How to make a home made monitor bezel?

[romid]

I picked up a cheap used 21" monitor to use for my MAME project.  The monitor is white, and so it will obviously look pretty ugly just sitting in the cabinet behind plexiglass.

My question is this:
Has anyone successfully made a nice homemade bezel for this monitor?

I was looking at happcontrols, and they have the following:
http://www.happcontrols.com/monitors/49010500.htm  But they dont have a 21" version... thanks, any suggestions or comments would be appreciated!

[SirPoonga]

Look at my sig, both contruction and finished.  It doesn;t go in front of the monitor becaue I wanted access to the button.

[eightbit]

If your monitor can be turned up bright enough you can just use a peice of smoked plexi, or tinted glass and move the monitor right up to the glass. One big advantage to this method is you can't tell that your not using the whole screen when playing vertical games.  Also a lot of arcade cabinets used smoked glass so your still getting an authentic look.

On my first cab I used black poster board and was not very happy with it. After doing the second one with the method that follows I went back and did the same thing to the first one. Then I used black electric tape around the screen on the monitor to cover the very edge of the white that was showing.

In both of my cabs my monitors were to deep to use any kind of bezel that would add thickness. I moved the monitors as close to the glass as I could get them and just barely got the backs on the cabinets.

[Mike]

Mine isn't super professional but it was cheap and looks good. First I took a black paint marker and colored in the very egde of the monitor that was white. Use a utility razor blade to remove any paint you get on the screen. Then I took of piece of matting and cut a peice that I taped around the bezel of the monitor. So basically a square O shape. Then I took another peice of the matting and cut a peice the width and height of the area i need to cover inside my cabinet. Then I cut an opening in that matting slightly larger than the screen size. Then I got a peice of plexi to cover everything. And used screws with these black caps to attach everything. It's kind of hard to explain but it was simple and I think total cost was like $25. With like $20 of that being the peice of plexiglass.

[clok]

I went with hard cardboard cut (actually the stuff they use to make doorpanels in cars, you can buy it wherever they have car fabric) and so the Computer monitor wouldnt show white i took...err... um.. Black electrical tape and carefully taped the white around the screen 2 tape widths, then layed the cut out cardboard over it with plexi between me and the monitor. When i switch to a TV in my cab i can use the monitor again as normal (just take tape off).

Clok

[planetjay]

http://www.mamehost.com/pages/den/bezel_creation_tutorial.php

[KevSteele]

I took a two-pronged approach -- first, I carefully masked off the tube and spray-painted the monitor frame a flat black. Worked out great.

Next, I mounted the monitor in the cab, put the plexi on, and marked where the visual edges of the screen were on the plexi with a magic marker. Then I took off the plexi, masked off the monitor area on the back of the plexi (and an area for an instruction card), and sprayed the _back_ of the plexi black. End result is, at least to me, a very professional looking final product.

Kevin

[romid]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and the link!  These are very helpful and I am now fairly confident that I can create something pretty nice!

[romid]

If your monitor can be turned up bright enough you can just use a peice of smoked plexi, or tinted glass and move the monitor right up to the glass. One big advantage to this method is you can't tell that your not using the whole screen when playing vertical games.  Also a lot of arcade cabinets used smoked glass so your still getting an authentic look.

On my first cab I used black poster board and was not very happy with it. After doing the second one with the method that follows I went back and did the same thing to the first one. Then I used black electric tape around the screen on the monitor to cover the very edge of the white that was showing.

In both of my cabs my monitors were to deep to use any kind of bezel that would add thickness. I moved the monitors as close to the glass as I could get them and just barely got the backs on the cabinets.

In your picture, there is a black square border around your screen...how did you achieve that?  Just cardboard paper cut out in that shape and stuck up to the plexiglass?

[eightbit]

If your monitor can be turned up bright enough you can just use a peice of smoked plexi, or tinted glass and move the monitor right up to the glass. One big advantage to this method is you can't tell that your not using the whole screen when playing vertical games.  Also a lot of arcade cabinets used smoked glass so your still getting an authentic look.

On my first cab I used black poster board and was not very happy with it. After doing the second one with the method that follows I went back and did the same thing to the first one. Then I used black electric tape around the screen on the monitor to cover the very edge of the white that was showing.

In both of my cabs my monitors were to deep to use any kind of bezel that would add thickness. I moved the monitors as close to the glass as I could get them and just barely got the backs on the cabinets.

In your picture, there is a black square border around your screen...how did you achieve that?  Just cardboard paper cut out in that shape and stuck up to the plexiglass?

I mentioned I did it with the method that follows then never wrote out the method.... Hmmm, I hate when I do that. Its like when you send someone a email about an attachment and then forget the attachment.

What I did was tape off the viewable monitor area with masking tape and sprayed the rest of the glass with black spray paint. Very cheap, very fast, and very easy.

Cheap, fast, and easy, what more could a guy aspire to?

[unclet]

How about getting some hard cardboard and glueing some black felt on it?  Just cut out a center circle the shape for the monitor glass and cover the whole thing with some plexi.

[Birdtales]

I used hardboard. I managed to pick up a 4X8 sheet for a dollar at Lowes (small crack in it). Anyway what I did was build a frame the size I wanted the hole to be. I attached the frame (made from scrap 1X2"s) to the hardboard with double sided carpet tape and drilled a 1/2" starter hole. Then used my router and a pattern bit to cut the hole out (just ran it along on the inside edge of the frame). Painted the hardboard and got a very professional product.

[Minwah]

If my American > English translation is correct, is Plexiglass the same as Perspex?  ie Clear (or coloured) plastic that comes with a protextive film on each side?

Dumb question I know but just wanted to check...if it is that stuff, do you guys have problems with scratches?  I used Perspex at school and it always ended up getting quite scratched no matter how careful I was  What is the advantage over glass - I guess easier to cut and lighter?

[planetjay]

Yes.

[1UP]

Try black foamcore from an art/craft supply store (thicker and more rigid than cardboard or posterboard, but around the same price.)  Get the kind with black foam inside, not white.

The other possibility if you're using a PC monitor:  just remove the front of the monitor and spray paint it black.  It already has a bezel, why not use it?