Building a wall-mounted triple monitor stand for 65in TVs

This write-up documents the design and build of a triple monitor stand for 65in TVs in a sim-racing setup

Context

I am an avid sim-racing fan, and I have a triple monitor setup with 65in TVs, which are big and heavy. I also have a motion platform. When you put the two together, and you want to get your FOV set up correctly, you realize that you need to be close to the TVs and, more likely than not, the legs of your triple monitor stand get in the way.

I had the NLR triple monitor stand, which is a great product, and the only one I have been able to find that supports 65in TVs. Unfortunately, the legs of the stand (red arrow in the pic below) get in the way with the legs of the motion platform (blue arrow in the pic below), particularly since the latter moves to the sides.

Stand legs get in the way of the motion platform.

This forces one to position the platform further from the monitors than desired, or have the wrong field of view.

Thus, I decided to fix this problem by building my own triple stand.

The Goals

Given my room setup, I wanted to leverage the wall as much as possible and, if I could, do away with legs altogether. I wanted to arms to be as fixed as possible so that the angle doesn’t get out of whack, and I wanted an accurate way to mount the monitors so I can align them and level them.

The Design

Took some measurements, fired up Fusion 360, and sketched the design shown in the picture below.

Design for triple monitor mount, with rig and motion platform

I modeled the rig, motion platform, and the position of my eye (the vertical mast in the middle) all to scale to make sure things would fit. A side view is shown below.

Side view, with the eye in optimal FOV position

More specifically, of course, what I would be building would be only the mount (shown below). I would use extrusions, and I would secure all connections with fasteners (not modeled). In addition, to alleviate the weight of the monitors, I would somehow support the end of the arms with a steel cable connected to the ceiling (also not modeled)

Componentry

First, the aluminum extrusions and fasteners.

• 8040 extrusion, 1100mm x 2 (arms)
• 8040 extrusion, 2000mm x 1 (center beam)
• 8040 extrusion, 500mm x 4 (vertical posts)
• 8080 extrusion, 250mm x 4 (horizontal spacer extrusions)
• 90-degree, 80x80 fastener x 16 (between vertical posts and 8080 extrusions)
• 90-degree, 40x40 fastener x 8 (to support center beam to vertical posts)
• “T” steel plates x 16
• covers

Then, I needed to connect the center beam to the arms, and I decided to use Simlabs XERO-PLAY mounts (these ones)

For mounting and adjusting the TVs onto the extrusions, I decided to use the VARIO VESA kit from Simlab (this one) with the 200mm VESA adapter.

However, since my TVs are 400x300 VESA, I needed to adapt the 200x200 from the Vario to it, and I used these ones from Amazon (these ones)

A ton of T-nuts and 16mm button-head M8 screws (about 300), as well as two ceiling hooks and a couple of steel cables, complete the needed parts.

The Construction

Below please find a series of pictures that show the progression. A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say… :-)

For the vertical posts that go into the wall, I used a bench drill and made two holes to bolt them securely to the studs. Let’s hope it holds…

Left: used a digital level to maintain horizontal and vertical as best I could; Center: the bolt and washer fits inside the square extrusion; Right: the left support tower with almost all the fasteners

Left: Completed left support tower, working on the right one; Center: the beam installed, and leveled; Right: the XERO PLAY joints

Left: Trusted angle cutout (70 degrees); Center: VARIO, 200mm, extension, mounted; Right: Arms installed!

Left: Right arm, with the steel cable; Center: center beam, after we raised it; Right: Top down view, left TV missing

Left: my wife, cleaning the screens; Center: left arm, level; Right: gorilla tape to keep it tidy

A few comments on the process, and pictures above:

• I overdid it in the “towers”. Way too many fasteners. The T plates are overkill (at least).
• My design sucks in that it is brittle left/right. Not too brittle, but not the strongest. Still, it is solid with the center beam.
• Don’t overtighten. I did. What a pain.
• The XERO Plays, as great as they might be, cannot cope with the weight of the 65in TVs. No matter what we did, or how hard we tried. Fortunately, we’d planned for this eventuality by having the ceiling cable and the VARIO mounts. We ended up with everything level.
• The VARIO mounts are priceless. While the XERO plays were disappointing, the VARIO mount is worth its weight in gold. Highly recommended.
• The XERO Plays do not hold the angle. So, not only are they not strong enough to hold the weight of the TVs (sagging), but also they do not stay in place, and a quick bump would move it. Thus, in order to fix it, I added some diagonal support and now the angle is fixed, as I wanted it (see pic below)

Finally, a quick video to walk through the build.

The Cost

Don’t want to think about it. The prices are astronomical for extrusions, so that alone (with fasteners) was about USD1000. The VARIO and XERO Plays and extension add another USD200, and the hundreds of T-Nuts and bolts another USD200 or thereabouts. Given the stiffness of the result, I think it can be made cheaper, but it would still be much more than buying a triple stand (which is about USD500).

Hopefully, this helps anybody that has big monitors and is thinking of mounting them. If anybody wants the design files to modify, just email me.