How to Make a Flip up Cover face plate for an Outdoor TV

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Actuator Force Required
Force with Safety Factor of 1.5
Force with Safety Factor of 2
Center of Mass
(Ideal point to attach the end of Actuator)

We show you how to use 2 Linear Actuators to make a TV Face plate cover flip up, so that you can watch TV Outside. This is great for the Outdoor Kitchen Patio and Pool area for when you want to watch the Game outside.

Below is a drawing to help illustrate how the Linear Actuators are used and positioned to flip the lid upwards.  How you place the actuators is dependant on:

1. Weight of the TV Cover you are lifting

2. Where you install the Actuators

3. What Actuators you use to lift the TV cover.

As a rough guide below you can see that by installing the end of teh Actuator at position 3. the less force is required by the Linear Actuator to open the TV Cover, however the trade-off here is that a longer stroke Actuator is required and the longer it takes to open and close as a result of using a longer Stroke Actuator. 

However by using position 3. you are able to use a Faster Linear Actuator because less force is required. 

Using Position 1. will open faster but requires more force. We always suggest pick a Linear Actuator that will not use more than 50% of its max Load to allow for long easy life of the Actuator force required to open the TV Cover. 

How to Make a Flip up Cover face plate for an Outdoor TV

 

Lets go through the Calculations required to help you determine what actuators to use

How to make flip out cover for a TV

Above you can see the Questions you need to answer for the Calculator to calculate the final force required to open the lid. This Calculator assumes only one Linear Actuator is required which cuts down on your cost of building the entire mechanism. For lighter TV Covers this will be fine, but as soon as the weight goes over 50lbs you will likely start to see the lid bend when its fully open which may not look as good. 

Once you have the force required from the Linear Actuator Calculator its then time to choose the correct Actuator to use. 

We start by reccomending our Premium Line of Linear Actuators because they are fine to be used in outdoor Environments. 

linear actuator

With the Premium Actuators you have a choice of 3 different forces. 35lbs, 150lbs force and 200lbs force. The fastest will be the 35lbs force and the slowest will be the 200lbs force. Select the one you think makes the most sense based on the weight of the TV Cover plate. 

For operating the TV Cover plate we recommend using a wireless RF Remote control below. This remote system can run up to 2 Linear Actuators together and comes with 2 remote Fobs and is very easy to wire together. All you need is a power supply (Below)

wireless remote control

 

 We reccomend this power supply to power both the Linear Actuators and the wireless controller. This power supply can run up tp 30A at 12v thats more than enough to power the Linear Actuators and remote system, plus its water proof so its very safe for outdoor usage. 

linear actuator power supply

 

 After you have completed your project please send us pictures or videos so we can share your story with our customers and show the world what you have created. 

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