TOBO 2.0

Materials: TOBO TV Unit & Panel, CAPITA 4" legs (x8), UPPLEVA ORMO, CPU fans (x2), peg board, screws, wood pieces, hinges, drill, saw, various screws, zip ties

Description: This hack came in 3 separate stages, with the final hack being a TOBO unit that can handle hot components, lots of wires, and looks a little bit more appealing. The base of the build is the TOBO TV unit and wall panel.

TV mount:
- Parts: UPPLEVA ORMO
- Follow the instructions provided by Ikea for this part.

Surround speakers:
- Parts: 2 generic speaker mounts, drill
- Following standard instructions provided by mount company, units were attached to TOBO.
- Drill an extra hole below the bottom screw, allowing wiring to pass through.

Cable management:
- Parts: Peg board, 2x hinges, 2x wood pieces, 4 screws, 4 short bolts / nuts / washers, 2x rubber door stoppers, saw, drill
- Cut peg board down to 48"x14". If no saw, your local hardware company should do it for free.
- Cut down 3/4"-1" thick wood blocks to allow some space between the peg board and the unit. Ensure wide enough to attach hinges to.
- Drill guide holes into top of main TOBO unit for attaching hinges and wood blocks. This will prevent the TOBO unit from cracking or splitting.
- Using the 4 screws, attach the wood block and hinges to TOBO unit. Pay attention to the way the hinges move, as peg board will need to flip upward.
- Using the 4 bolts, nuts, and washers, attach the peg board to hinges. Use the washers on the nut side.
- Attach desired wiring and power supplies as you wish. I highly suggest zip ties as they are cheap and do the job well.
- Optional: I used rubber door stoppers near the bottom. This prevents the peg board from slamming into the TOBO unit if dropped.

Air management:
- Parts: 2x CPU fans, 4x fan grills, molex to ac adapter, 8 screws / nuts, 16 o-rings / washers, drill
- I chose Antec 52cm tri-cool fans. The large fan size allows for silent operation on low and provides adequate cooling.
- As I couldn't find a circular hole bit large enough for a 52cm fan, I used a razor and a draw on template to cut out the circles. BE CAREFUL.
- Location was placed at the top, as I'm using negative airflow in my case and heat rises. If using positive airflow, I suggest centering the fan on the shelf, to ensure both the top of bottom receive a fair share of air.
- Tape your fan grills over the holes to use as drilling guides. Mark where your holes will go. Drill.
- Pass a screw through the whole unit in this order (from outside to inside): Screw, rubber o-ring, fan grill, metal washer, TOBO wall, fan, fan grill, rubber o-ring, nut.
- Use a 4-pin molex to ac power adapter (roughly $10) to plug into normal wall outlet for power.

Legs:
- Parts: CAPITA 4" legs (2x sets of 4), short screws?
- Self explanatory. Just watch the height of the screws. I may have had to buy new screws that were shorter for the TOBO unit.

The legs were a personal choice as my viewing distance increased upon moving. The whole unit sits pretty flush to the wall, thanks to the cable management. There's about 4" of space between the TV panel and the wall now. This unit receives a workout as it's storing a receiver, 2 video game systems, an external hard drive, and an always-on HTPC. However, the CPU fans keep the temperature in a safe range even on low.

~ Josh Higgins, Charlotte, NC

Frankenkia TV Wall

Materials: (2) Tobo TV panels, 1 Tobo Storage unit, (2) Benno CD Towers

Description: (2) Tobo TV Panel with Media Storage

(2) Benno DVD Tower

#1 - We built the Tobo Storage unit and attached the metal brackets from the TV panel. Usual stuff, followed the directions. So boring but that's it.... Now the fun part.



#2 - We cut a 2 x 4 the full length of the floor to ceiling measurement and spray painted it black. It was attached to the metal brace of the Tobo TV Panel that was attached to the storage unit.

#3 - We measured the remaining space between the top of the Tobo TV Panel's bracket and the ceiling. We ripped panel #2 lengthwise to fit that measurement. Next we had to use a hack saw to cut the supports to the same length.

#4 - The 2nd hacked metal bracket was attached to the 2 x 4 on top of the full length metal bracket. So at this point you have the storage unit with the 2 sets of metal brackets, one stacked on top of the other and they are held together by a long, floor to ceiling, 2 x 4 that is painted black.

#5 - Full size panel #1 is attached to the metal brackets. Shorter panel #2 is attached to the bracket. NOTE - These panels were designed to be attached from the back so the screws wouldn't show. We attached them from the front because the screws will be hidden.

#6 - The Benno CD towers were cut to be the length from the top of the storage unit to the top of the structure and/or the ceiling. Same thing. Because we sawed off the holes that were to be used to build the thing we used the cut off piece as a jig to make new holes. It worked perfectly.

#7 - We built the Benno towers according to the instructions. The towers were attached through the back of the CD tower being careful to put the screws behind where there would be a shelf. This way the screws were hidden behind the shelf.

#8 - We used pine but nicer wood can be used. We got planks and ripped them to (I think) 6" wide, whatever the measured depth of the CD tower was. They were then cut to the proper length, sanded and stained with a black stain.

#9 - The shelves were attached through the existing holes in the CD tower AND after very careful measurements....they were attached with one screw in the middle through the back of the unit. This is so they wouldn't dip or sway over time.

#10 - I colored one end of all the shelf pegs with black sharpie. The first shelf that I put up I hadn't done that and all I could see was this shining silver thing. The black sharpie worked really well.

#11 - I colored all of the predrilled holes with the same Sharpie. Again....the press board almost glowed against all the dark color.

#12 - The pegs were put in the proper holes with the shinny side in. We made sure that the first shelves in were the ones used to cover the screws that held the tower to the back. Just in case....I colored those with Sharpie too.

#13 - I'm not sure if this part was necessary or not but..... Since we spent a bazillion dollars on our fancy 42" TV we added a 2' piece of 2 x 4 to the back of the TV panel. When we attached the TV bracket we went through the 2 x 4. It is very solid!

#14 - Add decor. There is a hole behind the dragon on the top shelf. It's the hole that would have been used to put the wires through on a normal TV panel. Ours is the auxiliary top panel and it would look stupid to have a TV on top of a TV so we put a dragon up there.

#15 - Have a beverage and enjoy.

~ Heather Leek, Portland Oregon

Billy Tobo hybrid TV unit

Materials: Tobo, Billy

Description: We got a new 37" flatscreen TV but I couldn't find anything that would suit for the base unit.

Our apartment is not the biggest and space is always at a premium so we needed something on wheels that would take up as little space as possible whilst containing the TV, the HTPC and all the junk.

By combining a Tobo, a bit of some Billy shelving some castors and some pine board we ended up with a nice unit that has lots of storage and is easy to move into position for movie nights but pushes up against the wall when we want more space.

See more of the Tobo-Billy TV unit.

~ Matt Casey, Barcelona

Tobo Fireplace

Materials: Tobo entertainment center, ClassicFlame electric fireplace insert

Description: Recently, while perusing my local big-box hardware store, I found an entertainment center with a built-in electric fireplace. It was pretty awesome. I don't have a fireplace, so I'm enamored over even fake flames.

The styling of the center wasn't exactly perfect, however. No way could it replace my Tobo. Yet, I wondered if I could make something similar by taking out the Tobo's center drawers whose gaps have always bothered me.

After removing the hardware, I took some measurements, and went online. I found a few options that would work, but decided on an 18" ClassicFlame at Mantels Direct because of the timer feature and the remote. It was around $250 with free shipping.

Height-wise, the unit fits exactly with less than 0.25 inch to spare. Width-wise it was short by about 1.75 inches on either side. To compensate, I trimmed-in the fireplace with the Tobo's two wood stops (found below glass shelves) which I ripped down on a table saw.

I was able to re-install the drawers on the sides by creating a template and drilling new holes for the slides. I can now see what's inside the drawers... especially in the backs, which had been a problem.

Relatively speaking, this was a simple hack, and the result looks as if it was designed this way to begin with. Tobo++.

~ Jim