4″ PVC TV Stand: Robotic Entertainment

PVC TV Stand

After finding out that at target, MDF suddenly turns to gold when shaped into a TV stand, I decided to build my own PVC TV stand.

I’d recently made a bike rack out of PVC , and was still pretty stoked about the cheapness and versatility of PVC, so I took that route. PVC is really cheap (at least the straight ends, all the money here was spent in the fittings), and easy to work with. A hacksaw and sandpaper were the major tools used here. Also, all the cuts are hidden in the fittings, so you don’t have to be too worried about how pretty your cuts are. I’ve since built my own pair of PVC Speakers and am super pleased with how those worked out too. The only think I would make note of when working with PVC is the jury is out on the particles – PVC stands for poly-vinyl chloride, and chlorine/chloride is not suitable for consumption. Be sure to work outside, use a dust-mask, DON’T use power-saws for cutting (or at least not without really good ventilation), and wash up after working with the material. I only state for full disclosure; I’m not too scared off by the adverse health effects – odds are your house is plumbed with it ;).

I got the TV flat panel mount from craigslist for about $40. Actually, it was exactly $40. This mount only rotates in phi direction, but that was fine with me, the tv mount will dictate rotation. I spent about $90 on PVC, but could have saved a lot by going smaller on the feet pieces ( I couldn’t pass up the feet though ). The pics show the basic construction: Cut everything to length, screw the wall mount to the PVC, paint, dry, and assemble. everything is painted (be sure to use plastic compatible paint) and dry fit; no need for pipe glue; the TV’s weight holds everything down and together. If you notice in photo 7, I routed the cabling down through the legs and it comes out one of the feet now for a fresh, clean look. Also, I left room on the downtubes to add some speaker arms later, which I haven’t gotten around to yet.