14-Oct-2020, 23:45
Hi all, sharing some note about installing the Geckos.
1) measure the actual distance of the physical part, and use that to check the template, do not rely on only the template included in the box with the Geckos.
As others have pointed out previously check the template, it’s not right. The template alignment is barely passable but not perfect. Though I did use the template, the vertical distance between the top and bottom mount points is off a few millimeters, as previously pointed out... This results in incomplete seating across all 4 pegs evenly, it is close but not exact.
2) Be careful about the amount of pushing force you use installing the molly-bolts into Sheetrock while tightening the molly bolts to expand the fingers.
a. In this case used 4 molly bolts total for a pair of geckos. Two mollys on each speaker, as the other side of the speaker lines up with a stud which used wood screws.
b. Unfortunately for me, I pushed one, the last one 4 of 4 8 of 8 either way you count, through the wall tightening it down, which meant I either had to repair the hole or move all of the holes.
i. Of course at first I tried to repair the hole but found the only best fix at this point to use the same spot is to make a much larger hole and put in horizontal support board between the studs, but obviously that means more work and paint.
Opening the wall and creating more work WAS NOT AN OPTION, if I was going down this path would end up pulling wires (AC/Ethernet) into the project, and putting wires in the wall is not a goal.
Even getting the paint out was a non-option for me since even some type of patch over the hole and back filling which is a terrible, terrible idea was still more work than just moving the holes.
3) Solution: I got an 8” x 24” x ¾” oak board and cut it in half, to create two 8" x 12" boards. Drilled holes in the same “wrong” place still using the template… to line up with what I already had in the wall and then bolted the oak board to the wall with 1 nice looking 3 1/2” deck screw, and then put in the other 4 mounts.
a. Still using 2 wood screws into the studs on one side and 2 molly bolts on the other side.
b. For the one molly that had the damaged hole I used one of the extra molly bolts and put it on the backside of the oak board before I bolted the board to the wall. but probably could have used a wood screw if I had used a smaller drill bit to drill a pilot hole in a ¾” thick oak board.
c. Additional installation note: medium to large Tie wraps (aka zip ties) around the pegs would ensure they can’t move and pop off. Maybe would do this if they were mounted high up off the ground in a large room as added safety measure, say in a commercial setting.
See Problem.jpg attached: Hole left bottom in the sheet rock. Backside “exit” hole is even larger than shown on the front side. Large toggle bolt might have worked but was unwilling to use a toggle bolt here and wanted to stick with the “provided” hardware anyway.
Goal: don’t open up the wall to put in supports, don’t over patch and hack it up which sill means getting out the paint.
See Solution.jpg attached: which makes me think about installing wiring in the wall but will ignore that for now…along with the slight misalignment of the holes…
hth
scott-
1) measure the actual distance of the physical part, and use that to check the template, do not rely on only the template included in the box with the Geckos.
As others have pointed out previously check the template, it’s not right. The template alignment is barely passable but not perfect. Though I did use the template, the vertical distance between the top and bottom mount points is off a few millimeters, as previously pointed out... This results in incomplete seating across all 4 pegs evenly, it is close but not exact.
2) Be careful about the amount of pushing force you use installing the molly-bolts into Sheetrock while tightening the molly bolts to expand the fingers.
a. In this case used 4 molly bolts total for a pair of geckos. Two mollys on each speaker, as the other side of the speaker lines up with a stud which used wood screws.
b. Unfortunately for me, I pushed one, the last one 4 of 4 8 of 8 either way you count, through the wall tightening it down, which meant I either had to repair the hole or move all of the holes.
i. Of course at first I tried to repair the hole but found the only best fix at this point to use the same spot is to make a much larger hole and put in horizontal support board between the studs, but obviously that means more work and paint.
Opening the wall and creating more work WAS NOT AN OPTION, if I was going down this path would end up pulling wires (AC/Ethernet) into the project, and putting wires in the wall is not a goal.
Even getting the paint out was a non-option for me since even some type of patch over the hole and back filling which is a terrible, terrible idea was still more work than just moving the holes.
3) Solution: I got an 8” x 24” x ¾” oak board and cut it in half, to create two 8" x 12" boards. Drilled holes in the same “wrong” place still using the template… to line up with what I already had in the wall and then bolted the oak board to the wall with 1 nice looking 3 1/2” deck screw, and then put in the other 4 mounts.
a. Still using 2 wood screws into the studs on one side and 2 molly bolts on the other side.
b. For the one molly that had the damaged hole I used one of the extra molly bolts and put it on the backside of the oak board before I bolted the board to the wall. but probably could have used a wood screw if I had used a smaller drill bit to drill a pilot hole in a ¾” thick oak board.
c. Additional installation note: medium to large Tie wraps (aka zip ties) around the pegs would ensure they can’t move and pop off. Maybe would do this if they were mounted high up off the ground in a large room as added safety measure, say in a commercial setting.
See Problem.jpg attached: Hole left bottom in the sheet rock. Backside “exit” hole is even larger than shown on the front side. Large toggle bolt might have worked but was unwilling to use a toggle bolt here and wanted to stick with the “provided” hardware anyway.
Goal: don’t open up the wall to put in supports, don’t over patch and hack it up which sill means getting out the paint.
See Solution.jpg attached: which makes me think about installing wiring in the wall but will ignore that for now…along with the slight misalignment of the holes…
hth
scott-
