Car TV Mount - Structables

Supplies and Tools

This is my first Instructable so be nice. Of note I'm leaving out specific dimensions, tool and hardware sizes as its all specific to my car and what I used. If someone replicated this project then they would need to fit it to their car and the supplies they used. I have included a fair amount of pictures but not every little bit is pictured so I hope it's enough and not to little.

SUPPLIES

TV 19" ~$100 (Best Buy)
Wood: 3/4" pine, I had scrap wood
PS3 charger stand ~$8 (Amazon)
TV Mount: LCD Monitor desk mount ~$28 (Amazon) make sure it'll fit your TV.
PS3 - this is just what I have
Wood stain: had some laying around
Straps: 2 pull tight type straps, ~$8 (Home Depot)
Hardware: 2 bolts for TV stand with washers and lock nuts. 12 Brass screws with washers.
Velcro: 2 packs, rectangle shaped ~$8 (Home Depot)
Drawer Liner: had some laying around.
Power Inverter: had one already but they run on average ~$25 dollars but can get pricey too.
Miscellaneous: headphones, headphone splitter (I've got 3 kids), and headphone jack extension.

So over all, if you had to buy everything above, save the PS3, it could cost about $200-250. You can probably do cheaper depending on what you have laying around, can reuse, or obtained through reclaiming such as the wood.

TOOLS

Table Saw
Router Table and bits
Dremel with router attachment and bits
Wood rasps
Sand paper and block
Drill and drill bits
Forstner Bit
Drill Press
Pencil
Lg square
Yard stick

Measure for Size and Cut

First a tip/suggestion on measuring. It was suggested to me on a previous project to use a metric tape measure so I gave it a try - it worked perfectly. So now I use it as often as I can. Not easily found but I did find one at Home Depot and it was one of the cheaper ones - its now my go-to tape measure.

This Car TV Mount will sit on the back of the second row, middle seat while my kids sit in the back or on either side of the middle row. I just sat in the third row and measured out the back of the chair to what I thought would give the kids leg room and also keep the board from rubbing against the two neighboring seats of the second row. Then I laid out everything on the board, checking for clearance and best position.

Cut using whatever saw you have - don't forget to be safe.

Route Edges

I used a small router table to round over the edges of the board using a half rounding bit - it's just what I had. I'm not a pro at routing but I managed to round over the sharp edges and made it look fairly even.

TV Mount and Chair Strap Holes

For the TV mount I found the center of the board, made a line, and then lined up where I thought I'd like to place the TV mount. I measured from each side and back of the mount to try at best to square it to the board. Then I marked the pre-drilled holes of the mount onto the board. I just tried to outline the predrilled holes with a pencil but it didn't transpose evenly to the board between the two holes. I just gave it my best look and used the square tool to find the "middle" of both holes. I then used the drill and made the corresponding holes in the wood board. Then I flipped the board over, simply eyeballed the middle of each hole and used a drill press with a forstner bit to counter drill holes so the nuts of the TV mount would be recessed. I had to go up a size or two on the Fostner bit to give room for a socket/wrench to fit over the nut. I was careful to not recess the back of the drill holes too much so that it doesn't impact the integrity of the board.

I also used the center line of the board to plunge cut strap holes at the front and back of the board. I used my dremel with plunge router attachment.The two traps will hand tighten the board to the chair. Random objects in a car are a safety hazard in any type of accident so I felt this was the best way I could keep it clean looking and yet trap it to the chair frame. Still not the safest but neither are two 7" monitors straped with velcro the back of two chair headrests.

Clean Up Cuts and Sanding

I used some cheap wood rasps I bought a long time ago to clean up the strap holes and they worked well. Sandpaper folder over would have worked as well. I had to use some rough sandpaper to get all the pencil lines off and then used a finer grit, 320 I think, to finish it off. I also sanded the edges that I routed earlier. This helped make them more uniformed.

Stain, Paint, or Nothing

I chose to stain the wood. I always seem think I need to buy more stain fearing I have none but now I have plenty; a little goes a very long way. I'm fairly new to staining and it made me nervous but its not bad. I would suggest reading up on staining and ensure that you have what you need before you get started. This is not what I did and it made for a mild panic when I realized I didn't have good rags to wipe off the stain, had to scramble. The color I used ended up being more brown than I really wanted and I didn't know how well it would play off all the black color of the TV, PS, TV stand, and controller stand. But, I like the look of it overall anyway. Besides, its going to sit in the back of my car on a trip for my kids. I didn't stain the bottom side of the wood - this bothered me at first but I didn't want a stained surface rubbing around on the chair back. So instead, I chose to mount some cabinet/drawer liner to the back. This helps keep its place but also give it a more finished look. I had the wrong type of screws but they worked - for now. I wanted a ninety degree at the screw head so it would be flush and I could use a brass washer under it to help cover more of the drawer liner and hold it down better. These had a sloped approach to the head (I don't know the terms but I'll try to learn later, I promise, I swear lol).

Mounting Items

Next I used the Velcro strips/patches to hold the charging stand and PS3 to the board. The velcro keeps them in place and so the kids don't throw everything around getting in and out of the car.

I used short carriage bolts with washers and lock nuts to secure the TV mount to the wood board. Sorry, didn't have a pic of this but I bet you can figure it out.

Place in Car

I placed it on the back of the seat and strapped it in. The TV mount is really nice allowing us to pitch the screen up and even rotate to the right or left. I had wanted to use two controller stands but only had room for the one but it worked out well enough, now I have a spare. I didn't have time to better secure the power cords better but maybe that will be a new project.

Thanks for reading, hope you like it. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!