Rotating Monitor Mechanism

My rotating monitor design was pretty easy to build out of commonly available parts and so far has worked awesomely:

(click image for full size version)

The rotating mechanism is basically a bicycle rim that rides on roller blade wheels attached to a 2x4 frame. The roller blade wheels fit nicely inside the bicycle rim. Since the roller blade wheels ride on ball bearings and the inside of the bicycle rim is perfectly round and polished, the whole thing spins smooth as glass (even with a heavy monitor in it).

The 2x4 frame is 26" square (the inside of my cabinet is 26" wide). Just for the fun of it, I used half lap joints so the 2x4 frame lays flat but that was probably overkill and isn't really necessary. The roller blade wheels are mounted on carriage bolts that go through the 2x4s, with a flat washer on both sides of the wheel and a lock nut on the back.

Before mounting the rim, I traced it twice onto a 2'x4' piece of 3/4" plywood - one tracing of the inside and one tracing of the outside. I then cut out both circles with a jig saw. The two plywood circles are attached to each other, centered, with wood glue and screws. A large rectangle is cut in both circles for the monitor. The smaller plywood circle fits snugly inside the bicycle rim and is held in place by a few screws through the spoke holes into the edge of the plywood.

The whole contraption is mounted inside the cabinet with drywall screws through the outside of the cabinet (countersunk with a little bondo and you can't even see they are there).

Mounting the Monitor
I removed the swivel base and took the plastic case off the back of monitor to exposie the metal chassis, which fits into the rectangle cutout in the plywood circles.  Two L-shaped angle irons fasten the monitor in place.

The whole thing fits together like this:

Despite the look of it, it is actually pretty well balanced since the bulk of the weight of the monitor is the glass CRT.  The plywood is 1 1/2" thick so it also provides a pretty good surface for the monitor case to rest on.