design new flip down monitor!

I'm looking into designing a mounting system for overhead monitors. I was talking to some design guys from some overseas monitor manufacturers this morning. I explained to them the plight of installers, overhead monitors, and sunroofs. We came up with a design where the metal plate goes behind the headliner and 4 threaded tube things come down through the headliner. That will allow you to find the threaded holes easier when mounting. Plus if you absolutely have no room between the headliner and the sunshade this allows you to hang the monitor from the headliner without having sharp screws pointing up.

Any other ideas you guys have for mounting overhead monitors or any suggestions at all?

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Tell the Snap-On guy I'm not here!

From what I have seen Audiovox and Panasonic monitors already have a metal mounting bracket just like that.

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Sounds like the mounting plate that comes with Rosen video systems. They have standoffs that come down from the plate and they also come with the screws(metric). They are very easy to work with.

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RonB/Esound

Any pics plz? Plus how long are the stand offs? the ones I've seen only come down to the level of the headliner. I wanted to make one that approximately come down 1-2cm down from the headliner.

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Tell the Snap-On guy I'm not here!

The Rosen studs or whatever you want to call them probably come down about a half an inch from the plate itself. I will get you a picture if I remember a lot of times I don't use the bracket they give you so I should be able to find one laying around somewhere. Unfortunately the 2 different size bolts they give you are still too short for a lot of vehicles. The bracket also just isn't ideal for a lot of vehicles. In certain vehicles, it can be an awesome and quick mount. Now if only their tv's weren't junk ;)

There's only a handful of vehicles that are really tight between the headliner and sunroof shade. Most are manageable without much risk. If it comes down to it I just use my own metal plate and bring bolts down through the plate, put the tv up, and put nuts on the end. Works fine..

Good luck,

Mike

Cool still waiting on the pic mike if you have one!

What is the concensus on the trims or bezels around the monitor. I like the whole profile of a monitor to be slim yet rounded. And not look like a pizza box bolted to my roof. But people want a thick bezel so they can grind it down to match contours. I can't remember the last time i've grinded something to match a countour. Also when I did grind it, it didn't look as 100% as if it came molded like that.

So my question is Thick or thin?

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Tell the Snap-On guy I'm not here!

I cut shrouds to fit the contours all the time. Nothing worse than a tv that has no extended shroud available I can't stand that. We get customers with their own equipment from time to time and usually that junk doesn't have any shroud. Looks like hell I like the look of a shroud over flush mounting to be honest. The Audiovox and Visteon shrouds are great because I can score them with a razor blade, and snap them off leaving a nice clean cut. No grinding necessary that gets too messy. The Magnadyne extended shrouds I had to use a damn jigsaw to cut them because they were too thick, what a pain. And I forgot about this thread, but I will post a pic tomorrow I know we have one sitting around the shop.

Mike

Ok as promised here's what I have for the mounting plate. I found one at the shop that was the complete plate, but with all the studs broken off. Then I found another with the mounting plate cut down, but all the studs in tact. You sort of have to visualize what the full one with the studs would look like. The studs can easily be broken off with a pair of pliers so you can cut off the ones you don't need. Hope it helps!

- Mike

I would also love to hear some ideas, I have a raw 10.5"tft monitor, all set to mount in something, but have no housing