Dustin’s Blog

If you’re looking for an inexpensive ceiling mount for your projector have a look at this model available at Monoprice.com. At just under $17 plus shipping, this ceiling mount is a decent solution as long as you have minimal adjustment needs.

The Monoprice ceiling mount came in this box.

Inside the box you’ll find most of what you need to get the mount installed. You may need to purchase screws specific to your projector but I was able to find screws and combine them with some spacers to complete the install for my 4805.

The kit includes two pipes that you can choose between to give you the right amount of drop from your ceiling. These pipes are hollow and have cut outs that allow you to route cables through the pipes.

To get started, attach the three arms to the mount points on your projector. As I said, I used the correct screws for my PJ plus one spacer.

Attach the lower plate assembly to the three arms using the bolts that fit. Conveniently, there is only one set of screws that fit here. Don’t fully tighten the bolts just yet.

You have two pipe lengths to choose from and two ways to attach the pipe to the bottom and top assemblies. One way provides you with “quick release” like functionality and the other is a more secure, direct bolt type option. EDIT: It was later found that you can in fact leave the bolts on the inside and then “back them out” to secure it. This should be the preferred method for attaching the pipes as it will avoid breaking the plastic pieces.

I took apart the top (ceiling) assembly to illustrate how it works.

As you can see, if you take the screws out of the assembly, you have two screws and a spring. The nuts stay in the plastic frame inside the assembly. If you put the spring through the bolt hole and into the plastic frame and then put the screws in, you’ll have a spring loaded assembly.

This assembly will then fit in the pipe with the screw heads on the inside of the pipe.

Here is how it looks fully assembled.

Personally, I don’t trust a friction fit like that so I went with the more secure, bolts on the outside of the pipe method. Here, you simply take the screws out of the assembly, fit the pipe on and then put the bolts back on. There is just enough length there to grab the nut and tighten down. You can tighten these screws right away. EDIT: As stated above, this method will more than likely cause the plastic pieces to break and in fact, I did break mine. You should leave the bolts on the inside of the pipes and back them out so they are tight.

Here it is with the smaller pipe attached, which I decided to use.

The included directions also mention a side to side adjustment of the mount and it’s really a function of how the bottom plate and the three arms interact. In the series of photos below, you can see how the range of motion you have.

Decide where you want this set. I choose directly in the middle and then deal with the lens offset with the ceiling bracket. Tighten all screws and bolts for the lower half of mount at this point.

At this stage you can attach the ceiling plate to your ceiling. Be sure to measure this out so that the lens is centered with your screen (UNLESS YOU CHOOSE TO USE THE SIDE TO SIDE ADJUSTMENT MENTIONED ABOVE). Since the 4805’s lens is offset from the center of the body I had to mount the ceiling bracket a little off from center.

Attach the foam padding to the metal plate of the ceiling bracket being careful to line up the screw holes. It’s ideal to attach at least two of the screws to an actual floor joist or other solidly mounted piece of wood. If you are unable to do that, you’ll need special dry wall screws (plastic insert that you then put a screw into) but I don’t advise it.

When you’ve attached the ceiling bracket assembly, you can attach black plastic ring and then attach the rest of the assembly. In my “finished” pictures I have not attached the black ring yet. This ring will hide the screws used to mount the ceiling mount.