Most LCD's are in the 1-5 Lb range. More than half of that weight is in the base of the unit, this monitor had about 1 lb of lead in its base. This is not an important part of the mod, unless your one of those weird geeks that melt down every drop of lead you can get your hands on to make musket balls for civil war reenactment... so the crowd that is using this site right now, just toss it and make it a distant memory.

There is a large metal panel in this monitor covering the electronics (as is found in most) that acts as shielding. The side speakers are also accessible, as are the monitor display controls. I start with removing the shielding, and as this will be in a case that is grounded, it should be good enough to not worry about keeping. Its also surprisingly heavy so it saves some weight.

Below it are the main controller board, and inverter board for the cold cathodes. Now on this monitor the inverter and tubes are bad. So I will be tossing it here. One note of caution at this point, not only do the main boards have lead that is accessible on them, remember to wash your hands when handling lead. It is actually really dangerous to handle. Never touch mucous glands, your eyes, mouth or food with lead on your hands. But the cold cathode tubes have mercury vapor in them. When removing them use the utmost caution or you run a chance of your retarded brain children being more literal than figurative.

Now for this mod, I really really really didn't want that onboard sound, so I ended up tossing them all together. So remove them if you want, and there are 4 screws holding the steel frame around the lcd to the plastic facade. Remove these and toss them as well. This will allow the LCD to be removed from the monitor. Now even though there is a steel frame around the lcd its self, use caution as you really don't want to damage it.

So abracadabra and it pops out. Carefully set this on a clean level surface, there is about 1/16 of an inch between the delicate monitor face and any surface you set it on. Make sure you don't set it down on a screw as it would mar the surface really easily.

With the monitor on a clean, stable surface, locate the 4 screws holding the steel frame to the plastic internal frame of the lcd itself. Carefully remove the screws as they are located near the data ribbons, and if one was poked too hard, it would result in lines in the monitor. I recommend a screwdriver with a mild magnetic charge to it so you can remove the screws with minimal risk to the monitor.

Before you go any further find a nice sharpie and mark the top of the steel frame clearly so you dont forget where the top is. Carefully remove the LCD from the frame. The best technique for this is to hold the monitor like a platter one handed and let the frame drop down your arm, then carefully set the monitor back down. Now its time to get your tools out.

Take the steel frame and place it on the inside of the panel. Make sure you have the panel facing the top appropriately here on this step or you will mount the monitor forever upside-down. With great care, center the frame in the center of the panel, and trace a line in the inside of the frame. This is the hole you need to cut for the LCD to shine through. Also, mark on the panel the 4 holes that were used to mount the assembled LCD to the old monitor facade. Finally take the frame and re-assemble the LCD taking care near the data ribbons.

Using your dremal tool, carefully cut out the hole taking extra time at the corners so you dont over cut and make it look like crap. Once you have the hole cut, I don't care how steady your hand is, you will most likely have a wavy cut, using a palm sander, or even a sanding block and some 220 sandpaper, lightly sand your cut to remove any unevenness in it. It really makes it look more professional, and any imperfections are really noticeable with the screen turned on. Finally, take and drill out the holes you marked. You will want a fine thread screw that fits the hole you have at about an inch long.