Panasonic 37" LED TV Install
Our 30 Mitsubishi LCD "cabin heater" was getting a little long in the tooth and was in need of repairs to correct the green cast. Given the price of new TV's I decided on a Panasonic 37" LED unit. Full 1080p and 39 watts power consumption, plus the fact I needed something large enough to cover the old cavity made me choose the Panasonic. Not many brands manufacture 37" units any more.
This was the old TV, which had an odd shape compared to new HD units. Whoever did the original installation must have intended it would survive a collision at sea, even with an Italian cruise ship. It was very well installed, including the fabrication of a custom extra wide cabinet.
The new TV had a convenient 1/4" flange which would allow a "drop in" fit, but would require some sort of blind mounting system. I chose this simple low profile mount:
The idea behind these mounts is that the top rail is hung first on an angle then the bottom clicks in by pushing the tv towards the wall. Fine if you're mounting on a wall. Unfortunately, this didn't work out because of the geometry and clearances of the "drop in" cavity. I needed the bracket to stand off out of the cavity, then fit into the cavity once the tv was engaged in the mounting track.
Hence the 3 inch long 3/8" carriage bolts and wing nuts which allowed enough stand off of the wall portion of the bracket during the preliminary fit:
Once the TV was loosely positioned into the cavity and the track was engaged, I tightened the wing nuts from the bottom and behind the plywood mounting plate. This essentially sucked the TV into the cavity with the TV flange covering the edges of the cavity on the top and sides.
I added an angle bracket on the bottom to take most of the weight of the TV and to ensure a robust installation.
Our 30 Mitsubishi LCD "cabin heater" was getting a little long in the tooth and was in need of repairs to correct the green cast. Given the price of new TV's I decided on a Panasonic 37" LED unit. Full 1080p and 39 watts power consumption, plus the fact I needed something large enough to cover the old cavity made me choose the Panasonic. Not many brands manufacture 37" units any more.
This was the old TV, which had an odd shape compared to new HD units. Whoever did the original installation must have intended it would survive a collision at sea, even with an Italian cruise ship. It was very well installed, including the fabrication of a custom extra wide cabinet.
The new TV had a convenient 1/4" flange which would allow a "drop in" fit, but would require some sort of blind mounting system. I chose this simple low profile mount:
The idea behind these mounts is that the top rail is hung first on an angle then the bottom clicks in by pushing the tv towards the wall. Fine if you're mounting on a wall. Unfortunately, this didn't work out because of the geometry and clearances of the "drop in" cavity. I needed the bracket to stand off out of the cavity, then fit into the cavity once the tv was engaged in the mounting track.
Hence the 3 inch long 3/8" carriage bolts and wing nuts which allowed enough stand off of the wall portion of the bracket during the preliminary fit:
Once the TV was loosely positioned into the cavity and the track was engaged, I tightened the wing nuts from the bottom and behind the plywood mounting plate. This essentially sucked the TV into the cavity with the TV flange covering the edges of the cavity on the top and sides.
I added an angle bracket on the bottom to take most of the weight of the TV and to ensure a robust installation.
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