Screen mounting advice wanted

[Donny909]

Hi all, I'm in the process of my first build, a bar top arcade machine.  All coming along ok (well for the best part lol) but looking at the screen to use I've come by a problem of sorts and not fully sure how to proceed.  Sorry, this may sound like quite a waffle as it will be long lol.

The screen, a 22" older Samsung pc monitor and my original idea was to remove the monitors bezel and mount it onto 12mm mdf securing the rest with glued\screwed on wooden brackets of sorts behind it.  However, and I don't know why I never noticed this at first, the first problem is the controls are touch sensitive built into the monitors bezel (think laptop mouse pad).  Carefully taking the bezel off (just clipped on than screwed) there is a wired connection to where the controls are to a strip that looks to be glued or more like with very tacky adhesive.  Appears to be a small circuit board in there somewhere to.  So I'm unsure on my options and how to proceed.

I'm guessing my options could be to leave the entire monitor intact and to mount the monitor flush with the mdf mount\bezel around the outside of the monitors bezel.  But then the monitors bezel is grey and obviously I want the bar top bezel to be black.  If I went down that route I could spray paint the monitors bezel black and hope the controls would still pick up my finger.  But even then, there would still be a clear and notable difference between the cabinets mdf bezel and the monitors bezel and I know that would irritate the hell out of me eventually when I wanted as perfectly a clean bezel as I can get. 

The other option is as above, spray it black (as there is a maybe 3\4mm dip on the inside of the monitors bezel) and cover the lot with a black vinyl wrap so it would all look flush I guess.  Assuming the controls would even pick up through vinyl wrap which I'm yet to test.

Even if the above is an option, I see securing the monitor to the cabinet bezel problematic if that's flush with the monitor bezel.

So, that leaves as originally planned remove the bezel and mount onto mdf.  and cut out the part of the bezel the touch control is stuck to and either reverse stick it to the inside on the met mount accessing via the back or cut the smallest section into the mdf mount as I can and place it there and access the controls that way and accept the comprise even if unwanted no visible controls on the cabinets bezel.

So, any advice or other thoughts I might look at?, Thanks.

[javeryh]

Pics would help.

Decasing an LCD monitor should be super easy.  If the PCB for the controls is glued or taped to the plastic monitor bezel just carefully remove it.  Use a razor to score around it or whatever.  Just don't cut the wires.  If you absolutely cannot remove it from the bezel, just cut the bezel so the PCB dangles with the plastic cover on it.  That control board really doesn't need to be touched once everything is set up. 

As for the looks, I always sandwich a 1/16" of black matteboard between the decased monitor and the glass.  HERE's how I mounted my monitor and bezel in a bartop. Just cut the opening for the screen in the matteboard exactly the size of the screen and ou should be good to go.  If any of the grey is still visible just hit it with a black sharpie and you will never notice it behind the glass.

[Donny909]

Thanks for the reply, just back from work and a busy weekend in work coming up  But will have a look at things properly early after this weekend and get some photos of the monitor etc so I can better illustrate things and will also see if I can remove the stuck on control board from the inside of the bezel to.

The 1 thing I have managed to test is that the controls do respond from under vinyl wrap, in fact folding the vinyl wrap in half to double the thickness and it still responds.  That it works just means that my least preferred option would work but would likely be the most difficult option to get as good as I want.

My preferred option is still to remove the bezel and mount onto either a spray painted mdf bezel or vinyl wrap mdf bezel.  Though vinyl  wrap would easily be the quickest option and possibly the better looking option if I take my time trimming the inset part.  I've both 6 mm & 12 mm mdf I could use for this.  That the monitors controls are suggested to not really be needed helps with my options I guess  And not meaning to sound cryptic, I need to put photos of the monitor on anyway to ask how best to secure the other sections at the rest of the LCD panel that pretty much hang loose when the back cover comes off the monitor due to the bezel removal.

[Beretta]

agree photos would help.. also photos of the cab where it's going to be mounted, I can think of several ways to do this.

Honestly LCD's are very fragile, so be very careful with them if you take it apart.. also LCD's are actually layers, you ahve the LCD + usually at least a few layers of light diffusing material.. it is possible for dirt to get in between the layers and it's a real PITA To get rid of.. having it in a case helps protect from that.

one way to do it.. assuming you have screws on the back (many due VESA mounting).. you could use a VESA wall mount with a 1x4 or 1x6 running across the opening.. or you could just get long screws and mount it directly.

the bezel you could paint black, then use sticky weather stripping foam on the very edges of the screen (on the bezel where it starts)
and this could provide firm pressure between the monitor and what ever you decide to use to black out your cover screen (glass or plexi)


If you absolutely insist on dismantling the monitor and the touch screen controls on the bezel are an issue.. a simple solution (crude) would be to just dremel or tin-snip the section out.. then mount the control section out of view.

Touch controls depending on how they work can be VERY easy to destroy trying to pry it off the bezel it might be adhesives to it and taking it off may destroy the touch controls if they use layers of film.

must safer to just cut the bezel after  you disassemble the monitor.

[javeryh]

This isn't going to be an exact fit for what you are doing but should help. In the third pic you can see the PCB for my monitor taped to the back.  It has never been used.  The monitor comes on when the computer is powered on...

1. Cut out a piece of 1/4" MDF the width of the cabinet

2. Drill holes in the center for the Vesa mounting screws (typically M4-.07 size) slightly oversized to allow wiggle room in case things didn't exactly line up. 





3. To mount it in the cab as far forward as possible add some washers in between the back of the monitor and the MDF.



4. Once everything is dialed in, use screws to secure the monitor in place.

[Beretta]

yup looks like it should work to me, good job


Just realized thee is no thumbs up emoji on the board.. that's weird.

[MartyKong]

I mounted my panel using 3/4" board. Once the board was fitted to my cab I simply flipped the TV where I wanted it and traced around it. Then using a router I removed a 1/4" of material so if would fit in snugly. Cut the opening for the monitor and routered the edges smooth. A few wood blocks in the back keep it secure. This powers on with the cab so after setting it up, I don't need to access any buttons. There's a lot of ways to accomplish this, hope this helps.