Stealth TVs 101

[krazycure]

Thought some people might like to watch an old projection screen tv turn into an auto stealth cab.*

Starting out, fresh from salvage. Its a biggie.*



Front speaker grill removed (attached only with velcro as most are), unscrewing the front panel is needed to get to innards.



Unit with front panel and speaker grill removed:



Showing how the inner front panel comes off:



Inside, the color bulbs need to be removed:



Underneath them, the motherboard assembly needs to be removed:




Pulling a martha stewart: whew! all done.
*


Above those bulbs, was a mirror. We don't need this anymore. Off she goes!




Since there are no screws (just glue and nails), we have to beat the acoustic cabs the speakers are set in into submission to reclaim their space. With no sledehammer available: i opt for bolt cutters




Almost there. It's a lot of work.




Stay tuned for primer, paints and lights!

 

[Bob_J]

nice. can you give the outside dimensions of the tv?

 

[krazycure]

Finishing up

Finishing up

So after a few coats of primer and a couple more of paint, the cab is about ready to have lights and fan mounted. I decided I didn't really like the plastic back of the unit, so this was replaced with a cheap piece of plywood. I guess it hurts the stealth factor a bit, but if they are looking at the back of the tv then you're probably screwed anyways once they see all wires and tubes and light traps and such.




The 150W HPS will be mounted inside a 'coolbox', a poor man's cool tube. It's just a small 1ftx1ft box wrapped in duct insulation with the reflecter. It sits atop a piece of glass with foam strips inside the four mounting brackets above. Two fans on the back of the unit actively cool the box.



After everything is mounted and installed, we're ready!

 

[growshower]

nice engineering man, haha this is great

 

[IceColdCrickets]

now all i need to do is find one of those TVs! thanks KC!

 

[silentspider]

should be interesting to watch this. stoners are one of the craftist people on this earth. i knew that Macgiver show from the 80s would come in handy

 

[yellowbluegreen]

you could have the light mounted flush to the top of the cabinet and have the working bits of the light and cooling ducted through a box that you mount on the top of the TV, which could be made to look like a center-channel speaker. Just an idea, if you want to conserve more space (vertical) in the cab

You'll likely get better performance (lower fan rpm, so quieter, for the same cooling performance) if you use some solid (smooth) ducting for that light instead of that flexi stuff if you don't plan to raise/lower the light.

Who says there's nothing good on TV?