heatsinker
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2001
- Messages
- 5,479
It's aluminum, in fact, there's actually very little plastic on the monitor.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Actually, the handle is NOT aluminum. The handle is injection molded plastic with some plastic grey paneling stuck on top with adhesive (speaking from my experience disassembling the mount).
Aside from the handle, the base and column segments are made of aluminum. The column is basically an extruded piece of stock with some interior channels which mounting screws thread into to secure the monitor. From my inspection, this is NOT a part that will hold up well to continual disassembly and reassembly. It would be extremely easy to totally strip out the channel by hand with just a small screwdriver. If you plan to take it apart for some reason as I did, be careful.
The actual mounting hinge/joint feels like some sort of cheap die cast material, similar to what matchbox cars are made out of.
The mounting point on the back of the monitor is a series of simple holes in the aluminum body which have a steel plate on the other side. This steel plate is where the M4 threads are. The plate is still quite thin, so be careful screwing it back together. It would be bad news to strip those out.
Also, unrelated to the above, I recently noticed a pretty bad brightness inconsistency in the lower middle area of the screen when representing grays. I mainly notice it when I open Photoshop. The default workspace background really brings it out.
At any rate, aside from the cheap quality (although decent looking) mount, and awful controls, this monitor is pretty decent, especially for the price.
I got rid of the default mount entirely, and to alleviate the problem of shoddy controls I started using AutoHotKey and a script to automatically send all panels into standby, so I don't have to mess with the unresponsive power button.
Also a weird performance quirk I've observed is that every time my panels all go into power save mode, the DS-305W always flashes a full screen red, green, or blue image (one of these, randomly). Not sure if this is normal for big panels (maybe dual link dvi related?), but none of my other smaller panels ever do this.
Oh, and the power brick is pretty big and it gets extremely hot.
When I went to visit the parents for the holidays (and the milling machine and lathe!), I decided to come up with a project for myself. Ever since I got my DS-305W I've been dissatisfied with crappy crappy stand and the lack of a standard VESA mount. I designed an adapter plate to go from the proprietary DS-305W bolt pattern (M4 15mm x 34mm) to a standard 100mm x 100mm VESA pattern.
Here you can see the proprietary mounting pattern:
In addition to the four threaded holes, there were 2 additional holes for a set of pins which were cast onto the original mounting hardware. I believe these pins are not only for locating, but also load bearing, so I decided to include them in my design.
Below you can see the monitor-side of the finished part, milled out of a solid block of 7000 series aluminum, care of the LTV scrapyard of years past (if anyone in DFW can remember that far back...).
I machined the pins from steel on a lathe with a precise outer diameter to match the cast parts (0.1365"), with the lower end sized so I could press-fit them into the aluminum part. The protrusion left after milling the body of the part is to fit the recess on the back of the monitor, as can be seen in the first photo. The recesses around the corner holes are a hair over 7mm in width, to fit the 7mm hex nuts for an M4 machine screw (those used in a VESA mounting kit) so that I don't have to hold the nuts to the back.
I decided to use nuts instead of installing threads in the part for simplicity. I don't like putting load bearing threads in aluminum, just because it is so easy to strip or gal them out, and I didn't feel like messing with helicoils when what I came up with is so easy and adequate by comparison.
Here is the VESA-mount-side of the part. The recess in the center is to allow clearance for the bolts (and any washers that may be necessary to shim them to the correct bolt depth) when the VESA plate is flush-mounted to the adapter.
Finally, here is the whole thing installed and mounted on an Omnimount WS-3 I have.
Now that I know it all fits and works great, I need to order another WS-3 mount so I can put my second portrait mode 20" back where it belongs!
Could you post the CAD drawings you used to create this adapter plate?
Thanks!
http://rapidshare.com/files/217595145/ds305w_mount.rar.html
The drawings in the pdf are accurate, the included cad file was made in Solidworks 2008, and is not quite up to date. I don't know where the updated cad file went, because I modified it on site and didn't bother sending the updated file back to myself, apparently.
Keep in mind that you make/use this thing at your own risk. I'm obviously not responsible, and Doublesight would surely void your warranty if they were to find out you even removed the stand.
http://rapidshare.com/files/217595145/ds305w_mount.rar.html
The drawings in the pdf are accurate, the included cad file was made in Solidworks 2008, and is not quite up to date. I don't know where the updated cad file went, because I modified it on site and didn't bother sending the updated file back to myself, apparently.
Keep in mind that you make/use this thing at your own risk. I'm obviously not responsible, and Doublesight would surely void your warranty if they were to find out you even removed the stand.
well it's been 6+ months now, and unfortunately I have a negative to report. I don't really know how to explain it, but over time, I've gotten some weird streaking, almost like a water spill, inside the lcd along the left side of the monitor. Can only see it on certain background. For example, on this page i can't see it at all, though on my desktop which is bluish, it's a bit more pronouced. I'll see if I can get a clear picture to get your input. It's really not a big deal, don't even notice it most of the time, except I'm kinda funny about spending $1K and not having a perfect product 6 months down the road. Going to call DS support tomorrow, but man, having to ship and insure it out thwere and prepay for the return just sucks. Now I remember why I always tried to buy my monitors from local B&M stores. (I got this one at Newegg).
too bad. Can you show us some pics of the "waterspill".
http://rapidshare.com/files/217595145/ds305w_mount.rar.html
The drawings in the pdf are accurate, the included cad file was made in Solidworks 2008, and is not quite up to date. I don't know where the updated cad file went, because I modified it on site and didn't bother sending the updated file back to myself, apparently.
Keep in mind that you make/use this thing at your own risk. I'm obviously not responsible, and Doublesight would surely void your warranty if they were to find out you even removed the stand.
I've just finished my own homemade VESA plate following your plan:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ariess/HazroVESAAdaptorPlate
I bought a 20x20cm aluminium plate on ebay and only had access to a hacksaw and drill so the result is a bit rougher, but it works!
Your design saved me a lot of measuring, thanks!