50" Plasma lift in my fireplace  

Finally finished a six month long project, getting a 50" plasma to slide in and out of my fireplace opening using a garage door opener as the lifting mechanism.

The plasma rides in a steel carrage and comes up from the fireplace nook in the basement.

I took pictures of the whole project but the system only lets me post three photos so here is just the finished product.

Didn't really know if I should post this in the construction section or the plasma section of the forum.

I am using counter weights with some pulleys to give me a 2 to 1 mechanical advantage. The steel carriage and plasma weigh about 215 lbs and I have 100 lbs of weight so with the leverage provided by the pulley system the garage door opener has to lift only about 15 lbs. Reasonable balance is required to make it run very quietly. It makes a very slight hum when it comes up, but is very quiet going down.

One problem with the 2 to 1 advantage is that the weights have to move twice the distance as the carrage so with an 8' basement ceiling height I can only throw the carriage 4'. Not enough if I want to bring the plasma all the way down so it can be watched in the basement as well as upstairs. If I ever finish that room in the basement I will add more cables and weights and do away with the leverage. Right now it is just easier to deal with the less weight.

I have a video camera mounted in the back of the Plasma pointed at the fire place. Then I just PIP the movie and the fireplace so I can see both.

JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!

Yes, I played around with that a lot. I have a dedicated home theater that I built about 4 years ago, (pictures on AVS photo section) so I was concerned about site lines etc. Right now, eye level is about 6" above the center of the screen for both the chairs and the couch in the room. Experiments showed me that about 4" higher would be perfect, but I found the present height quite comfortable with the added bonus of a nice reduction in reflections since the room is wainscoated and the lights, windows and light colored surfaces are 42" and higher.

The location was so prime, that is why I went to the effort. The way the room layed out , the fireplace was the focal point of the room. No good place to put a plasma, and even the bad places required orienting the furniture away from the fireplace. Truly a case of necessity being the mother of invention. Plus the opposite wall is totally open to a dining and kitchen area. I wanted a 50" unit so it could be easily watched from the kitchen bar and the dining area. The family room is recessed so the plasma if fully visable with good lines of site from all three areas.