TV stand or media console
A long cam-lock box with doors, cable holes, and a top that has to carry your television.
Not what you bought? Try Cam-lock box furniture · Bookcase or shelving unit
What you need
In the box already: Allen key · Cam locks and cam bolts · Dowels · Hinges · Shelf pins · Back panel and nails · Handles or knobs
Before you open anything
- Measure the TV's feet, not its screen size. A 65-inch TV with wide-set feet needs a stand wider than most people expect.
- Build it where it will live. A six-foot console does not turn a corner in a hallway.
- Check the stand's weight rating against your TV. It is on the listing or in the manual.
Please don't skip these
- A TV on a stand can be pulled over by a child. Use the stand's anti-tip strap and also strap the TV itself to the wall or the stand.
- Never put a TV on a unit whose cams are not fully locked and whose back panel is not nailed on.
The whole thing, step by step
10 steps-
Spread out and label everything
Media consoles have the most look-alike panels of any furniture. Lay them all out, match each to its letter in the manual, and pencil the letter on.
- All panels out, none stacked
- Match every one to the parts diagram
- Pencil the letter on a hidden face
Watch out. Long horizontal panels for the top, bottom and shelves often differ by a quarter inch. Labeling is not optional here. -
Dowels and cam bolts in
Tap the dowels halfway into the edge holes and hand-tighten the cam bolts into the face holes, exactly as the diagram shows for each panel.
- Dowels in edge holes, half in
- Cam bolts in face holes, hand-tight to the shoulder
- Do all panels before you join any
Tip. Doing all the prep across every panel first, then all the joining, is much faster than panel-by-panel. -
Cams into the big holes, gap toward the joint
Each big round hole takes a cam lock, with the keyhole gap pointing toward the edge the bolt arrives from. Check every one before you close anything.
- One cam per large round hole
- Keyhole gap faces the incoming bolt
- Flush with the surface
Watch out. On a unit this size you may be inserting twenty cams. One backwards means one joint that never closes, and finding it later is miserable. -
Build the two end sections first
Most consoles are really two small boxes joined by a long top and bottom. Build each end section flat first, then bring them together.
- Side panel flat, divider and shelves in
- Lock those cams
- Repeat for the other end
Tip. Two small assemblies joined at the end is far easier to handle than wrestling a six-foot frame from the start. -
Join with the top and bottom, then lock
Lay the long bottom down, stand both end sections on it, then set the top across. Get every dowel started before you press anything home.
- Bottom panel down first
- End sections on, dowels started
- Top across, press down evenly along its whole length
Watch out. Pressing one end fully home before the other starts cracks dowel holes. Work along the length evenly. -
Square it, then fit the back
Measure both diagonals and push until they match. Then fit the back panel, which locks that shape in and gives you your cable holes.
- Diagonals equal
- Back panel printed side out
- Corner nails first, then all the way round and into the dividers
Tip. Punch out or locate the cable holes in the back before nailing it on. Doing it afterwards means working in a tiny gap.Watch out. Doors will never line up on an out-of-square box. This step is why some consoles look factory-made and others look homemade. -
Hang the doors and adjust the hinges
Screw the hinge plates into the cabinet, clip the doors on, then use the hinge adjustment screws to line the doors up with each other.
- Hinge plates into the pre-drilled cup holes in the cabinet
- Clip or screw the door hinges to the plates
- Adjust: one screw moves the door sideways, one moves it in and out, one moves it up and down
Tip. Close both doors and look at the gap between them. Turn the adjustment screws a quarter turn at a time until that gap is even top to bottom. Five minutes of this transforms how the whole thing looks.Watch out. Hinges are handed on some units. If a door hangs at a strange angle, you may have a left hinge on the right door. -
Handles, shelf pins, and the inside
Bolt the handles through the pre-drilled holes, push in the shelf pins at matching heights, and drop in the adjustable shelves.
- Handle bolts go in from the inside of the door
- Shelf pins: count holes from the bottom, same count all four corners
- Shelves in, press each corner
Tip. If a handle bolt is too long and sticks out, add a washer or two behind the handle to take up the slack. -
Sort the cables while the back is still accessible
Set up the console, box, and power strip now and feed everything through the cable holes before the TV is on top blocking your view.
- Power strip inside the cabinet, or screwed to the back
- Each device's cable through its own hole
- Label both ends of every cable with masking tape
Tip. Labeling cables with masking tape and a pen takes two minutes and saves an hour every single time you change anything. -
TV on, then strap everything down
With two people, lift the TV on and center it. Then strap the console to the wall and strap the TV to the console or the wall.
- Two people, lift from the bottom bezel and the back, never the screen
- Center it over the unit's vertical dividers if you can
- Anti-tip strap on the console, anti-tip strap or wall mount on the TV
Tip. Put the TV's weight over a vertical divider rather than the unsupported middle of a long top panel.Watch out. Tipping televisions injure thousands of children a year, nearly always off a chest or a stand. Both straps, every time.
If something has gone wrong
The doors do not line up and the gap is crooked
This is what hinge adjustment screws are for, and it is almost never a manufacturing fault. Close both doors, find the uneven gap, and turn the sideways-adjustment screw on the offending hinge a quarter turn at a time. Also confirm the cabinet is square.
The top sags in the middle under the TV
The TV's weight is over an unsupported span. Shift the TV so its feet sit over the vertical dividers, or add a support block or a center leg underneath.
A door hangs open or swings shut by itself
The whole unit is not level. Adjust the feet or shim the low side — doors are a very sensitive level gauge.
The cable holes are in the wrong places for my setup
Most back panels are thin hardboard. A new hole can be cut with a hole saw or even a sharp knife, from the inside out, with the panel supported. Mark it first and keep it away from the edges.
My TV is wider than the stand
Overhang up to a few inches each side is usually fine structurally but looks wrong and is easy to knock. Check the TV's foot spacing against the stand's top width — feet must land fully on the surface.
Words you will see in the manual
- cam lock
- The small metal disc that drops into a round hole and twists to grab a bolt. Clockwise tightens. Counterclockwise releases it so you can take the joint apart.
- dowel
- A smooth wooden peg. It lines two panels up but holds no weight on its own. Tap it in to about half depth.
- hinge adjust
- The two or three screws on a cabinet hinge that move the door sideways, in and out, and up and down. Five minutes here is what makes doors line up.
- shelf pin
- A small metal or plastic peg that an adjustable shelf rests on. Count holes from the bottom so all four pins are at identical heights.
- square
- Describes a frame whose corners are true right angles. You check it by measuring both diagonals: if the two numbers match, it is square.
- anti tip
- A strap or bracket that ties furniture to the wall so it cannot fall forward. Required on anything taller than it is wide, and on every dresser in a home with children.