that creates gaps between the monitors. The monitors I have right now are much older - they're 17" 4:3 style - and I have them on a stand I built a long while back, which is tilted. It would be easiest to just go that way again.

Funny to realize that I paid about $350 per 17" 1280x1024 monitor when I got these... and paid $230 per 22" monitor a couple days ago. :) WHY ISN'T MY 286 STILL WORTH THE TWO GRAND I PAID FOR IT??? ;)

I'll show you just how silly things are...

Ok, my 3 Samsung 245BW 24"

#1: Bought at Xmas 2007 for $438
#2: Bought in May 2008 for $380
#3: Bought in July 2008 for $312 (refurb)

My bet is 24" will be new for $250-300 range soon. With 26-28" LCDs taking over the old 24" price point, 24" will probably take on the 22" LCD price point.

VentZero · Post by **VentZero** » 14 Oct 2008, 19:03

hey mach1.9
which angle does your triple stand has (screen to screen)?

looks around 20Â° to 30Â° am I right ?

bsoder · Post by **bsoder** » 14 Oct 2008, 19:03

yep, 22" is the new 15" :) and pretty soon, 24" will be...

bsoder · Post by **bsoder** » 14 Oct 2008, 19:05

hey mach1.9
which angle does your triple stand has (screen to screen)?

looks around 20Â° to 30Â° am I right ?

That's a good question... what's the optimum angle?

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 14 Oct 2008, 19:33

The angle is more like 40. I just put the main screen in front of me where I like it and measured the distance from where my head is. I then put the other 2 screens the same distance from my head and the angle ended up about 40.
I dunno what the optimum angle is but that is mine :)

Mud · Post by **Mud** » 14 Oct 2008, 19:54

Should be simple to work out the optimum angle, you just want to be normal to all the screens so it'll be defined by your distance from the screens. Mine're at about 30-40 degrees.

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 14 Oct 2008, 23:29

Nice stand, I give you bonus points for the industrial look ;)

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 14 Oct 2008, 23:52

Not so much as industrial as Neanderthal!

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 15 Oct 2008, 00:18

Nah, no steel in that era.

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 15 Oct 2008, 00:20

Yeah but lots of wood, like in the base ;)

bsoder · Post by **bsoder** » 15 Oct 2008, 02:35

Is the rest of the computer made out of wood as well? :)

bsoder · Post by **bsoder** » 16 Oct 2008, 00:23

I'm up and running, it's been over a year since I last did a complete rebuild on this computer so with a fresh install of XP, service packs, drivers, etc, I'm running at 5040x1050 :) I definitely will do something about a stand, I don't like how the side monitors feel like they're pointing towards the floor (they're straight up and down so the bezels don't V apart towards the top.)

One of my three monitors has a bad pixel, so back to Costco for a replacement for that one...

bsoder · Post by **bsoder** » 17 Oct 2008, 22:40

I have a friend who does custom car work and has lots of nifty metalworking tools... here's the very rough start of the stand we're designing. The standoffs are default at 1" but can be whatever size ends up lining things up correctly (that's the slop in the design. ;) ) The main support will probably be 2" OD square aluminum tube bent or cut/welded to the right shape.

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 17 Oct 2008, 23:24

Awesome! Can you send me one to NZ? ;)

I am a dodgy DIYer, I really wish I had the skills to make something that looked good as well as being functional- my PC is in the lounge!

bsoder · Post by **bsoder** » 18 Oct 2008, 00:57

Awesome! Can you send me one to NZ? ;)

I am a dodgy DIYer, I really wish I had the skills to make something that looked good as well as being functional- my PC is in the lounge!

I'll post pics and as much technical detail as I can, perhaps you can find someone local to do the cutting/bending/welding part... :) We're still talking about the tilt - it will not swivel, not necessary IMHO.

I ordered a piece once for my truck, for a custom bumper/winch mount, from Australia. The part was about $75, shipping cost me about $125. :)

bsoder · Post by **bsoder** » 18 Oct 2008, 23:05

turned out that two of my three new monitors had bad pixels (DPT is a useful little utility, isn't it?) so back to Costco... took a copy of DPT on a CD as well. They let me go through monitors until I found two more that didn't have bad pixels... total of 8 monitors, 5 with bad pixels. Not very promising for quality control... is it really that common?

I left the CD with DPT there for one of the employees. He wants to test all the demo display units. :)

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