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Tutorial: De-bezel your monitor! Slimmer, Cleaner Bezels! No Painting!

iamdarkyoshi

So I decided to make an image-heavy tutorial on how to make your monitors (especially older ones) look tons better in about half an hour or less. It really makes a difference on older monitors. I am NOT responsible if you hurt yourself or break something. BE CAREFUL!!

You will need a monitor, screwdriver set, pliers, electrical tape, and a blade to trim the tape.

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Start by removing the monitor's stand and any visible screws. Mine is just a button to remove it.

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Pry the plastic frame apart if your monitor is held together by internal plastic clips. I am using a screwdriver because I cant be bothered to keep the original bezel anyway.

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Mine has a thin PCB on the front with a non removable flat-flex ribbon cable for the front interface. Do NOT try to force the front bezel off, it will rip this connector.

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Instead, flip it over and remove the BACK of the plastic body.

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Mine had to have the standoffs for the DVI and VGA headers removed so I could remove the back metal cover. I had to remove mine so I could unplug the front panel buttons. If yours has a connector on the front of them when you pulled the bezel apart, this is not needed. I just couldnt remove my front panel buttons without unplugging the cable from the internal PCB first.

 

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Remove the screws on the back cover and anything else that could be an issue, like the USB hub here for instance.

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Now that the back cover is off, we can see that dell used proper quality capacitors, which would explain why this monitor still works flawlessly after nine years! This is when your results will probably vary on the back cover, if you even needed to remove it. 

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The whole reason I had to take the back shield off is because I needed to unplug the front panel buttons.

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Now you can lift the whole assembly out of the front frame because the front buttons are not connected to anything.

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Now remove the front panel buttons from the front bezel.

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Now that we have done that, we can plug the buttons back in.

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I have discovered that the images look better without the flash. oops.

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Now just put the back shield on in reverse order.

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Now for the electrical tape! Just run it along the edge of the metal so it covers up just a tiny bit of the LCD. Do not stretch it too much.

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You want the tape to run right up to where the next strip will be. trim it with a blade if you have to.

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Just go around the whole front of the monitor, making sure not to overlap the tape. It looks better with those edges right up against each other.

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Now go around the outer edge of the monitor. Stretch it as much as you need to make the rounded corners look decent.

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Now tape the buttons onto the bottom of the panel, or wherever you want. I covered the ends because they had no LEDS or buttons.

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I then took the plastic buttons from the front bezel and taped the over the PCB. Not the best, but it works...

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Now to reattach the stand. Mine would sit inside of the recessed square in the old plastic body, and since its not there anymore, I had to bend the metal tabs inward to keep the bracket in place. it works...

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Here is what we just created! It looks pretty good!

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Nearly the same bezel thickness as a 500$ 1440p 144hz acer monitor!!!!

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In case you are wondering, thats what a high framerate monitor looks like on a cell phone camera :P

If you guys have any questions or want to show off the results, please post down below!!

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Put it all into a spoiler. Better?

Oh, I was saying G_G to the success of your mod, not to the fact that it wasnt under a spoiler :P

But better that you did I guess, if Im not complaining about it, odds are someone else will.

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Oh, I was saying G_G to the success of your mod, not to the fact that it wasnt under a spoiler :P

But better that you did I guess, if Im not complaining about it, odds are someone else will.

yah, it makes it harder to get to the bottom to post comments :P

I also agree, it turned out quite good :D

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I have a couple of monitors just like that. Definitely doing this when I get home! Thanks for the tutorial!

You know that guy that games on a MacBook? I'm that guy.

 

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@iamdarkyoshi 

 

CHALLENGE: Do the Samsung 193p debezel.

I did it myself but... DARN THIS MONITOR.

Fun fact: it has nearly 80 screws and 12 latches that you have to undo to debezel it! WTF

 

I had done a teardown and repair of something that reminded me of this, dont remember what it was though.

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why not just do it as a real man? 

Can I have something a little smaller?

dremel%C2%AE8200platinumedition-3994.jpgThat's better.

Born too early to explore the galaxy, born too late to explore the seas, born just in time to make memes.

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a real man does it with this:

chainsaw-goofy-o.gif

Pssh thats weak. This is how a REAL MAN debezels his monitor.

post-221908-0-98988500-1443403402.jpeg

 

 

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I have a couple of monitors just like that. Definitely doing this when I get home! Thanks for the tutorial!

I just did this to my dual monitors, and it turned out awesome!

You know that guy that games on a MacBook? I'm that guy.

 

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At quick glance I thought the OP made the title of the thread how to De-Bezel your mom. lmfao

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ASUS-PB258Q-front-view.jpg

 

I don't think mine will work....

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got a before and after image?

Here you go :)

The bezels may not look THAT much thinner, but they look a lot cleaner, so i'm happy

 

 

Before:

post-150742-0-34707600-1443482824_thumb.

 

After:

post-150742-0-81344300-1443482868_thumb.

You know that guy that games on a MacBook? I'm that guy.

 

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Here you go :)

The bezels may not look THAT much thinner, but they look a lot cleaner, so i'm happy

 

-snip-

Wow, they look much cleaner! I also like that you can use a piece of tape BETWEEN the monitors for a "seamless" bezel.

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Wow, they look much cleaner! I also like that you can use a piece of tape BETWEEN the monitors for a "seamless" bezel.

Yeah, it really looks seamless. Even though these monitors are old, they've lasted this long, and I can't afford to replace them yet

You know that guy that games on a MacBook? I'm that guy.

 

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