DIY Triple Monitor Mount

eovnu87435ds · Jan 6, 2012

Earlier this year I came across some threads about building some DIY monitor mounts, and found something I really liked. seven9st surfer's first monitor stand stuck out to me, but there were a few things I did not like about it. I wanted to have a shallower angle than 45 degrees, and I wanted something that I did not have to bolt to a desk(since I am in a college dorm).

The first step for me was to make my VESA blocks. I cut 6 5" x 5" pieces of 3/8" plywood(which is all I had, so I glued them together to make 3/4").

I then made a template in AutoCAD and printed it 1:1. I tacked it to the one piece, stacked them, and drilled holes large enough for the m4 screws.
(by the way if anybody wants the template as a printable PDF, let me know!)

EDIT: I've been asked for the file, but I couldn't find one, so I made a new one just for you guys at OC.net!
(Don't use this picture, the PDF and Autodesk IDW file are attached, and will print to 1:1 scale)

VESA.pdf 211k .pdf file

After drilling them, I sanded down the edges and painted them so they wouldn't look so tacky when done.

My monitors came in, so I placed them on the kitchen table with their stands on so I could get a feel for what type of angle I wanted.

I then bolted the VESA blocks onto the monitors to help me work with my angles.

Here is a great little fact you may not know. If you put together a standard 45 and a street 45(which is a 45 with one side male threads, one side female), you can rotate them to create any angle you want! The only drawback is that your angled pipe will be slightly higher(although still parallel) than the original pipe.

I did this to make up my angle from the center screen to the one on the right. I then made the mirror by putting the center piece on the right monitor and the angle on the center one. this made sure I had a perfectly symmetrical angle for both sides.

I tightened them up after marking where they have to be for the angles with a pipe wrench and made sure they won't sag with the weight of the monitor. I then started attaching them to the upright and T fitting, making sure everything was level

Then, to make sure my stand can, you know... stand, I bolted the flange to a 12" x 12" x 1/4" steel plate, which I then put rubber feet on the bottom. This plate is quite heavy which is very good for what I need it for.

Not to finish there, I decided to do some custom wiring. I hated how this would suck up 3 outlets on my power strip, so I took a large server power cord, cut the end off of it, and mated it with 3 ends for each monitor. One plug powers all 3! To make this even better, I used a die grinder and cut holes in the pipe to hide the cables completely. You see some ugly colorful stuff in the middle of the one picture because I did the soldering outside the tubing and did not pull it all the way inside yet.

With the VESA plates attached, it was time to attach the monitors. It was as easy as:
1:

2:

3!

Minor adjustments still have to be made by loosening the pipe hangers and rotating/sliding the monitors. but you can certainly see the full picture!

I certainly liked being able to have the exact angles I want on this project, and I also like that since the VESA plates can slide, I can easily bolt the 3 monitors in portrait if I ever feel like changing, and all I would have to do is slide them in!

And last but not least, a test run playing Dirt 3! (Note, I have not actually played Dirt 3 in quite a long time, and I am sitting far too close to the monitors to really see properly, so the actual skill shown sucks.) But the monitors are still cool!

Enjoy! And I hope that my thread as well as seven9st surfer's will help many more people!

VESA.pdf 211k .pdf file

adamski07 · Jan 6, 2012

damn.. looks easy to do.. im going on eyefinity soon.. just gave me an idea to do the same thing.. good job man!

Ben the OCer · Jan 6, 2012

Impressive work, I especially like how you routed the power cable through the pipe for clean cable management. How exactly did you do the power cable routing in the pipe, is the pipe big enough so the end connector fits or was there more involved?

derickwm · Jan 6, 2012

Nice. Build me one

cgg123321 · Jan 6, 2012

Too awesome. Did you ever consider a table clamp version? Or would that not be feasible?

Simonzi · Jan 6, 2012

Looks very nice. I'm going to have to keep this in mind, I plan grabbing 3x 24" monitors in the near future, and was having trouble finding a a mount for all 3 that was less than the monitors. Making my own didn't even cross my mind.

ACM · Jan 6, 2012

Man make that base bigger, I would freak out putting monitors on that.

eovnu87435ds · Feb 8, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben the OCer

Impressive work, I especially like how you routed the power cable through the pipe for clean cable management. How exactly did you do the power cable routing in the pipe, is the pipe big enough so the end connector fits or was there more involved?

The connectors did not fit through the pipes, but I am very handy with a soldering iron, so I cut the ends of, fished the cables through, and soldered them together at the T fitting with some slack, and pulled it all inside the T. Oh, and lots of heatshrink to keep any shorts from happening.
Quote:

Originally Posted by cgg123321

Too awesome. Did you ever consider a table clamp version? Or would that not be feasible?

I considered a clamp version, and even have clamps. It's just that my desk has a vertical wall on the back so I can't put clamps there for me. I'd assume it would work fine as long as your clamps dont crush your desk.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Simonzi

Looks very nice. I'm going to have to keep this in mind, I plan grabbing 3x 24" monitors in the near future, and was having trouble finding a a mount for all 3 that was less than the monitors. Making my own didn't even cross my mind.

This is exactly why I built mine!
Quote:

Originally Posted by ACM

Man make that base bigger, I would freak out putting monitors on that.

Actually, that steel plate is about 30 lbs, and really holds this thing in place! But I did do some things to prevent catastrophe, like mounting the stand to the back of the plate. Since the monitors are front heavy, this helps prevent it from tipping foward. Side to side is then balanced due to good ol' symmetry.
I've been checking my mount since this post, and so far have not found any sagging, loosening, etc.

sammmmm · Feb 9, 2012

you should my diy triple monitor mount arm too....hihihi..

Geglamash · Feb 15, 2012

Awesome stand, way cool!

eovnu87435ds · Feb 20, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geglamash

Awesome stand, way cool!

Thanks, I wonder where those awesome monitors came from...

JokerDragon · Mar 4, 2012

Nice work! Could you send me the PDF file? Whats the hole in the inside clamp on each VESA mount? What size Monitor did you use. I have 24 inch ones I want to mount. Where did you buy the quarter inch steel base mount?

pjneder · May 17, 2012

Awesome!!! I'm going to do this myself now that I am getting matching Acer's to flank my center screen.

I have one quick question that I did not see answered in the thread. How did you calculate the offset of the clamps so the heights would come out even?

Thanks.

eovnu87435ds · May 18, 2012

I just edited my first post to include the PDF of the template I made for making these mounting plates. enjoy!

VESA.pdf 211k .pdf file

legoman786 · May 30, 2012

You got featured on Lifehacker!!

http://lifehacker.com/5914266/diy-triple-monitor-stand

eovnu87435ds · May 30, 2012

You sir, just made my day! I am glad everybody likes the design!

GanjaSMK · May 30, 2012

Cool dude.

iCrap · May 30, 2012

Just found this from lifehacker. Nice work!

duhjuh · Jun 4, 2012

featured in spiceworks through lifehacker lol

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/229916-diy-triple-monitor-stand

jhremo3 · Jun 17, 2012

Awesome job!

Quick question for the builder: you obviously have a good "feel" for the stand and for how sturdy it is. Do you think that one could substitute an X-fitting for the central T-fitting, make 2 tiers of monitors and double it to a six-monitor stand? I think it could work, but it might be necessary to jump to 3/4" or even 1" RSC. But I'm curious if you think the 1/2" conduit & fittings could handle it, and also if there would be balance issues.

Thanks for sharing this project!

eovnu87435ds · Jun 19, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhremo3

Awesome job!
Quick question for the builder: you obviously have a good "feel" for the stand and for how sturdy it is. Do you think that one could substitute an X-fitting for the central T-fitting, make 2 tiers of monitors and double it to a six-monitor stand? I think it could work, but it might be necessary to jump to 3/4" or even 1" RSC. But I'm curious if you think the 1/2" conduit & fittings could handle it, and also if there would be balance issues.
Thanks for sharing this project!

Now, there is no science done behind what I'm about to say, so take it all with a grain of salt, but This stand feels incredibly strong. And that's even with big holes cut in it. For a pipe, those holes really remove a lot of structural integrity. But alas, not only does it work, but it can withstand being picked up from one end the stand, while all the monitors were attached. You could probably build it out of the 1/2" steel tubing for a 6x monitor no problem. The complications I have come up with are as follows.

1. The second vertical piece(above the + fitting) may have to be custom cut and threaded to give you the perfect height that you wanted. It isn't a big problem if home depot/lowes has a complimentary threading machine with the tubing, but if not, the tools needed to do so are too expensive to use just for one job.

2. With another 3 monitors higher up, you need to worry about the torque of the monitors wanting to fall forward. I would use a heavier plate, and instead of just tapping the bolts into the steel plate, put them through with washers and lock nuts on the other end, to ensure they don't pull through. My monitors weigh 10 lbs each, so thats approx 45 foot pounds of torque. If I were to do a second tier, I'd be looking at an additional 75 foot pounds of torque, for a total of 120 foot pounds of torque. That's quite a bit of force exerted on the base of the stand.

On the other side, if you move to 1" tubing, you may not only be able to easily route power within the stand, but also squeeze in HDMI cables, so that all the cables are cleanly hidden!

Looking forward to see what you come up with!

eovnu87435ds · Jun 19, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by JokerDragon

Nice work! Could you send me the PDF file? Whats the hole in the inside clamp on each VESA mount? What size Monitor did you use. I have 24 inch ones I want to mount. Where did you buy the quarter inch steel base mount?

All of my parts were from the local plumbing supply warehouse and Lowe's. All of the parts can be found at either place, its just a matter of convenience/price. They're 23" monitors, but 24" should be fine. The PDF is up, and the holes for the VESA screws are slightly larger than 4mm to accommodate the M4 screws used. The rest is put together with wood screws.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjneder

Awesome!!! I'm going to do this myself now that I am getting matching Acer's to flank my center screen.
I have one quick question that I did not see answered in the thread. How did you calculate the offset of the clamps so the heights would come out even?
Thanks.

If you see the 8th picture in the original post, what I did was assemble the arms and made them level with the ground. Then, with the monitors sitting on their stock stands, I held it up, and screwed all 3 monitors to it. Since they were all on their identical stock stands, it ensured that they'd be level when I removed the stands and put the vertical upright in place.

Lawngahnome · Jun 30, 2012

I'm about to try this design with a second tier. I'm only putting a 4th monitor on, not going to 6, so I don't think the weight will be a problem. I'll post some pics when I finish. I'm also going to be mounting the stand straight to my desk.

EDIT: finished my 4 monitor stand. Check it out here.

ACIDpwns · Jul 2, 2012

nice work

scie5 · Jul 15, 2012

Thanks bud, this is an awesome build, thank you very much for sharing this with us, i hope to be trying this out at the end of the week, and i cant thank you enough for the VESA Pdf that will save a lot of time. 10 out of 10.

th3m3nt4l · Nov 29, 2012

So I'm stuck, Can't find Steel Piping N plating here in Chile... at least from the "homedepot/Lowes" equivalent here (called Sodimac). I can get bronze. Would that work?

DIY Triple Monitor Mount

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