Fitting a Panny Th42pwD4 Unicol Wall Mount

[bluebear]

I thought I would share my fun I had fitting a Panny 42" D4 using a Unicol PLX 0012 on a dry-lined wall.

The wall is a outside wall, and is made from:
a) 3/4" thick plasterboard
b) 3/4" air gap
c) breeze block
d) cavity
e) Outside Brick work.

The Flat Wall Mount came with the WRONG instructions sheet Mount-A, even though it said Panny D4 on the box.
You can download the correct instructions which are "Mount-B" from there web site <http://www.unicol.com/pdf/plxinst.pdf>.
The Mount-B instructions shows a Two Part Spacers that needs to be fitted to D4.

I mounted the BOTTOM of the Plasma 50" from the ground, to allow a fireplace and surround to be fitted later.
I am viewing the D4 from about 10 feet away, I would say that I think this is a bit high !
When I have fitted the fireplace, surround and centre speaker, I will have a look to see if I can bring it down to say 45".

It didn't take me long to come to the conclusion that they was NO WAY
that I was going to hang a 30Kg weight on either the plasterboard or the breeze blocks, with all the earth quakes we having lately in Manchester area !!!
I had the idea that I would have to drill a very long (12") hole from the Plasterboard straight through to the outside brick to clamp to Wall Mount to the outside brick wall.

So off to my local market hardware stall, there I found a "10MM THREADED BAR" which was 1 Metre long, fitted with 10 nuts and large washers, a bargain at £1.00, so I brought two!

I also concluded that it was a bad idea to clamp the Plasterboard! So I made some wooden spacers between the breeze blocks and the Wall Mount.
I cutout Four large 3" holes in the plasterboard using a round cutter (has a small drill in the middle). I used the four corners of the Wall Mount as centres for the holes.
Make sure that you make a mark on the breeze blocks, needed later for the 10mm hole to the outside wall.

Then using the same the same cutter tool, cutout 8 holes in a 3/4" piece of chipboard shelving.
Open up the holes in the wooden spacers to 10mm, and also opened up the 9mm holes in the corners of the Wall Mount to 10mm.
MaKe 4 spacers by "gluing and taping" Two 3/4" chipboard spacers together to form a 1.5" thick by 3" wide spacer.

Using the marks you had made on the breeze blocks, drill Four 10mm by 1 Foot holes to the outside wall.
Then pushed the THREADED BAR through the wall to the outside, fitted a large washer + 2 nuts on the outside wall to each bar.
then using "No nails" glued the 4 wooden spacers in the wall by pushing them over the THREADED BAR.
Then placed the Wall Mount onto the Four THREADED BARS sticking out the wall, tighten the four nuts to bring the mount towards the plasterboard, then marked the THREADED BAR, so then the rods could be cut down to length.

To be honest I only used two THREADED BARS, Two 10mm expanding bolts into the breeze blocks and 4 plasterboard fixings.
The THREADED BARS are the only thing holder the D4 on the wall, the breeze blocks are like powder !!!!
I wish that I had used 4 THREADED BARS instead.

I did wake up the other night at 3.00am, and went down stairs to see if the D4 was still on the wall !

Also we had another earth quake this morning, and its still on the wall (ha ha).

Commets welcome ?

Best Regards,

Bluebear.

Bluebear,
Used a very similar method to you on my drylined wall, but used stainless steel tube as spacers instead of the wood and then used 'Fischer' (think thats how its spelt!!) fixings to secure into blockwork. These are VERY strong.

[bluebear]

pauld,

Thanks for your reply.

I was told by a friend of mine that water could run down the threaded bar across the bricks.

I have painted and sealed the outside bar & nuts with window sealant.

So I hoping that will not be a problem.

Regards,

Bluebear.

That sounds like it should be fine, don't think you will have any problems now you have used sealant.

I take it that you are also very happy with your Panasonic, I also have a TH-42PWD4 and I am over the moon with it!!!

[bluebear]

pauld,

I love it

I have got it connected up using a RGB switching SCART box and a SCART to BNC's lead to the D4.

a) DVD is just stunning !

b) Freeview (ITV Digital) is very good, but depends on transmission bit rate. Funny ITV2 is the best quality...

I very happy with it.

Just got to run the cables in the wall now.

Running the cables in the wall was fun!! I just cut the channel in the plasterboard and pushed the cables into the channel and then filled the channel and sanded the plaster until flat. You cant even tell it was there once painted.

[bluebear]

pauld,

Yes it does sound fun, but I think its worth it to make it look cool.

I had my hi-fi rack on the right hand side of the Plasma because all the aerial cables are in the corner of the room.
But to my horror, there is a GAS pipe running down the wall about 6" from my wall mount fixings !
This gas pipe is for the gasfire below the Plasma, but it does mean that there's no way I should run cables (Mains 240V) over a gas pipe.

So I spend all day moving the whole room around, so that the hi-fi rack is now on the Left hand side of the Plasma. I had to take up the carpets to re-run the rear speaker cable, it took hours...

Because aerial cables are still at the wrong side of the room, I will have to drill holes in the wall again, so I will have to take down the Plasma whilst I am drilling, and run new aerial cables.

Then I will have to decide on a suitable Fireplace that will not cook the Plasma and has room for my Centre Speaker on the fire surround.

Do you have a Centre Speaker? If so how have you mounted it?

I did have a mad idea of drilling two deep holes to the outside wall and fitting two more threaded bars into the wall, then drill two holes in the back of the Centre Speaker, then just push it onto the wall.

Any comments about fixing Centre Speakers are welcome from anyone ?

Regards,
Bluebear.