Stereo System with 4 Bland Matt bowls and 2 Lack Shelves

Materials: The Loudspeakers: -4 Blanda Matt 28 cm Bowls -2 full band 4" speakers -4 binding posts -6 drawer knobs -Stuffing material ( optional ) -Electric wire. The Amp and Preamp: -2 30 cm Lack shelves -Amp board + 220Vac/12Vcc power supply -Stereo potentiometer 2 x 20 Kohm - Binding posts, RCA connectors, blue LED + R 820 ohm

Description: I'€™m talking about a pre-amplifier, a power amplifier, and 2 loudspeakers (music source: my MP3 player).

The loudspeakers were built by using 4 28 cm Blanda Matt bowls.

The power amplifier is fit inside a 30 cm emptied Lack shelf.

The passive preamplifier, a simple 2 x 20 Kohm stereo potentiometer to regulate the music volume, is fit inside another 30 cm emptied Lack shelf.

You can find step by step building instructions for loudspeakers here.

file : casse monovia semplici, economiche alto WAF.doc ( one way, simple, cheap, high Wife Acceptance Factor loudspeakers )
Sorry, it'€™s written in Italian, but is full of pictures ;-).

Amp and preamp here. (this time in English!)

Thanks a lot to IKEAHackers site for giving me inspiration.

~ Luca, Monza, Italy

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Modern Speaker Stands for Under $50

Materials: Besta Vara Drawer Front (2 of 60x26cm, 6 of 60x16cm), electric drill, hand saw, ruler, screws

Description: For easiest directions, please go to this video tutorial.

1) Cut the two large panels in half - these will serve as the top and bottom base.

2) Three small panels will be assembled together for the leg support with one panel for the back, and two for the sides. Four screws from the back to attach to the four corners of the back panel into the sides of the other two panels.

3) Three screws to attach the top and bottom panel to the support each.

See a tutorial video of the Speaker Stand.

~ Winston, Australia

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Helmer-Air Renderfarm

Materials: Ikea Helmer cabinet plus a lot of fancy stuff

Description: We have optimized the original Helmer renderfarm for 24/7 Desktop computing.
We have used the standard Ikea Helmer cabinet to build a renderfarm in it.
Helmer-Air gots.
24cores, 81.6GHz and 96GB RAM.

A complete tutorial with all the Hardware and a lot of pics and Details on setup is here.

~ First Image, Germany

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Frosta Dual Speaker Stands / Bar table

Materials: Frosta Stool, Malm 3-cabinets drawer

Description: As I got some new speakers and limited space, I've been trying to find dual speaker stand which can position two speakers on top of one another. Standard speaker stands are not available, and I tried to google Ikea stuff, and voila! I got my inspiration from the Frosta speaker stand which was posted about a week ago.

Based on the same idea, I bought four Frosta stools, and here's how I made them into speaker stands (two levels).

1. Attach three legs of Frosta to the round wood. I made mine positioned at 120 degrees from each other.

2. Prepare backside of Malm drawer, attach three legs for base, two legs stick out to one side (front)' another one to other (back ) side. Let's call it base and center section.

3. Attach two legs into round wood, make sure these two legs stick out to front side of Malm board (see step 2)

4. Attach the assembly on point 3 to base and center section.

~ Andre Lim, Singapore

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Low Cost Home Theater Speaker Stand

Materials: Adils Leg, Lack Side Table, Laiva Shelf, Stolmen end fitting

Description: Being an audiophile and living in rented spaces can be quite a challenge. Drilling walls to hold your heavy speakers can be quite a challenge. After trying out a few low end stands that did not fit the bill and multiple return trips I was almost ready to plunge on the Stolmen, until I ran into Ikeahackers!

Inspired by the posts in the AV section, I set out to make my own stand and it came out well within Budget.
Laiva Shelf - AUD 5.00 (Holds the speaker)
Adils - AUD 5.00
Stolmen - AUD 5.00 (Comes as $10 for 4, need 2 per stand)
Lack Side Table - AUD 10.00

Instructions are simple - Screw the Adils on the Lack Side Table. This makes the base (wide enough so that the speaker does not topple over.

The Stolmen end fitting is mounted on the Adils and screw in the Laiva Shelf.

Make sure you have a good measuring tape and hand held power drill/screw driver.

Sequence:
Mark the end points on the Laiva Shelf
Fix the speaker mount at your desired point on the shelf.
Bolt on the Stolmen end fitting
Screw the Laiva Shelf on the Stolmen end fitting
Fix the Adils base on the Lack Table
Screw the assembled leg to the Adils base.

~ pkumar, Australia

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iPoise

Materials: TERTIAL lamp, 4world iPad bracket

Description: Taking the TERTIAL lamp (£8.50) from Ikea remove the lamp fitting and flatten bracket

Then take 4world iPad holder, position the bracket in the centre of the rotating disc, drill a couple of holes get a couple of small bolts nuts and washers.

Fit the bracket and there you have it a multi-positional iPad bedside holder for less than 20 quid!

~ Simon Knowles, Liverpool, UK

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Kvissle Boom Box

Materials: Kvissle Cable Management Box

Description: I wanted to build small amplified loudspeakers that can be used in the kitchen together with the iPhone. The goal was to keep the design as simple as possible, only stereo audio and power inputs but in a nice cabinet.

I ordered a cheap 2 * 10 watts stereo amplifier kit. It took about an hour to assemble and was really fun. I decided to go with an external power supply, due to the limited space in the box. Thanks to the local salvation army's flea market I found a cheap laptop power supply that fitted perfectly. I used Visatons FRS 8 M and build a box of 12mm mdf wood that fitted in the Kvissle.

Don't expect deep bass, definitely nothing for house lovers, but the box sounds surprisingly well.

~ bernhard steiner, Sweden

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Lack TV riser

Materials: 1 Lack shelf, 3 pair Besta wooden legs, glue

Description: Take 1 Lack shelf and glue the six legs right on. The back of the shelf is still raw, but it works for me.

~ Tom

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Grundtal Hanger Airport Extreme Mount

Materials: 4 Grundtal Hangers, Ikea item no. 300.612.47, Drill and bit for wall anchors, Screwdriver, 5 tacks, Template (posted in this link), Spirit Level, Fasteners (wall anchors) for the Grundtal hangers

Description: I looked for retail mounts, but I had a real problem with spending $40-$50 for the available plastic mounts. However, the Grundtal hangers 300.612.47, that I had installed on the inside of the coat closet looked ideal for my purpose.

They looked great and fit perfectly in the channel around the Airport Extreme. The Grundtal hangers also allowed space behind the router for wires and airflow.

Instructions:
Place the template on the wall. Allow for room from the to let router slide into the mount. Place a tack only in the center. (download template here.)

Use the spirit level to straighten the template on the wall.

When level place a tacks in the center of each of the four circles in your template.

Remove tacks and template from wall.
Use the four tack holes from step two to locate where to drill the holes for the fasteners.

Install Grundtal Hangers.

Wire up router and Slide it in position.

All done.

See more of the Grundtal Airport Extreme mount.

~ David Goodier, Maryland, USA

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Turntable Desk for the Turntablist

Materials: Micke Desk (top only), Utby Legs, Besta Storage Unit

Description: My wife had a Besta sliding storage unit that she was using for her crafts drawer. Long story short... we are having our first child and things in the house had to change and transform into something a bit more space conscious.

So that leads me to the hack. Like I said we had the Besta storage unit already so I had to measure up from that to get the ideal height for the turntables, it worked out that legs just under 4" would work well with a 1" (roughly) desk top.

Every table top seemed to be too large in either one direction or the other until I ran across the Micke desk. The first thing I noticed and loved about this desk was that it had a hole directly in the center of the table where cords could be directed (for turntables this is a huge bonus). Now all I needed was a way to prop it up to the right height. Most of the legs that IKEA sell wouldn't just screw in to the bottom - so I had to find a set that had a flat piece to screw directly into the bottom of the table top. I ran across the Utby legs in the warehouse section (I did not see these in the showroom). They ended up working perfectly! Also when I picked up the desk from the warehouse they had it on sale for only $40!

I screwed the legs directly into the bottom of the table top at 3 inches from the fronts and backs and 6 1/2" in from the sides. This gave it the appearance of "floating" while still remaining very sturdy.

I'd say it's a wicked setup for turntables if you are a scratch DJ like myself and have your decks turned 90 degrees. The only draw back to this hack is that there is A LOT of waste. I feel bad just throwing the remaining desk parts away so I will most likely store them and figure out another hack to use these parts. (That desk top was just too perfect and only $40!)

~ Sean Herman, Denver, Colorado

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Sphere speakers

Materials: Blanda matt bowl

Description: Please see these speakers my boyfriend made us - see full description and lots of pictures here.

It is similar to this previous hack.

See more of the Blanda Matt sphere speakers.

~ Pia

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Speakers built into book shelf

Materials: Book shelf, drill, measuring tape, pencil.

Description: My old, black speakers and stereo was taking up a lot of room on a window sill and all the cords were in oe big mess. After carefulle measuring out the shelf of our IKEA book shelf, I was able to cut them in length so that the speakers would fit as seen on the picture. All the cords are run through holes in the back plate and is connected with the stereo out of sight.

~ Jesper, Denmark.

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Laptop Charging Stations

Materials: 2x4 Ikea Expedits, power strips (5+), casters (optional), Expedit Doors, zip ties. Tools: power drill, Forstner bits, staple gun, countersink bit, 3/4" screws.

Description:
1) Assemble Expedit as directed.

2) Take apart 2 power strips and drill through the power strip and the shelf in a location where the screw will not come in contact with the electrical pieces of the power strip. Use those as templates for the other shelves.

3) Reassemble the power strips.

4) Place the power strips.

5) Drill through the bottom of the shelves using a countersink bit. Screw your 3/4" screws through the shelf into the base of the power strip.

6) Continue until all four power strips are installed.

7) Assemble and install the Expedit doors *backwards* so that you are seeing a flat panel on the front of the Expedit and the door is on the back.

8) Drill a hole between the two door units big enough for a plug to fit through.

9) Using a small Forstner bit, drill a notch into the bottom left shelf so that the plug can go directly into the cube that is covered with a door.

10) Drill a similar hole in the bottom right shelf, bit enough to allow three power cords to go into that cavity.

11) Staple a row of zip ties down the center of the Expedit. You may need to lightly hammer the staples into the zip ties to get them flush.

12) Line up the cords along the zip ties and secure them.

13) Put the bottom left cord through the shelf and the hole drilled between the two door cavities.

14) Plug all of those plugs into a power strip in the bottom right door cavity.

15) Drill a hole through the bottom of the door for the cord of the power strip to get out to an outlet.

16) Trim the zip ties.

Use a Sharpie close in color to the color of your Expedit to mask the particle board where holes are cut.

Done!

See more photos.

~ Jonathan Briggs, Eastside Preparatory School Kirkland, WA

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Invisible flat screen TV suspension on SLOPING wall

Materials: IKEA REDD shoe rack

Description: Unfortunately the REDD shoe rack is out of production now, but there must be thousands of them out there...
1. Cut off the folded edge at the bottom of the shoe rack with an angle grinder or hacksaw.
2. Cut off the corners (e.g. in an angle of 45o) on the part that will be placed on the sloping wall. This will make the suspension even more €œ"invisible".
3. Find/buy 4 bolts that fit into the mounting holes on the back of your TV. Be sure that they have the right length.
4. Place the shoe rack on the backside of your TV and determine where to place the four bolts. (see picture) Be sure that the top of the shoe rack is placed so it cannot be seen from the front of the TV - but also so the top edge of the TV does not touch the sloped voila!
5. Precisely mark the spots for the 4 bolts and use your drilling machine..
6. Find the right place on the sloping wall for your TV and place the shoe rack there. Use some appropriate screws to fix the shoe rack on the wall. You might have to drill 2-3 extra holes for some screws "€œbehind" the big holes in the top of the front of the shoe rack. Be sure that the wall is strong enough for the weight!
7. Now you are ready to fix the TV on the shoe rack... and you will see it "€œsoar" in the room.

~ Leif Sønderby, Harlev, Denmark

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Mammut Retro Arcade Cabinet

Materials: Mammut Children's Shelf Unit

Description: About a year ago I bought an X-Arcade Tankstank, a pro-quality joystick designed mainly for playing retro arcade games. The joystick itself was fine, but playing with an arcade stick on the sofa didn't feel right, so I set about creating a more arcade-like experience.

I didn't have the time, space or budget for a full replica arcade machine, but what I did have was a spare 32-inch LCD TV, so I set about finding a piece of furniture that could house it.

The unit had to be sturdy and it had to fit in with the look of our summer house, which is basically a room for my three year old son. When I saw the Mammut shelf unit in IKEA it seemed like the perfect thing.

Step one was to find a way to mount the television. I bought a cheap £10/$15 LCD wall mount bracket from the local supermarket. I then used half inch square metal tubing to build a couple of uprights coming out of the top of the Mammut.

For strength I bolted them through the sides, and angled them so that they exited at the top of the rear of the unit. An old wooden shelf joined the two uprights across the top and gave a mounting point for the TV bracket.

The Tankstick is bolted to the top shelf of the unit using a couple of old L-shaped brackets I had lying around (no doubt from previous IKEA purchases).

I then used one of the Mammut shelves to create a door on the front of the unit to hide the PC, speakers and other components. The door is mounted vertically, hinged on two mirror screws at the top, and secured my a magnetic latch at the bottom.

An additional shelf was added at the top to house the wireless keyboard, instruction manuals and other misc items.

The bottom shelf was intentionally left free for storage of kids toys and games.

The PC is a completely bare bones system comprising an ASRock motherboard, AMD CPU, budget power supply and an old scavenged laptop hard drive.

The speakers are a recent addition, giving a pleasing retro thump to games like R-Type Leo. A second output on the motherboard goes to an old Denon amp powering the main summerhouse speakers, so I can get the whole arcade vibe going, minus the sticky carpets.

The whole kit is finished off with a chrome power button on the left, a Pepsi bottle opener on the right and a five meter string of LEDs on the rear which can be set to just about any colour.

The stickers on the wall are from IKEA too!

~ Grant Gibson, Scotland

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Ribba tablet/phone stand

Materials: RIBBA, cable canal, saw, drill, sandpaper, paint

Description: I needed something to stand my tablet on while using it for controlling my music at home. We recently moved to a new apartment and had a bunch of spare RIBBA picture ledges lying around.

So I ended up sawing a piece of shelf to the width I wanted. Then I used the already present hole and drilled it with an 8 mm drill, just enough room for one of Apples lightning connectors to pass through. This is not really needed but it helps the charging cable not slip away when not in use.

I chose to glue on the top lid of a spare piece of cable canal as an inner step for standing the tablet in an almost upright position. But you could skip this part if you want. After a bit of sanding and painting the sides you're done. Dead simple!

This would work in smaller pieces for say an iPhone bed-side stand as well.

~ Peter, Sweden

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