Whether it’s raising an 84″ display to above head height for crowds, or bringing 55″ interactive screens within easy reach of pre-schoolers, better design adds up to winning flexibility, sturdiness and safety. Getting it wrong means less value from your display, and substantial costs and safety issues. We take a look at the latest & best options for securing, lifting and moving large displays, keeping safety and durability foremost.
Jump to: Flexirollers BalanceBox Zinterlock
There’s no question: Big displays are “in”. Whether your content is being projected onto a big screen or a giant LED display, size (and clarity) make the difference in terms of audience engagement. Add to this the demand for touch interaction on these surfaces, and it’s no surprise that large displays are becoming commonplace not just in our classrooms, but also in meeting rooms, lecture theaters, lunch rooms, shopping malls, cafe’s… well, you get the picture. Just like the tiny displays in our pockets, big displays are becoming ubiquitous.
Some of these displays are not just big in size: They can weigh hundreds of kilograms as well. Increasingly they are deployed within easy reach of the public so these displays get jostled and bumped frequently…. Never mind the occasional earthquake! The consequences of an 80″ interactive display falling to the ground from any height are catastrophic, not to mention the potential for personal injury.
Of course, those big displays are costly, driving us to find ways of redeploying these assets for wider utilisation. You might need to move a display from one room to another, or adjust it’s height instantly to suit a vertically-challenged user. Now let’s imagine that 120kg display lifted to 2 meters off the ground and on wheels, but left momentarily in the hands of an unattended class of 13-year olds….
Enter a suite of cost-effective new solutions emphasising security, mobility and flexibility for large displays.
Flexiroller
2Touch has been building Flexirollers since 2010, initially as a mobile solution for interactive whiteboard – projector combinations, and more recently to suit any display (interactive or otherwise). The distinguishing features of this trolley are its long wheelbase (2Touch insists on placing wheels widely, ideally beyond the outer edges of the display), 600mm range in electric height adjustment, and construction made to last the distance.
Redesign over the past 12 months has resulted in a new range able to cope safely with displays of up to 180kg, and lift these up to 2.1m off the ground. All Flexirollers come with a folding laptop tray.
Recent Manzana article: “Flexiroller: The Standard for Safe, Flexible, Portable Displays“
Flexirollers on line * Inquire
BalanceBox:
BalanceBox is a German company specialising in easy manual lifting of impossibly heavy objects. Manzana has implemented a number of BalanceBox solutions in New Zealand and Australia, notably in combination with 2Touch and other 84″ displays. The user requirement is for a no-buttons and no-connections solution: any user should be able to instantly adjust the height of the heavy display by simply pulling it up or down.
BalanceBox relies on strong internal springs which are tensioned during the installation to perfectly balance the weight of the display. Installing and setting them up is simplicity itself, making this a popular solution with installers (and with customers who install the units themselves). The usual care is needed to properly secure the BalanceBox to the wall behind it, and to ensure that this fastening can cope with the weight of the combined solution plus the dynamic loading applied by a user lifting or lowering the display.
BalanceBox is available in two sizes, to suit different weight classes. Please consult with us on what is to be mounted, and we can help select the right options.
See Video * BalanceBox on line * Inquire
Zinterlock:
Manzana and 2Touch Australia have developed Zinterlock: an low-cost, ultra-secure yet very simple flush-mount solution for mounting large, heavy, fragile or valuable items onto walls.
Zinterlock consists of two interlocking lengthsd of Zinterlock extrusion, plus a safety pin. Following a split batten (or “french cleat”) design, one length of Zinterlock (ie one batten) is attached to the wall while the other is attached to the rear of the object. Thus Zinterlock remains hidden from view, while enabling the object to be flush mounted onto the backing surface. A safety rod pins the two battens together, ensuring that the object cannot be lifted from its mount.
As with BalanceBox, the usual care is needed to select and fit the right fasteners such that the weight of the display (or other object) is effectively transferred to the wall.
Zinterlock’s end result is a dramatically lowered cost to suspend the item on the wall, a discrete near-flush mount, plus unbeatable security and strength.
Recent Manzana article: Securing displays & panels to walls gets easier, cheaper and safer with Zinterlock
Flexiroller, BalanceBox, Zinterlock
Three very different responses to a similar problem:
Combining easy flexibility of access to large displays,
without compromising security.