This weekend I thought I'd give a go at another Rotating Monitor solution, based off some previously done ideas. The LCD is mounted to a 16" Pizza pan and is bolted to a 12" Lazy Susan bearing for the axle.
Pros: - Lightweight, your monitor is heavy enough for a hobby motor!
- Perfect circle all ready cut, no need for any jigs, routers, etc.
- Machined ventilation holes mark the center radius for you with a few lines.
- Thin setup! This setup could probably work very well in a tight place.
- Metal pizza plate does not require any additional adapter plate to mount the VESA drilled monitor. Just drill out the approriate holes right on the plate.
Cons: - 7$ Lazy susan bearing has slight side/side play during rotation
- Requires a dremmel tool with cutting disk to "manipulate" the joining of the two metal surfaces
- Lazy susan bearing is poorly constructed, and seems to struggle when a hobby motor is finally attached to it.
Conclusion: While in theory, one would think this setup would work well, the poor construction of the lazy susan bearing used in this example has proven this example as a failure for my particular application. This writeup is for those considering going down this route themselves.
Parts: 1x 16" Pizza Pan (Target.com)
1x 12" Lazy Susan Bearing (Lowes.com)
4x Small bolts w/ lock nuts and washers
Tools:
- Drill & drillbits matched to bolt sizes of VESA screws and bolts mentioned above
- Dremmel Tool w/ cutting disk (2 or more.. you never know)
- Adustable wrench
- Screw driver (for bolts above if necessary)
Instructions:1. Take your Pizza pan, flip it on it's back side. Draw an "X" from each foot on the bottom of the pan. Thanks to the precise machining of the air vents, the middle is practically laid out for you.
2. Take the bearing, and flip it upside down so the largest flat metal part is facing upwards. Using a ruler, line up and draw an "X" down the middle of the bearing using the mounting holes provided.
3. Now place the bearing on top of pizza pan, aligning both "X's". By doing so, you are assuring that the bearing will spin around dead center of the circular plate.
4. Making sure to not bump your newly aligned bearing, mark an "X" through the four mounting holes on the top of the bearing. You will need to rotate the bearing so that nickel sized hole reveals the mounting hole beneath.
5. Remove the bearing, and drill out 4 holes where you just marked, big enough for your bolts to fit through. Then bolt down everything. You now have the pizza pan mounted to the bearing, in dead center.
* Note: You may have to use a dremmel tool to cut away the indented metal parts, which catch on the bolts
* Note: You may have to grind down your bolts w/ a dremmel to be short enough to pass under the rotating bearing
6. Now you need to figure out how to mount the Monitor to the plate using the VESA mount holes on the back of your monitor
- To do so, grab a piece of printer paper, and a pencil
- Place the paper over the VESA mount holes, tape it down or hold it good and tight. It must not move at all!
- lightly rub the pencil across the holes, which will reveal them onto the paper (Good old 1st grade crayon rubbing trick!)
- Remove your new mount hole template
7. Now, we'll use complex math to create an "X" down the center of this hole template, so we may align it to the "X" on the pizza plate the same way we did with our bearing.
* My hole template had two holes to the far right and left of the 4 VESA holes, so this is what I did... * - Draw a diagonal line from the right outer most hole center, to the top right VESA hole
- Draw a diagonal line from the right outer most hole center, to the bottom right VESA hole
- Draw a diagonal line from the left outer most hole center, to the top left VESA hole
- Draw a diagonal line from the left outer most hole center, to the bottom left VESA hole
You now have a diamond..
- where your diamond crosses at the top and bottom, line your ruler up and draw a vertical bisecting line
- where your diamond crosses at the left and right, line your ruler up and draw a horizontal bisecting line
You now have an "X" through your VESA mount holes
- I connected my 4 VESA holes, but ended up not needing to for any reason. Feel free to do so, or not.
- Remove your new mounting template which looks roughly like so..
8. Because the hole inside the lazy susan bearing is smallish, you will need to trim down your template
- Cut the template into a square, just a tad bit larger then the 4 VESA mounting holes. If you screw up, start rubbing again!
- Cut a circle out of the center of your trimmed template. You will use this to align the center with the "X" on the pizza pan
- Remove your newly trimmed template
9. Place the trimmed template inside the lazy susan bearing hole on the bottom of the pizza pan, aligning the edges of the "X" of the template, with the edges of the "X" on the bottom of the pan.
You should now be able to confidently mark the 4 VESA holes onto the pan using your marker once again.
10. Using your drill with a bit appropriately sized for the diameter of your VESA mount screws, drill out the 4 mounting holes you just marked. Clean up any sharp edges with your dremmel tool.
11. Flip your monitor upside down, and align the newly created mounting holes. Insert your VESA screws and screw them into the monitor. You have successfully mounted an LCD onto a pizza plate which will spin on your lazy susan bearing.
** Note: Before you mount the LCD, you will have to drill 4 more holes to mount the Lazy Susan Bearing's base to your wood surface. I forgot pics of this step, but it's pretty easy..
- Flip the pan upside down, so the bearing is facing up
- Take a drill, and hold it so the drill bit is going through one of the 4 smallest holes on the large metal plate. (the holes closest to the circular center on the 3" rim)
* I also suggest first aligning those small holes to the "X" in case the bearing shifts during drilling, cuz it will unless you have some awesome clamps I didn't have
- Repeat drilling out all 4 holes
- Enlarge these new holes with a slightly BIGGER drill bit ONLY on the PiZZA PAN. That way your screw head can fit through the pan, but not the bearing mount holes.
- Clean up any sharp edges left on the front of the pan with your dremmel
- To mount to a wood surface, with the monitor OFF, you'd screw from the top of the pizza pan, through the enlarged holes, into the mottom mount hole layer of the lazy susan bearing.
So in conclusion, if one wanted to mount an LCD this way, this is how I did it. I do not feel as though my lazy susan bearing is of the quality it needs to be to make my fabrication considered a successful one. The cheap 7$ bearing has a lot of wiggle side to side during rotation, is on the noisy side, and feels as though the bearings get jammed ofen, even after lubrication.
Good luck. Hope this helps someone in some fashion or another.
-csa