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Old 26th Jun 2021, 6:37 pm   #21
MartinMarris
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

I think I have more or less decided. I will purchase a "micro" motorised standing desk with a 100cm (W) by 60cm (D) desktop. The model I am looking at has 120Kg bearing capacity. I will build a simple sling to fasten the Pye underneath the desktop.

My flatscreen TV, which is a small 24" model, will go on the top of the desktop. I will build some kind of cabinet around the bottom of the standing desk, although it does not have to be particularly fancy and because this is going in a corner of the room, it could just be an L-shaped wooden cover for esthetic reasons.

The solution is not ideal because the standing desk, when deployed upwards, will display legs on either side of the Pye, and a desktop above it. But it is a simple solution, and the house is a small bungalow, there's not much scope for fancy stuff. The 24" flatscreen TV is very lightweight and easy to disconnect and stow away during times when we watch the Pye. Or it can stay on the desktop above the Pye, but that would look even sillier.
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Old 26th Jun 2021, 6:44 pm   #22
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

The flatscreen set is ... well, very flat. So I could build a small shelf on the back of the sling that holds the Pye, and prior to "elevating" the Pye into position, drop the flatscreen set back onto that shelf. I think that will work. It would avoid having to disconnect all the cables from the flatscreen when stowing it away.
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Old 26th Jun 2021, 8:16 pm   #23
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What about hinging the LCD job over the proper telly, it would also act as a dust screen for the CRT, win win.
 
Old 26th Jun 2021, 9:08 pm   #24
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

i remember back in the early 90s [i think] a friend having one of those [what we thought at 32 inch was huge] CRT sets set into the plasterboard wall in the lounge .The back of the TV sticking out into the cupboard under the stairs .I have to say it did look much better than having the monstrous thing in the corner of the room
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Old 26th Jun 2021, 9:32 pm   #25
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

Anyway, long and short of it is that SWMBO was (rightly) saying there was "nowhere to put" the Pye and this is a neat solution.

I've found a standing desk that has the option, for an extra fee, of a real hardwood desktop instead of coated office-grade MDF so it will look nice too, especially when in the lowered position, with the desktop used to support the flatscreen TV. We don't want it to look like a piece of office furniture.

In the raised position, to be used only when watching the Pye, it will be ungainly because of the legs on either side of the set and the desktop above it, but most of the time it will be in the lowered position.

I am thinking of having the bottom front of this ersatz TV stand open (no wooden panel) so that the Pye can be admired even when not in use. Or, I might put a glass panel (possibly smoked glass) there just to prevent accidental damage from people's feet, and to serve as a dust cover. Or, it might just look too "busy" having two TV sets stacked on top of each other in a corner of our small living room, so maybe I will use a wooden panel after all. To be decided later.

I will put a vertical wooden panel at the end of the desk to cover up the legs, which are black steel. It only has to be done at one end because the other end is against the wall.
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Old 26th Jun 2021, 11:27 pm   #26
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

I visited a penthouse flat in central London a few years ago. "Well appointed" would be a total understatement.
The bedroom TV was concealed in the wooden bed-frame at the foot of the bed and rose up when switched on by the remote.
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Old 27th Jun 2021, 7:44 am   #27
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

Before finalising the decision, I am also looking into using a modern motorised lift designed for flatscreen TVs, and fixing a wooden shelf to the bottom of it, for the Pye to sit on. The entire mechanism would fit behind the set (they are very thin; often less than 10cm).

The load bearing is not an issue per se, as you can easily find modern TV lifts that can hold a 65Kg flatscreen TV. The main issue is the leverage that the heavy Pye set would impose on a modern TV lift, which is not really designed for cubical (as opposed to flat) heavy TVs. It is not something you want to mess around with, otherwise you could end up with a heart-breaking crash of the TV from a 60cm height if the lift fails. I suppose one option would be to use the lift only to raise the set, and then lock it in place in its raised position with a couple of latches or even some legs underneath the front of the Pye's shelf. That would at least prevent prolonged strain on the motorised lift.

There would still be a visible lift, in the raised position, but because it is behind the set it would be easier to camouflage and less obtrusive in the first place. It would just be a plain vertical sheet of wood behind the set and in front of the lift.

I may need to get in touch directly with the manufacturers to ask about the leverage issue. There are several common lift brands.
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Old 27th Jun 2021, 8:21 am   #28
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronpusher0 View Post
Use the mechanism from a reclining chair, these have the strength as they are designed to recline and raise a normal (and indeed obese) human being.
These are often dumped or offered free, after all the condition of the upholstery does not matter.

Peter
Strangely enough, there seems to be a lot of commonality between the TV lifts and the reclining chair mechanisms. So much so, that when I research the plethora of Chinese-made TV lifts, the detailed instructions often turn out to refer to the "recliner motor" or the "chair motor" in what are clearly bad cut and paste jobs!
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Old 27th Jun 2021, 9:04 am   #29
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

Yet another track for investigation is to google "scissor lift table". This is tantalizing. Most of these are either entirely manual (with a crank handle) or hydraulic (with a pump lever). I don't care, it does not have to be motorised.

Of course the great thing about a scissor mechanism is that it fits entirely under the TV and is thus basically invisible. Also, these tend to be designed for industrial or automotive environments, so there is absolutely no problem with load bearing: 500Kg and higher is not unusual.

The problem I am hitting is that at one end of the spectrum you will find motorcyle lifts. These are simple and very reasonably priced, with an excellent load bearing. But I have not found one that has a vertical "range" of more than about 40mm and that is not quite enough.

At the other end of the spectrum are the lift tables typically used in warehouses and other industrial environments. Here I run into several problems:
  • Typically these are "mobile" which means they have wheels on the bottom, and this means that the lowest they can go is about 20cm. This is not quite low enough. Chopping off the wheels could be quite hard given the thickness of the metal, and in any case the wheel height is often needed for the mechanism to nestle down into when in its lowest position.
  • The top work surface is often too large.
  • The price jumps up sharply. A motorcycle scissor jack is 40 to 70 pounds, but the "scissor lift tables" can be ten times, or even fifty times, as expensive.

Still looking!
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Old 27th Jun 2021, 10:00 am   #30
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

Quote:
Originally Posted by rambo1152 View Post
I visited a penthouse flat in central London a few years ago. "Well appointed" would be a total understatement.
The bedroom TV was concealed in the wooden bed-frame at the foot of the bed and rose up when switched on by the remote.
Reminded me of an episode of Dangerman with Patrick McGoohan, phone rings at home in the night.. Flicks switch, up pops a flat screen type TV from the bottom of the bed with report on the baddies he is to chase.. Episode will be on youtube, its a longer episode one from the later series, not a half hour one.
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Old 27th Jun 2021, 10:16 am   #31
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Quote:
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....But I have not found one that has a vertical "range" of more than about 40mm and that is not quite enough.
Sorry, of course I meant centimetres, not millimetres.
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Old 27th Jun 2021, 12:41 pm   #32
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

Success! Seek and ye shall find!

I bought a hydraulically operated scissor lift table -- see attached photo.

The worktop is 45cm deep (same as the Pye cabinet) and 70cm wide (that's 20cm wider than the Pye but it's the best I could find).

For vertical range, the lowest position is 22cm from the floor and the highest position is 72cm. I may be able to get it slightly closer to the floor by removing the wheels.

The table is raised with a foot pedal. I will either build the stand/cabinet with a trapdoor to foot-operate the pedal, or I will leave the pedal inside the cabinet if it turns out it is easy enough to operate with hand rather than foot.

The table is lowered using a brake handle, which you can see attached to the large black push-handles. I will remove the push-handles altogether and mount the brake handle inside the cabinet.

The table was too pricey for my liking, but it turned out to be by far the least expensive solution in the end. Furthermore it is perfect esthetically because the scissor lift will be invisible, hidden inside the stand/cabinet at all times, regardless of whether one is watching the modern flatscreen TV or the raised Pye.

Because the lift is only 45cm deep, I may even be able to build a vertical slot into the back of the stand/cabinet into which the flatscreen TV (which only weighs a few kilos) can be lowered without having to disconnect the cables. The slot can be covered with a hinged door.

The load bearing is 150Kg!

Finally, if this turns out not to be fit for purpose, I can keep it as a valuable tool: a great back-saver when lifting old tellies off the floor!
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Old 5th Jul 2021, 5:19 pm   #33
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

The scissor lift has arrived. It will do very nicely. It is a very nice tool, it is almost too bad to be planning to condemn it to live inside a TV cabinet!

Pictures attached.

When the table is loaded with the Pye TV, operating the foot pedal is a vigorous enough task that I will try to build the cabinet such that it has a small door on the side for inserting the pedal. The alternative would be to put the pedal inside the TV stand and operate it with a hand rather than by foot, but that is probably too awkward.

The scissor table is 75cm wide (this is the narrowest I could find). It will be concealed into the right-hand end of a wooden TV stand/cabinet. The entire cabinet will be between 110cm and 120cm wide, big enough to have some shelves to the left for the usual audio-visual equipment.

For simplicity, the modern flatscreen TV will probably just be unplugged and shoved into another room when the Pye is in use. In theory the stand/cabinet could be designed with a slot in the back, for storing the flatscreen TV, but that would probably make this piece of furniture deep enough to be ugly and burdensome.

Unfortunately the wheels on the bottom of the scissor lift cannot be removed, because they provide clearance for the bottom of the hydraulic cylinder. So, the top of the stand/cabinet will be relatively high (72cm) but I don't think that is a problem with these relatively small screens. The Pye is 17" and the flatscreen is 24".

I will be removing the big push-handle that you see on the right (it is held on with a couple of bolts). The "brake" handle, which lowers the table, can be mounted inside the cabinet in an accessible place. When actuated, the TV gently lowers its way to the lowest level (22cm above the floor).

Edited to add: come to think of it the ideal old telly for that table lift is one with a rectangular cabinet and the controls on the side of the screen, not the bottom. A Bush TV125 or something like that. In that case, the tube would not be quite so high off the floor.
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Old 5th Jul 2021, 5:48 pm   #34
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

You must have a very understanding lady to put up with that in the living room. It would look better at home on the platform at Waterloo Station.. John.
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Old 5th Jul 2021, 6:17 pm   #35
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Quote:
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You must have a very understanding lady to put up with that in the living room. It would look better at home on the platform at Waterloo Station.. John.
She's away with the grandchildren until the end of the week. I should probably make sure that the scissor table disappears, only to reappear in a few months entirely concealed inside the new piece of furniture. So it will in fact never be seen.

I have told her about it, but it is one thing to talk about it, and another to actually see the thing!

Edited to add: The Robin Day design for the Pye TV is a beautiful piece of furniture in itself. I am going to try to make the new TV stand/cabinet match the Pye in wood grain and tint. It is probably beyond my woodworking skills (and I just don't have the tools or workshop space at present) so this may well end up being done by a professional. I have already obtained approval from SWMBO for that potential expense.

One more edit: The scissor lift has a maximum of 50cm lift but the set is 51cm high. Slightly awkward. On the other hand there is a wooden plinth at the bottom, painted black, and it really doesn't matter if the plinth does not completely emerge from the TV stand/cabinet. Another possibility would be to cut the plinth off, but I can already hear the howls of outrage on this preservationists' forum! Especially for something that won a design award!
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Old 5th Jul 2021, 6:33 pm   #36
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Default Re: TV Motorised Lift

I've had another thought. That would be to make the new TV stand/cabinet much less wide than the above-mentioned 110cm to 120cm. Instead, make it about the same width as the existing wooden one that you seen in the photo (edited to add: that is 80cm).

That however would eliminate any shelving for the usual stuff: DVD player, STB, audio amplifier and so forth, that are connected to the flatscreen TV. However, the DVD player can be elsewhere in the living room. In the last house we lived in, I fed the TV with a 7-metre HDMI cable from a PC on the other side of the living room and it worked fine.

Things like iPlayer and so forth: No problem, they are piped directly into the flatscreen TV via wifi.

In this new scenario, the new TV stand is no wider than the old one, just a little bit deeper (actually only about 10cm to 15cm deeper, and no more obtrusive in the living room, just a little bit closer to the radiator).
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