Twice the Potential Computing Disaster, Twice the Fun!

Admit it, you've always wanted to own one of these:

An expensive VESA mount, for sure... how cool would it be to environ your own adornment with this hydraulically-assisted LCD float?!?!

According to my own measurements, each hydraulic piston gives you a meager twenty-one inches (~0.5m) of up/down and fifteen inches (0.35m) of side travel. Granted, this is ample space for the average desk, but what if you wanted to stack, for example, two pistons?

Like so...

Unfortunately, these Innovative Technologies 7500 Deluxe LCD Arms don't ship factory-ready to stack in modularious harmony... this probably has to do with such important things as 'weight limitations' & 'customer liability' & a whole 'nother plethora of legal slew... so you probably shouldn't perform this hack if you worry about such trivial meh.

As with all things, we've got to start somewhere (but first, you've got to purchase two of these). I like taking things apart, so grab your hammers.

This first step destroys to create. The task at hand is to remove the swivel neck from one unit and replace it with the mount neck of the other's.

Tricky, sure, but there might be a recap at the end, and you can always pry things out, when necessary. After tapping out the flex pins from one side, flip, pull, remove.

These steps result in a simple flip on ONE of the IS7500 arm ends.

Pro Tip: use a piece of wood to tap the pins flush-to-metal (without scratching, too!)

You will now need to remove the flapper from this flipped 'base arm,' in order to attach the new swivel neck. Look on the inside track at the bottom of the old swivel (inside!)... you will need to release the bushing/clip that holds the swivel in place. Needle-nosed pliers work wonderfully, here. The base arm will end up looking like this:

Some custom hardware from Big Box Store:

Joinery action (more exciting than in Agricola, if you ask me):

These generic parts can be ordered from me (I will make a shopping list later ed.).

Since I decided to hang a 27" iMac from this contraption (31 lbs / ~ 14 kg), I wanted it to be safe and wobble-free. In order to accomplish this, our hack can't be quite as ghetto as some would envision. For example, when creating your custom top washer, you should focus particularly on the part that prevents torque in laterotwistal directions:

Compulsory legalese & madeupwords later, and you'll end up with a custom hydraulic extender (the 'base arm') something like this:

Which can be slid in to a semi-custom base adapter:

For maximum enjoyment:

Your neck will never forget the day the internet became pan-and-tiltable, reclined.