Solved the problem. Yeah baby! I moved the bolts on the arms out slightly. the stand is surprisingly strong and robust. call it overclocking the stand
"The [smaller side panel] Princetons may change depending on how they work out".... http://elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1356857 Sooo, you've been huge-hobby-holding-out on us - setting us all up - having ordered the 24" monitors all along, right? http://elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1357506
lol, doesn't everyone carry spare monitors around in case of failure? kidding kidding. originally, I ordered five 22" dells with the intent of 2 being the vertical side panels. but surprise, they were too tall (wide). it's possible, but looked bad. so I went to the store, bought some 19" and they fit, but not quite to my taste. then I adjusted the stand, and voila. beautiful. of course, by next week I'll really want the 24's, and swap the 22's out for those.
Very nice! Here's a picture of the back of my array with over-extended arms. One can only see part of the panels as they curve around out of view. To overclock your stand further, add a 1.5" diameter short pole to the center of the stand as shown in the picture. The pole is not visually seen at the top or bottom of the array. This improves rigidity greatly. The fans can also be seen that I have on the top 3 panels. Note that they plug into the 12 volts at each panel and turn off when the panel turns off. The voltage dropping resistor for the fan power can also be seen. This causes the fans to run at very low speed so that noise is low but still moving air through the panel.
Great minds think alike I've extended my arms like you have. Good idea about the center pole. Is it the same 28" pole as the others? Good idea also about the fan. unfortunately, only the 30" has a 12 volt for the sound bar. do they need a fan? will they burn out without airflow? Thanks StockzTrader.
Great! The pole I have is 22". This length varies depending on the distance between the two crossbars. Since you have a 30" panel, a 22" may be fine. I measure a minimum of 18" for my 24" panel array. I think ergotron sells a short pole, but not for this purpose. Since I did not want to wait for a pole, I did the next best thing. Ran down to the local hardware super store and bought a 3-section 1.5" diameter black Lamp for $20. Removed the center section and ended up with much more support for my Erogtron and an extra short lamp All Dell panels should have the 12 volt jack for running the AS500/AS501 sound bar. I use the bottom 3 for the AS501 sound bars and the top 3 for the fans. The fans are purely optional. Since my panels are stacked on top of each other and heat rises, the top panels were just to hot from the added bottom panel heat in my opinion. I measured the panels with an IR temperature device for confirmation. One may call this over-doing it Since you have air space between your panels, it is fine.
Smart! on the lamp. I think I'll head to the local computer store to see what fans they have. where did you buy the step down voltage resistor?
got another question. my 22" top panels seem to have a limited vertical viewing angle. if I leave them straight, they are faded and I can't really read them. So I have to use the pivots vertically and face them slightly downwards to see clearly. Do you have the same problem with the 24's? I don't mind as turning them down makes them easier to see anyways. but I'm interested to see if higher grade monitors have this problem. Thanks.
The 12 volt fans are 3.5", single bearing. Added finger guards. The resistors are 56 ohms 1 watt and two are wired in series for a total of 112 ohms 1 watt, and in series with the fan voltage. The fan actually receives about 5 volts, and thus the slower speed. These values may vary depending on the fan. One does not need the resistors, as the 12 volts direct is fine. The resistors came from a local store. Radio Shack carries the coaxial plug that plugs into the panel. This is all way too nerdy