How Many Screws Does It Take To Hold Up A Projector And Cage?

[SYSMAN_MK]

This many it seems!

From a ceiling mounted projector complete with cage that was installed recently by a Becta approved supplier two months ago! At least I now know why the pole rocked when you touched it.

[tech_guy]

Yikes!

[Lee_K_81]

Complain it fell on somebody's head and that you'll be sueing them, then when you get through to somebody senior enough tell them it didnt but was very close to it. Possibly worth contacting Becta, but i can see now where it will go. The company that "fitted" the projector was Becta recommended, but the subcontractors who actually fitted it arent.

[IcedEarth]

When I started at my school we had a BECTA approved supplier. In my experience after three years in the game, BECTA approved IMHO means very little.

[Joanne]

now that's what I call a joke! (geddit?!)

[torledo]

This many it seems!

From a ceiling mounted projector complete with cage that was installed recently by a Becta approved supplier two months ago! At least I now know why the pole rocked when you touched it.

Having installed one or two projectors myself, i'll hazard a guess as to why only 2 screws were used. I'm assuming the mount was screwed into some timber, either a joist running parallel to the screen or a bit of 2x2 or 4x4 wedged in between the joists. In which case they would only have been able to attach two of the four corners you'll find on most brackets.

I have a projector installed in a low ceilinged room where the CDT dept. fabricated a metal support for us which we screwed at either side into the joists. We then used two threaded rods rather than 4...it wobbles a little bit but it's secured safely to the joists and the rods are secured safely with nuts top and bottom.

Ofcourse it's still shoddy work to be using only two screws becuase it's much easier to pull the whole thing out...they would have been better served imo to have used threaded rods. Either way, screws or rods it might not have been possible to secure all four corners/points of the bracket.

[K.C.Leblanc]

Having installed one or two projectors myself, i'll hazard a guess as to why only 2 screws were used. I'm assuming the mount was screwed into some timber,

Rawl Plugs with wood?

My old school had to have a projector remounted after a caretaker reinforced a ceiling tile with a plank and just screwed the bracked to it.

[torledo]

Rawl Plugs with wood?

My old school had to have a projector remounted after a caretaker reinforced a ceiling tile with a plank and just screwed the bracked to it.

oops, should have zoomed in on the picture.

But my point is still valid about using 2 screws instead of 4. In some cases it isn't practical to connect all corners.

MAybe sysman can be kind of enough to post a picture of the area where it was mounted, although i take his word that they were cutting corners

[enjay]

Either way, screws or rods it might not have been possible to secure all four corners/points of the bracket.

Arguably that is the point at which you look for an alternative place to mount it, especially since by your own admission it "wobbles a little bit" so obviously isn't completely secure.

We had one sub-contracted company do some installations here once, and they were so hard to work with that I ended up telling our supplier that I wanted a different company to come in and finish off, and the first one were only allowed back on site if it was to apologise!

[bossman]

4x60mmx10mm rawlbolts into precast concrete you can swing off them (15+stones) hehe ;-)

[torledo]

Arguably that is the point at which you look for an alternative place to mount it, especially since by your own admission it "wobbles a little bit" so obviously isn't completely secure.

We had one sub-contracted company do some installations here once, and they were so hard to work with that I ended up telling our supplier that I wanted a different company to come in and finish off, and the first one were only allowed back on site if it was to apologise!

It's secure enough, there's no danger of the projector falling on someones head or being ripped out of position.

The position where we chose to mount was a suitable location, we made a judgemnt call to secure two corners, the alternative was to put in some sort of grid structure to secure all four corners to, or to fabricate two extra bits of metal and secure those in place.

It was unnecessary based on it being very secure, the slight wobble isn't an issue at all.

[SYSMAN_MK]

Well everything was resolved withing a week, and I was told that the Engineer that installed the 2 projectors would be disciplined.

I for one will never use the said company again. I was thinking about naming the company in question but don't really want to casue the site / myself any repocusions.

[Geoff]

As a tip to self installers of projectors:

If your in the situation where you cannot screw all the mounting screws into whatever roof feature you've decided to use and you're not 100% about the safety of your handiwork. Go out and buy a length of decent gauge steel chain and a padlock. Chain said projector mount to your roof feature and padlock it all together. This not only stops your projector + mount falling off and crushing someone, but makes it that much more difficult to nick.

[enjay]

I for one will never use the said company again. I was thinking about naming the company in question but don't really want to casue the site / myself any repocusions.

Go for it, name them - that's what the "Bad Experiences" forum is for, after all! If you keep it to the facts of what they did, then they have no grounds for complaint against either you, your school or Edugeek. The thing about libel is that it only applies if what you say isn't true :-)

[john]

Its advisable to fit a safety bond to all mounts anyway if possible. I know that I tend to fit them if I can, for the extra few quid it costs saves a fortune in hassle and cost of broken projector.