Portable DVD mount

[os1kne]

I was looking for a way to mount a portable DVD player in my wife's 2004 Explorer for my kids to view for a road trip. I looked at options, and it seemed that the only feasible option was to have it hanging from a braket between the front seat headrest posts, and I was going to make my own mount for this. While I was measuring and figuring out the best way to deal with the seats being set for different positions (I'm considerably taller than my wife, and she often reclines her seat on long trips) - and this would change the position of the portable DVD player. It occurred to me that putting a mount for the portable DVD player in the console would be much better - and if I could use the cup holders as a mounting point it wouldn't impair access to the console.

My kids are in car seats that have cup holders, and they aren't able to work the DVD player themselves, so this appeared to be a great solution for me. I came up with a mount for a portable DVD player that is easy to make with common tools and inexpensive parts that are readily available from any home improvement store (HD, Lowe's, etc.). Here's a list of the parts:

1 - piece of 8.5" x 8.5" wood or plywood .75" thick
2 - 5/16" t-nuts
2 - 5/16" x 2.5" long carriage bolts
6 - 5/16" fender washers
6 - 5/16" nuts
2 - 2" electrical pvc couplings
4 - 2" pvc test plugs
4 - small pieces of 2"pvc (each 1.5" long or so)
shelf liner - preferably foam rubber type (to keep player from sliding)
spray adhesive
liquid nail (to fill most of the pvc coupling assembly for additional mass)
pvc cement

I've taken some pics that show what I did. Basically the pvc couplings wrapped with a layer of the shelf liner fit snugly in the cupholders (w/o the shelf liner there is some rocking).

 

[os1kne]

Here's a closeup of the pvc assembly. Basically the small pvc pieces are cemented into each side of the coupling. These are needed to seat the pvc plugs. The pvc plugs have a 5/16" hole drilled in the center of each and have the carriage bolt pushed through with fender washers and nuts.

Apparently the file exceeds my limit - sorry.

I hope that some of you find this useful, after almost 15 years of owning 4 different Explorers I've learned a lot from this site and I'm happy that I could contribute something.

 

[v8mouse]

Great post and write up, I believe I will do just this once I find a cheap dvd player! Thanks! or maybe a cheap used lap top with a dvd player in it? power is right there too!
Mickey

 

[pwrshft99]

I admire anybody who can build something nice on there own. Most my DIY shots end up in failure.

Grandma got my son a 7" dvd player with case for his birthday but i was having a hell of a time mounting it securely somewhere visible.

I've seen flip down screens on amazon under $125 and I'm thinking I'm going to get a banned xbox360 to use with it. Dvds if need be but have most the stuff on a hard drive so it doesn't get lost, scratched or stolen... and they wont skip when daddy drives.. : )

 

[os1kne]

Thanks for the kind words. This really was an easy project. I should have taken pics step-by-step, but once I got the idea I ran with it - not sure if it would work or not. The placement of the t-nuts in the wood was the only thing that required much precision. I'll place the measurements that I used for this later.