Monitor Stand

My computer monitor sat on a platform made entirely of Lego’s. The Legos worked for the 21" monitor that weighs 72 pounds (32kg) but it wouldn't take much force to knock it over.

This new stand is made up of steel plate, angle iron and box tubing. There is a large turnbuckle that adjusts the height of the stand from 5" to 13". Most parts are welded with a gas setup those that are not welded are brazed.

Design

It was easy to design it with a .25" plate top and base but this is overkill any type of plate bigger than .08" will work fine. Here are the plans as it was designed.
Out of laziness I omitted the turnbuckle from the isometric view.
Front View
Side View
Isometric View

Construction

Plans are like a Maps they give you a route to take. Sometimes you’ll find a better way to get there. I was going to use bar stock for the side arms but I had a bunch of square tubing left over from another project, so I modified the design a little. The steel bar would have been easier to bend. The square tubing had to be notched and caped; I did this with a 4 1/2" grinder using a cutoff wheel. After all the arms were cut I used a rosebud tip on my torch to heat the metal, after the metal is cherry color it bends really easy. The box tubing is so thin that I could have bent it without heat but this take the stress out of the steel. The arms were clamped together and checked for correct angles. With them locked into the right position I tack welded the seams so that they would not move while I welded the seams closed. Once the arms were welded I ground down the welds and cleaned the steel with 25 grit sand paper.

After the holes for the arms were drilled I began working on the mounting brackets. They were cut out of 2 inch and 3 inch angle iron.

After the brackets were drilled and ground smooth I did a rough fit to make sure everything would work. The only thing holding the brackets on is the C clamps. I brazed the brackets to the 1/8 inch plate; I had a little problem with the small plate warping from the heat but it was quickly fixed with a little hammer work. Unfortunately when I brazed the brackets onto the base sheet of plate it warped beyond repair. When lying flat the middle of the plate was about 1.5 inches off the table.

I redesigned the base and used angle iron to form a frame for the arms. This new base worked out great. I painted the top and base black and left the arms bare steel.

I replaced the Legos and now feel much better about what is supporting my monitor.