How to install a PC monitor in a cab (photos!)

[OSCAR]

I see the question pop up occasionally on what is a good way to install a PC monitor or TV into a cabinet, but to do it without doing the "shelf" thing.  I decased a PC monitor for a project I'm currently working on and I documented  how I am doing it, so perhaps this will give others some ideas on how to do something similar.

When you take the case off a PC monitor or TV, there normally isn't anything that physically attaches the chassis to the tube like the frames used on arcade monitors.  The case of the PC/TV monitor normally have plastic tabs built into it that keeps everything together.  This means you will have to come up with a way to attach the tube and chassis to the cabinet.

What I feel is the best way to do this is to attach everything to a bezel board, or in other words, attach the tube and chassis to a wood board with the appropriately sized cutout for the screen.  In order to make it easier to remove the entire monitor in the future if you ever have to, you will want to mount the bezel board to your cab in a way that the whole board can be removed with all the components attached.

I made brackets for the tube by taking a typical angle bracket and adding an additional bend in it with my vise.  This additional bend allows you to run a bolt right through the tube mounting ears, which is the only good way to attach directly to a tube.

Also shown in the below pic is a piece of slotted flat bar that I bent in such a way to attach the chassis to the bezel board.  Note that I cut the slotted flat bar through a hole so a notch was left at the end.  This is because the PC chassis had nylon standoffs attached to it, and the standoff will fit into this notch.  I also added a couple nylon brackets in the bottom corners that will keep the chassis from resting against the metal slotted flat bar, and it also keeps the chassis from shift side-to-side.





Here is a close up of the tube mounting bracket.  It is always a good idea to use bolts to secure the tube.  I wouldn't trust wood screws to hold up a heavy tube.





Here is the chassis installed in my make-shift frame.  Before I install the monitor in the cabinet, I will add nylon zip ties around the chassis standoffs to the slotted bar to keep the chassis securely in place.  Most PC/TV monitors will have front panel buttons or controls, as well as a power switch.  You will most likely need access to these to adjust your monitor screen size/color/position/etc.  On the PC monitor I am using, the front panel controls were on little boards that I removed from the front of the original case, and the wires were long enough from me to bring them around to the under side of the chassis.  Again, nylon zip ties will be used to secure these to the white nylon braces in the corners.





This shows the tube mounting ear secured to the mounting bracket.  Bolts with a nut & lock washer should be used here.





Braces are secured to the sides of the cabinet, and the bezel board will be screwed into the brace.





This shows how the control panel will lay against the bezel board.  I used an aluminum angle from Home Depot and cut it to length.  I left a gap between the bezel board and the angle for the artwork bezel and plexi.





View from the front.

[JoeB]

AWESOME!

Post more pics when it's fully in place!  Also, how big is that monitor?

[Gideon]

Wonderful write-up.  I am in your debt.

[OSCAR]

One thing I meant to write in the original post was that if you are using a larger tube, like a 19" or larger, I would probably use 2 mounting brackets per tube mounting ear.  I would rotate them 90deg from each other, giving you better support for the heavier tube.

Here are some more pics showing the PC monitor installed:





With a posterboard bezel I made, ala Tailgunner...  There is also going to be an artwork surround that lays on top of the posterboard bezel, but that isn't complete yet.





Pic from the back:







The tube shown is actually a 14in PC monitor.  Yes, it's small, but it is proportional to the cabinet.  

[GadgetGeek]

Any tips on how you got the curves into the bezel to fit nicely against the monitor?  I guess I could trace from the monitor housing?

[Witchboard]

Any tips on how you got the curves into the bezel to fit nicely against the monitor?  I guess I could trace from the monitor housing?

Somebody had an awsome tutorial on how to make a bezel out of paper, but I can't seem to find it.  I'll try some advanced searches and I'll edit this if I find the link.

Found it.  

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=17175

[GadgetGeek]

Thanks and Sorry.  I didn't even notice that Oscar had provided that same link when he gave his kudos to Tailgunner for the bezel.
Amazing work (as always).

[Witchboard]

Thanks and Sorry.  I didn't even notice that Oscar had provided that same link when he gave his kudos to Tailgunner for the bezel.
Amazing work (as always).

LOL.  Neither did I!  

[paigeoliver]

Nice.

Although I do it slightly differently.

I mount my tubes directly onto a piece of wood (cutting the wood the proper shape), without any mounting brackets.

For a 13" monitor it is just that way, for a 19" I go ahead and put the metal deallies through the holes (I have no idea what they are called, but I have salvaged plenty of them from import cabs).

[OSCAR]

Nice.

Although I do it slightly differently.

I mount my tubes directly onto a piece of wood (cutting the wood the proper shape), without any mounting brackets.

I have a Dynamo cab with the monitor installed like that, but for that style of installation, it has 2 bezel boards:  one to mount the monitor, the second to hold the artwork bezel and front glass out away from the face of the tube.  Below is a simple cross section of this type of installation with the red being the wood with the appropriate-sized cutout:




Since I didn't have much space to spare on this particular project, I needed the single bezel board to act as the monitor mount, as well as be the backing for the artwork and front glass.  The use of the z-brackets allows you to do this, and it is actually quite simple to do.





The z-brackets are used because they give you the depth you need for a cardboard/plastic bezel.  Otherwise, the cardboard bezel wouldn't fit.

[Tokey]

I could really use those pics, but they are coming up "X".

Does anyone have a copy of them they could upload?

[paigeoliver]

That photo actually looks pretty good, just get some tinted glass cut and you will be fine.

[Namco]

I would love to see these images. If someone has them please let me know. http://www.oscarcontrols.com/miniplanets/ doesn't seem to exist anymore.

[SavannahLion]

I would love to see these images. If someone has them please let me know. http://www.oscarcontrols.com/miniplanets/ doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Would the Wayback Machine have it by any chance? Parts are blocked from work so I can't check myself.

[Namco]

I would love to see these images. If someone has them please let me know. http://www.oscarcontrols.com/miniplanets/ doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Would the Wayback Machine have it by any chance? Parts are blocked from work so I can't check myself.

I used it to try and find the project images on the oscarcontrols site and couldn't even find that folder/project. The wayback machine for May 2005 has this post, but no images.

[2600]

http://mirrors.arcadecontrols.com/OscarControls/


http://mirrors.arcadecontrols.com/OscarControls/miniplanets/

[SirPeale]

Regretably, the Wayback machine only has stuff that's linked from the main site.  Most of the pictures, regretably, were not.

[Namco]

http://mirrors.arcadecontrols.com/OscarControls/


http://mirrors.arcadecontrols.com/OscarControls/miniplanets/

Thank you for the mirror link 2600, but unfortunately the files monitor01.jpg - monitor09.jpg and cab09.jpg aren't there anymore. I was hoping to type http://www.oscarcontrols.com/miniplanets/monitor01.jpg in the address bar, but I just get a 404 error. Got another mirror? 

[Lilwolf]

you guys are teasing us.

I thought Oscar was back and posting!

[Namco]

No need for those pics anymore because I got it done for the most part this weekend. My cab had the Wells Gardner 7000 already on a bezel board. Went to the hardware store and got a 2' x 2' piece of 3/4" plywood and cut it to the appropriate 22 1/4" size to make my own bezel board. I decased ( is decased a word?), the 21" CRT I was using and was lucky to find that it had its own metal cage behind the tube holding all the electronics and a small metal bracket on each of the corners of the screen that held the front bezel on. I just had to measure out the shape of the chassis just behind the tube and cut the hole out of the bezel board. I have it fitted onto the decased CRT and will attach it with the same screws with which it was attached to the plastic bezel.

I'll take pics of the bezel board and the CRTs mounting brackets and post them here when I get a chance.

[Namco]

I tried to edit my last post, but it didn't work, so here's a new one, sorry.

When I took my cab apart I found that the monitor was mounted on what OSCAR calls a bezel board. As you can see, the arcade monitor has quite a sturdy bracket around it mounted to the 3/4" bezel board firmly.


When I took the case off of my 21" Viewsonic G800 CRT, I found that it was connected to the front bezel by 4 mounting points on the corners of the screen. All I had to do was get another piece of 3/4" plywood of the same dimensions and cut a hole for the monitor and mount it on there. Here's a few pics of the monitor already mounted to the new bezel board:




As you can see, the monitor is snugly in the bezel board. In the first pic, it's not even bolted in yet and it holds in place well. I made sure to measure about a hundred times before cutting. I happened to cut it just right so there is enough wood at the corners to bolt it down through the brackets. No metal supports were needed.

As for the controls, I made a bit of room at the bottom of the board for the wires to fit through without being squished by the weight of the monitor.


Here's my creation installed into the cabinet. Even without extra metal brackets, it's very sturdy. The weight of the monitor is supported by the sung fit in the wood mainly and the tough screws keep it from moving.


Unfortunately, the only problem with this whole setup is that the monitor is too deep. It sticks out of the back a couple inches. To fix it, I'm wondering if I can use another couple pieces of 3/4" wood to move the monitor forward in the cabinet, and perhaps removing part of the metal cage in the back. But most likely, I'll probably just make a new back door with a bulge in the back.

[Namco]

It's pretty trivial installing a PC monitor in an existing arcade cab that's already setup to use a bezel board. For those building a cab from scratch, here's a breakdown of how the monitor fits in there. I had no idea how it all came together until I took mine apart.

Here's the monitor installed. There's nothing holding the plexi in place except for the control panel. It slides up behind a small gap behind the speaker shelf at the top and at the bottom it sits at the very edge of a 1/2" lip. The control panel when closed touches the plexi and holds it against the lip. In this picture, the control panel is unlatched and is hanging out of frame.



Plexi removed. There is a cheap black shiny cardboard frame here. You can see the crease where it was folded in half. On the back are cutout templates for different arcade monitor setups, kinda like a shoe insert.



Remove the black cardboard frame, and you have a 1/2" MDF frame. This MDF frame could be any thickness as long as it takes up the space on the lip to make the plexi sit flush with the closed control panel. So far you'll notice that this frame, the plexi, and the shiny black cardboard are all as wide as as the cab is and touch the sides of the cabinet.



Once the MDF frame is removed you can now see the 3/4" inch frame that everything sat against so far. Now we see a warped, ugly piece of flat black cardstock used as a bezel. It's folded at the sides to make it stick up a few inches and fill in this empty space around the monitor.



Now with the ugly cardboard bezel removed, you see the bare monitor mounted on its bezel board. There is a lot of room between the bezel board and the frame on which the plexi rests, probably about 3 inches. I'm pretty sure I can use some spacers to get my monitor moved up a couple more inches.



And finally, the monitor and board are removed showing the supporting frame for everything.