It actually isn't that hard to build.
You need the named material, a jigsaw, a meterstick and a drilling machine.
Most of the stuff can be bought off the shelf some stores will offer to cut the material sold to you for free even.
Something I noticed earlier, could it be, that this community doesn't have all that many DIY-guys? ;)
Now on to the building instructions I promised some time ago ;)
First off: get yourself some help. The whole construction can be built within a solid mornings work, but some of the steps are allmost impossible to do alone.
Parts marked with #vmo# may be skipped if you have monitors of the same build.
Step one: Preliminarys
Read these instructions through completely. Really. Then get the material. You don't want to make the same mistakes I did (and there are a few) and most of them stem from not knowing what I will end up with.
You'll need:
1. 3x 66cm wood that is at least 4cm wider than your monitors mountingsystem, usually that means 10cm + 4cm = 14cm if you have varying monitors add another 2cm for height tolerance
2. 2x 70cm wood, I'd suggest the same as for #1
3. 4m polyester band (highly durable), it's not expensive, get the heaviest duty type you can, 2t is enough, try less only at your own peril!
4. 6x 135° angles, these will define the viewing angle on your screens, I'd suggest testing this out before, a little bending may be applied but needs a vice and a hammer (I'd suggest ear protection :D)
5. 2x 90° heavy duty angles
6. M4 Screw + 2 washers + screw nut, a lot of them, for all the mounts AND for all the angles. That's 4 for each mount + 4 for each angle + spares! important: the screws won't go all the way into the mounting system, check how thick your wood from #1 has to be so the screws will fit! I ended up having to use 3 washers just to rig up my vx2835wm!
Tools: a drilling machine + stand, a 6mm drill, a jigsaw, some sanding paper, a file, a wrench, a meterstick, a try square, a pencil to write on the wood
Step two: the marking
#vmo# Align your monitors and check if they are of the same height and espacially if their mounts are of the same height.
Check how wide the monitor in the middle is, for most 28"ers this should be around 66cm, the length for #1 should be the width of your monitors.
Mark the middle of one the boards, this is going to be the one centered, write that down on it!
Paint two straight lines that are 5cm from the center (one left of, one right of) by using the try square.
These measurements are for standard vesa 100x100 mounts, do the math yourself for other mounts, if you need to ask you probably shouldn't build it on your own ;)
Assuming you got 14cm wide wood, mark a place on each line that is 2cm from the top and 12cm from the top.
#vmo# If your monitors are 2cm out of line you'll need to make these 2+1cm and 12+1cm, if your monitors are further apart it's difference/2 I'd suggest to use
On to the angles, place the center board and one of the others right next to each other as they will be placed in final assembly, place one angle at the bottom then mark two holes with the pen. Repeat for the other two positions of the angles (middle+top). Repeat for the other side. Work accurate, small mistakes here can make medium displacements later on.
Step three: the Drill
You have a marked center board, congratulations. Now recheck it. If you had to compensate varying monitor sizes do it again. The holes for the mount are exactly 10cm (=100mm) apart? The markings on the side mach the angles? There are no visibly distorted parts, meaning the angles are placed parallel to the center board? Fine. If you think this is paranoid: I had to redrill 6 holes because I didn't do this. No fun in that.
On to the acutal drilling. I strongly recommend a stand for your drill. While this is no workpiece where precision is critical, it's still hard to work with 1mm precision without any aids. Use a 6mm drill and check that you're still right measurementside after every single hole! Even with aids like a stand any drill will move slightly in regard to the woods structure. Once you're done drilling all holes, you screw in the angles, then mount it on the back of your center TFT. If it fits: congratulations, if it doesn't you have a problem. Find a solution yourself or come back here asking for help with detailed images ;)
Coming tomorrow -> Step four: Attaching the sides
Regards,
Justus
P.S.: If somebody has suggestions feel free to post them, I don't see much resonance on this, is it just because nobody really cares or because everybody is deeply cowed by me steamroller type of going about things? ;)
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