WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN FLAT PANEL TV STANDS
This website lists informative reviews, compares brands and shows the best tv stands deals online. Here you will be able to find actual news.
Having spent quite enough time and money on the television itself, the temptation exists to make a purchasing decision on a new TV stand without exercising nearly so much care. Fortunately, with a little guidance, it's easy to choose long-lasting and durable stands from among the many commercial offerings.
Some design elements immediately distinguish which units will endure and which will fail- and with an expensive television on board, you certainly want to select a stand built to last. Strong backing material and proper joinery are a must to protect your investment. Try to choose a stand which uses either biscuit joints, dowels, or tongue and groove for critical joints.
Some joinery techniques are best avoided in flat pack furniture, especially flat panel TV stands. Locking tabs and pre-drilled screws, while easy to assemble, perform poorly in terms of maintaining joint tension and resisting flex.
Substrate and veneer selection is also important; the former for endurance, the latter for aesthetics. Which substrate you select will affect the performance under load, joint strength, and moisture resistance of the unit. Whether you choose printed or real wood veneers will have an effect on moisture resistance, aesthetic longevity, and refinishing options.
FLAT PANEL TV STANDS DESIGNING FOR DURABILITY
Flat panel TV stands are similar to bookshelves, in that they will be under constant load once in place and need to be able to take the weight without sagging or going out of square. Unlike bookshelves, however, the cost of failure is much, much higher if your TV stand fails and drops its contents on the floor.
Look for units which feature strong backing material, as this will keep the unit square and prevent wobbling. Stands only bear the weight of your television correctly if the two side panels are kept parallel and vertical; once it begins to lean in one direction or the other, you're at the mercy of joint integrity to keep your flat panel TV stand- and your electronics!- from crashing to the ground.
What joinery strategy the manufacturer has selected is also important. Dowel and tongue-in-groove joints are the strongest typically employed in these units, with biscuit joints a rare- but preferable- option.
JOINERY TECHNIQUES TO AVOID
Two commonly-used joinery techniques are almost guaranteed to fail and should be avoided when selecting a flat panel TV stand.
Pre-drilled screws are okay for fixing backing in place or anchoring- but not bearing weight- in shelf installation, but perform very poorly in either MDF or particle board panels and should never be used to join casing corners. Even if reinforced with glue, screws will manage to wiggle and create movement in either of these substrates and should be avoided.
Locking tabs, also, may be very easy to assemble, but don't hold their tension extremely well over the lifetime of a unit. Pioneered in IKEA flat pack furniture, these devices use a rotating metal disc with a ramping clasp to tighten and hold a metal dowel in place, pulling the joint closed. Over time, however, they can work loose and create havoc for the durability of your stand.
KNOW YOUR VENEER TYPES
Flat pack furniture is typically veneered or painted.
Veneering refers to the practice of either printing or slicing thin, flexible sheets of wood grain and gluing them to a less attractive substrate, in order to create the illusion that a piece is made entirely from hardwood. As hardwood flat panel TV stands are very rare, it is most likely that any unit under consideration uses veneered materials in its construction.
Printed veneer sheets, while common and inexpensive, are a distant second in quality and endurance to real wooden veneers. Once these sheets tear, or are exposed to moisture, repair is impossible. Also, the consumer has fewer refinishing options; as the printed side of the sheet forms poor bonds, gluing fresh veneer or painting these materials is not recommended.
Real wood veneer, on the other hand, has several advantages over the printed sheet. It is far more durable and repair can be affected by either steaming and sanding away damage or gluing new pieces into place.
SUBSTRATES DETERMINE ENDURANCE
The three most common substrates used in flat panel TV stands are particle board, MDF, and plywood, typically either veneered or painted (in the case of the former two).
Particle board is heavy, dimensionally stable, and inexpensive. It is fabricated by taking small wood chips, infusing them with glue, and sandwiching them with either thin MDF or thick veneer sheets. The resulting material is then heated under pressure, resulting in solid sheets. Particle board does not hold machined joints well, and screws will tear loose if wiggled.
MDF is of similar manufacture, though using dust and wood fiber instead of larger wood chips. It performs similarly to particle board in terms of stability and load tolerance- along the correct axis, that is- but is very vulnerable to moisture.
Plywood is easier to machine into strong joints, and slightly more resistant to tearing and moisture than either particle board or MDF, but isn't nearly as dimensionally stable or resistant to load along its facing axis. Plywood also is much harder to prepare to a paintable surface and is typically veneered or left raw rather than painted.
http://www.cheaptvstandsdeals.com/flat-panel-tv-stands.html
When selecting a flat panel TV it is appropriate to select a TV stand to go with it. In order to install the flat panel TV stand brackets you need to find the studs in the wall with stud finder where you wish to install the brackets. Hold the brackets that you install along with the wall and make it a point to mark the area where the bolts are to be pushed into the walls. Put the top two bolts into the bracket using socket wrench. Make sure your bracket is in level or not. The flat panel TV stand should be sturdy enough to hold it and should have space to contain the extra accessories.