Chose Your Own Adventure or Watch Grass Grow

For this instuctable we will be dissembling a flat screen monitor the adventure will be up to you if you want to do

paint a monitor

Or fix a monitor

Or to create an original work of art

Or a planter

Or a solar night light

or all or none of the above

well to do this we will need some stuff and things!!!

Materials

Old Monitor

screw drivers

paint

scissors

glue gun

some wire

bits of metal perhaps

solar lights

moss

plants

and an Eveready pile of junk

Start by deciding if you even want to temp yourself with the grudging, toilsome task of completing this

Fairly easy project .you have the courage ? Then proceed to step 2 at your own peril

You decided to partake of this quest . You take off the face plate from the monitor by wielding your always reliable screwdriver you side the tip of your screwdriver into the dark foreboding channels at the bottom of the monitor and slowly pry the creaking (but fragile)plastic face plate off the carapace of the dead monitor

Continue?

The next challenge awaits you Removing the screws that hold the buttons on there are 2 ya two screws that hold the buttons on you twist the wicked spirals of steel out of the plastic face plate and separate the two parts .Now the remove the base and release the dark contents inside . There are four screw securing the base to the plastic shell and also holding the actual monitor in as well A Baby attacks the work bench what do you do move the baby and continue? or retreat ?

decide now where to go as you pull the screen from the plastic housing if you want to just paint

skip to step 6

you decided to continue

you unplug all the diabolical wire that were glued in to there respective ports carefull not to tear them .Then there is a series of clipped frames holding the magic box together remove them one by one by placing your ever diligent screw driver in the slots removing the subsequent layers one at a time it could be dangerous or just plain neat . the plastic screen stuff is really cool to look at pictures do not give them justice one unparticular is magnifying and reflectiveco and clear there are plans for this

in the last frame there is a wavy edged piece of plastic with a pair of mini florescent bulbs these are what go bad and you can buy them and replace them about fifteen dollars or so

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/fl-122wh/set-of-2-ccft-lamps-white-w/inverter/1.html

if you just want to fix it stop here and replace parts and put it back together .

Want to get crazy with it Continue

spray or even brush paint the shell of the monitor and put it back together if you just wanted to paint the monitor

or continue to the next step for forestation

Warning this my disturb those who are techno pure and sensitive to electronic mutilation

put the case back together you will need some 1/4 nuts to hold the base on to the back then you go out side and collect some moss or if you are so inclined you can buy moss at a garden center or home depot . Hot glue the moss along the bottom of the monitor case and letting the case show threw in places is ok by me .

while outside it would be a good idea to find a stick or in my case it was a grape vine , you cut it to fit the screen and hot glue in the corners . Then you wrap bits of wire all over the branch leaving the ends loose I even added a piece of copper pipe strap .

so now take the magnifying clear and shiny sheet that was in the monitor and cut leaves and hot glue them on the wire ends of the branch

get some solar path lights take the bottom off measure out the size of the light and cut out of the top insert the solar light and hot glue into place . I cut a slot in the base back on step 6 that I forget to mention it can accommodate a living plant to grow through just place a plant on the back side of the base and guide it in the hole and it will grow im tempted to plant some trees in there and see how it will grow around it .Now just have to find something to do with all the other monitor components