Diy TV lift / Pop up TV's in your bus' whos made one?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Austin, Dec 9, 2013.

  1. Hi all, after seeing adverts with tellys poping out of just about anywhere these days, and them seeing the really nice LB in this months camper and bus, its inspired me to make my own pop TV in my bus.

    Most of the TV lift kits seem to be at least £300, and for large flat screens, and they all seem to be motorised. I saw a video of this one guys pop up TV where he pushed down on the top of the unit he had made then the TV popped up without a motor, just a I would like mine to.

    Has any one made one of these themselves for a small screen and put it in their bus? I have an idea of making one along the lines of a vertical drawer and an actuator pushing it up, or possible an electric window motor, but would prefer it to left with out a motor.

    let me know what you did if you have made one.

    cheers
     
  2. Thats @TheGazman s bus i think your talking about hes on here so he will prob be able to help ;)
     
  3. cool, his interior is awesome, hope he posts some info and stuff
     
  4. sANDYbAY

    sANDYbAY On benefits-won't sponsor!

    I've bookmarked this thread as this is exactly what I'd like to do with the telly in my van. No motors just popping up under spring pressure.
     
  5. What about modifying a toaster:D
     
    vanorak likes this.
  6. Got a ready made unit in the van ,it has a hole where the tele should go...:thumbsup:
     
  7. what about some gas struts from boot of a car and a push release lock, that should work but depends on how far they will lift..
     
  8. AdyF likes this.
  9. £160 not sure if that includes VAT

    Because they are balanced it shouldn't be a problem to fit a electric window motto to it
     
  10. The price is at the bottom of the page - sure you'd bet them cheaper than that on ebay or the web
     
  11. For a small TV you're best to use an electric window motor and frame mechanism. Soooo much cheaper from a breakers yard... This attached to a standard kitchen drawer slider mechanism.

    We looked at sticking a big telly in the pretender as it doesn't have a walk though, just using a small frame cupboard behind the seats and 2 wiper motors connected to the same switch to lift a 42" Samsung LED TV we have spare and nowhere to hang. Looking to sell the pretender now though and I think having it in the same place in the crewcab will send us blind!'
    :)
     
  12. sANDYbAY

    sANDYbAY On benefits-won't sponsor!

  13. i wondered about some old poptop springs i had but ............................:D
     
  14. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    One of the things I love about being away in the van, is that I'm also away from the TV!
     
    Keith.H and vanorak like this.
  15. Hi Austin, I used one of these : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Linear-Ac...utomation_Control_ET&var=&hash=item19de51ac1c The 30cm was the exact amount of lift needed to raise the "Drawer" , so I didn't need any micro switches to turn the unit off at the desired height, as they automatically stop at the maximum lift and the minimum. The TV /DVD is just mounted in a shallow box as the runners were just so expensive, I got my pal Luke to just make it like a drawer but vertical instead of horizontal. The actuator bolts right underneath the centre of the bottom ie under the TV, mounted off centre as the TV was heavier on the DVD side, just to balance the weight up. The uprights on the side of the drawer actually extend down into the Buddy seat about 10" further to provide support, and were made to fit really close to stop any wobble, and were waxed to provide a bit of lube and stop the wood wearing to quickly. If it does wear at all, which it hasn't shown the slightest sign of yet, I'll just add some felt pads just inside to give bit of glide. They do a rocker switch for up and down , very cheap, or the remote version which I went for, all in all about £120 as I got a spare remote too. This did leave me with a slight dilemma as you could barely hear the TV as a) the buit in TV speakers are dreadful, and b) they were facing down into the box/drawer. So to get over this I got some old Harmon Kardon speakers out of some PC speakers I had, took the back off the TV and disconnected the in built speakers, soldered in some cables and mounted the speakers on a baffle (board) in between the runners, under the TV, so when the TV comes up the speakers line up with little grilles you can see at the front. These are actually boat vent grilles, and I put some speaker cloth behind that to stop dut getting in and hide the speakers a little better. The Tv is mounted on a regular £10 wall bracket which is attached to the back of the box, and the lid/top of the box was left removeable so you can slide the TV onto or off the bracket from above. This did mea lot of fluffing about making up some very slim plugs ffor the aerial and mains connection as there was no room, but you could just make the box deeper mount the bracket on a spacer and avoid all the agg, I was just trying to keep the Buddy seat as small as possible! Another option I thought of, to keep it VW like, was to use a front bus window winder mechanism with the winder handle mounted on the back of the buddy seat behind the front seat so you could wind it up, which would have been really cool, but ended up mounting the table top there when not in use!
     
    Majorhangover, Austin and Silver like this.
  16. Silver

    Silver Needs points/will pay!

    Seen the push down to pop up tv lift in @darren.moss bus, I believe it was fitted by @sjhjoinery. They may be able to help or advise.
     
  17. It is not law you have one at home....:D

    I look forwards to watching my dvds on a evening ,never watch them at home especially box sets...:thinking:
     
  18. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    I know but it's there so it's generally on!
     
  19. [​IMG]
    if you want a low tech solution....
     
    Majorhangover likes this.

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