EXPEDIT/KALLAX beefed up as TV & Media Furniture

The Start
After more then 10 years having the same bulky 4:3 TV set, we allowed us an upgrade, and went for a bigger and more stylish flatscreen TV. Our previous TV was much smaller and was hidden, with all the other electronics, in a cupboard. The much larger flatscreen required a new solution! So we went for a telescopic wall mount and started to look for a piece of furniture that could hold all the electronic equipment attached to the TV. I couldn’t find something that fulfilled all my requirements, so I thought: “Hey, let’s see what Ikea has to offer!”. I just wanted a reason for my first Ikea Hack Project.

The Material

– 1 EXPEDIT 2×2. The new KALLAX will work as well.
– 4 EXPEDIT inserts with door
– 1 Aluminum Metal Sheet with slits
– Cabel Raceway for the cabel management
– Single-sided adhesive tape
– Power rail
– A few screws

Note on the metal sheet: This metal sheets will ensure sufficient ventilation. You can also drill a lot of holes in the backside of the inserts if you like or use some fabric which is not too dense.

The Tools

– A router or jig saw to cut out the openings at the back
– Power drill
– Metal shear to cut the aluminium sheet
– Saw
– Screwdriver

The Build

Take on of the inserts and mark the outlet openings where the cables are put through. Use some tape to draw on. This will not leave any pencil marks on the white surface.
Cut the metal sheet in 4 pieces and mark the area on the back of the insert where you’ll fix them to the sheet for ventilation.

Build5Build3
Build4

Make a pile of the inserts and clamp them toghether so that they are always at the same position relative to each other.

I drilled 4 holes through the whole pile and screwed the inserts onto a piece of flat wood (see above) to have a compact block to work on. If you use a jigsaw, it’s probably easier to cut the opening on each individual insert.

Build2 Build1

Cut out the marked openings using a router.

Build6 Build7

Now take the metal sheets and place them on the backside of the inserts. Fix them in posion with some adhesive tape. Picure got lost, sorry.

The Assembly
Finally, after the preparatory work on the inserts, assemble the EXPEDIT.

Measure and cut a piece of cable raceway so that the it can be screwed to the back. The idea is not to have the perfect cable management system. It’s good enough when you cannot see any cables between the furniture and the flatscreen. Forgot to take a picture before I put all all the cables through, but you should get the idea.

Take some screws and mount the power rail to the back.

Backside viewFinal

The Result
Here the product in it’s final state. This setup is in use for quite a while now and the ventilation has proved to be more than sufficient.

Final1 Final door open

See it in action when clicking on the next pic 🙂

FinalAnim
Final door open front
Final Insert

Thanks for reading.