Idea for wall-hanging a Plasma

J

JulianL

Guest
Hi everyone. I'm a newbie here, about to purchase my first plasma, but already I've found this forum incredibly useful. In an attempt to contribute something I thought I'd share my cunning, but currently untested, plan for hanging a plasma screen. Some of it might be specific to me but I suspect that it could work for many other people.

I have picture rails around my house, I have white walls, and I don't want to tear up the plaster work to hide cables. Here is my planned solution....

I'm going to drill 2 bolts into the wall, just above the picture rail, and at a 45 degree angle into the wall. I plan to use something like 10cm long, 1cm diameter bolts and screw them in so that only about 5mm of thread is clear of the wall. Because they are high up I expect them to be almost entirely hidden in the shadow of the picture rail. The bolts will only be seperated by 2 or 3 cm and be above the horizontal mid point of where I want to hang the screen.

Next I will get some white picture cord which I will wrap once around each of the bolts (that's why I plan to put 2 in, just paranoia in case one ever came loose, which would be virtually impossible due to the 45 degree downward angle into the wall), bring it down to the plasma, loop it through the carrying handles at the back (mine will be a Panny 7 series), and tie the cord in a secure knot (might need to ask a sailor about this bit!) behind the panel. Then, again just for paranoia, I'll tie up a second cord in exactly the same way so that if the first cord ever came loose then the second would act as a backup. I already checked the breaking strain of picture cord by the way, would you believe that the size up from the thinnest is 130kg breaking strain!

Finally, I'll now make up a white power cord and buy a white VGA cable and run these cables up the hanging cords (probably tie them on with white cotton), run them along the top of the picture rail and then down the corner of the room to my Sky box and DVD player.

For me the advantages of this scheme are (1) it'll disguise the cables by making it look as if the plasma is hung from them and just accentuate the effect that the screen is just another picture on the wall, (2) I don't need to hack up the walls, in fact if I subsequently want to move the screen then I don't even have any mounting holes in the walls, just the 2 bolt holes easily filled and hidden, (3) it saves the cost of a wall bracket, the whole thing will only cost about £5 to do, and (4) because of the way this will hang, it will automatically give the screen a bit of a downward tilt which, because I am mounting it slightly high, is what I want.

Anyway, maybe this will be of some interest to anyone with similar circumstances.

- Julian
 
JulianL

Very unusual idea...........................i hope its works ok......................the only thing i would be worried about is vibration and movement of a hanging screen.

Much better than Baldrick's cunning plans :rotfl:

Cheers,Tam
 
Could well work...but if it doesn't :eek:. Might be worth the £100 or so for the bracket if only for peace of mind at night! The plaster bit might be messy but the end result can look pretty tasty :smashin:
 
Hmmm... not so sure, myself.

Firstly, a plasma screen is obviously a bit of high-tech equipment. Trying to pretend its a Victorian painting is a recipe for embarrassment, unless you go the whole hog and put a picture frame around it too (still embarrassing, but with a certain Jeff Koons irony, especially if you use it to display pornographic stills).

Secondly, I do not get this business of mounting screens high up on walls. Fine for doctors' waiting rooms, counter-productive for watching films. Art is hung higher up (a) so people can inspect it on 2 feet and (b) so children are less able to smear jam on it. Jam wipes off plasmas.

Lastly, DO NOT USE PICTURE CORD! Whenever the cat or a small child wanders underneath the screen, all attention will wander from the film as everyone wonders to themselves 'If that string breaks could I reach it/them in time?'. Makes the Sword of Damocles look sturdy... At least use some suitable picture wire, like art galleries do for heavier paintings. In fact, most art galleries would mount a picture the weight of a plasma directly onto the wall with frame screws...

I applaud all attempts to reduce the 'I've got a Home Cinema in my sitting room' look, but I would go for something a bit more modern - high-tensile steel wire, with the vga cable exposed to bare metal strands, or something.

Just my opinion...
 
Hi

Pictures often need straightening, a wonky plasma would look rubbish.

On some plasmas some of the connections come directly out of the back, not the bottom, so the weight of the plasma leaning against the wall could be on the scart connector.

I look forward to seeing a photo of the finished results

Goodluck

JustinP
 

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