VESA mount adapter kit for 24 inch Alu iMac bad?

The new VESA mounting kit is NOT bad. You just need to follow the directions very precisely...

Before you can insert and screw in the two side bolts, which indeed look like they don't line-up, you MUST tighten the tiny center screw completely. It doesn't feel like it will tighten, but it does. When it tightens, it draws the inner bracket out to the desired position.

You WILL be surprised. (-;

I know, I just installed one on the new 24" iMac Aluminum. 🙂

Message was edited by: G J Piper

Ok, this is my assessment, based just on a previous 9 years of taking mechanical things apart as an automotive electronics installer...

The bracket on the iMac seems designed to have some degree of "give" when the original stand is being used to hold it suspended over the desk. This is, no doubt, an effort to minimize much of the damage that would occur to the iMac if undo force were to be applied to the stand if it fell over on it's face or even backward, or if it was simply tweaked by someone.
Simply mounting a bracket to the insides of the iMac's structure directly would surely cause cracking or stress over time, especially since the stand is designed to tilt to a certain degree, but not enough to allow itself to hit the housing of the iMac itself.

Because there is "give" designed into the bracket itself for a stand that is internally tiltable with little force, mounting a fixed arm to the bracket would not work satisfactorily unless ALL of that play in the internal bracket were removed somehow.

In my opinion, the only way to remove the "give" in the internal bracket would be to put enough pressure against it to push it to it's designed limit-of-travel. (not it's breaking point, just it's designed limit of functional travel)

They made an adapter to do just that. With the turn of one little screw, it pulls all of the "give" out of the bracket and allows a snug, tight fit to the VESA arm.

The case on my iMac is not bent or warped.

The bracket that is built into the back of the iMac does rise out of the housing to meet the adapter's holes.

Also, the little screw they used to bring it out isn't strong enough to bend the whole iMac aluminum housing, as it would strip before allowing you to over-tighten it -- which was also a good design choice by Apple. See! They even designed the screws right! lol 🙂

PS: My adapter looks exactly like the original poster's picture above, mismatched holes and everything. All I did was tighten the little screw down the complete distance. I'm telling ya, tighten that little screw until it feels like the little wrench they gave you is beginning to bend. He was right, it doesn't fit -- until the screw pulls the internal bracket neatly out to meet the adapter.

Message was edited by: G J Piper

{quote:title=zmippie wrote:}I don't actually notice this 'give'. Not with the stand nor with the flange attached. It feels very much as if it's bolted directly to the iMac's internal frame. ... FWIW, the manual doesn't say "Use the TORX tool to screw into the top of the mount adapter *so that the back cover gets bent and the holes on the sides lign up*" ... just a bit chicken.{quote}

If you could feel the "give" to which I discussed, you would probably be standing on, or nearly hanging from, your iMac. 😉

The manual doesn't confirm that the back case gets "bent" because it isn't bending. The internal bracket mount must have some "give" or "spring" to it, then, that needs to be pulled out so it can fit tightly.

The bottom line is this: I did it, it works, it holds well with no flex.

There's no noises from the fan directly under one of those foot-like plates that rest on the back of the case (and indeed the fan works), nor does the case look distorted in any way.

I appreciate your helpful suggestions and do not intend this to be about you personally...

However, in my case I followed the directions very carefully, and could not get the side screws to thread. This was after tightening the center screw very firmly.

Additionally, when I reattached the table base, I found it to be IMPOSSIBLE to get the inner latch to release (using the white plastic card thru the slot) and allow the display to return to the normal operating position. This is after HOURS AND HOURS of attempts.

Now I have a $2000 paperweight sitting on my desk, and an appointment at an Apple Store which I am certain will result in a lengthy trip to the service department.

Please note that I have 15 years of experience with assembly/disassembly of various Mac hardware - many RAM installs, hard drive replacements, and even some display and logic board replacemnets.

Based on all this, I remain convinced that this mount is garbage, and STRONGLY CAUTION AGAINST ANYONE ATTEMPTING TO INSTALL IT!

I guess all I can say at this point is this:

The tiny center screw must be tightened down AS FAR AS it will go for the holes on the sides to line up. If you fail to tighten it all the way, and the sides don't line up 100%, then any attempt to put the side bolts in and screw them down could result in the stripping of the side bolts due to cross-threading, rendering any continued attempts useless.

This may be what xxx1xxx is experiencing with his machine.

I will admit that I have not tried taking the VESA adapter off the iMac and re-installing the stock stand it came with. I'm not going to try now though. I assume it will go right back on, because when I tried loosening the little middle screw once during the installation, I noticed that the internal bracket DID retract back into the iMac.

Hi zmippie,

Yes exactly the same VESA mount and the holes looked like your image before screwing the bolt in the middle, they aligned when screwing the middle bolt enough and then it was easy to put the side bolts.

Message was edited by: JEAN GUY NIQUET

Hi -Thanks for your detailed info about the VESA mount kit and the pictures. here's what i'm wondering, i actually just need to remove the stand from my imac 24 intell 2007 and then reattach it some time down the road. can i use anything other than the VESA access card to expose the screws on the stand in order to unscrew it? like a thin laminated plastic library card or something?

i actually tried this but though it slid in to the slot i could unhinge any latch. i tried for a while and then got worried i might do the computer harm so i stopped. is it very difficult to unhinge it? i also see your diagram shows you have to push (hard?) on the stand. i'm really trying to get the stand off without damaging the computer so any advice you can give is really appreciated. what is the actual dimension of the access card?

finally do you need the card to somehow get the stand back on? after reading many posts on the issue i see some people say its very difficult to get the stand off and others say it's easy so I'm confused.

Appreciate any help/advice.
thx
paul

Hi -Thanks for your detailed info about the VESA mount kit. here's what i'm wondering, i actually just need to remove the stand from my imac 24 intell 2007 and then reattach it some time down the road. can i use anything other than the VESA access card to expose the screws on the stand in order to unscrew it? like a thin laminated plastic library card or something?

i actually tried this but though it slid in to the slot i could unhinge any latch. i tried for a while and then got worried i might do the computer harm so i stopped. is it very difficult to unhinge it? i also see your diagram shows you have to push (hard?) on the stand. i'm really trying to get the stand off without damaging the computer so any advice you can give is really appreciated. what is the actual dimension of the access card?

finally do you need the card to somehow get the stand back on? after reading many posts on the issue i see some people say its very difficult to get the stand off and others say it's easy so I'm confused.

Appreciate any help/advice.
thx
paul

It's very easy to get the stand off, the card is nothing fancy and just a mean to unlock the stand so that you can unscrew it. About credit card size but thinner (video club type) from what I remember, I would have taken a picture for you but I can't find it anymore. Just be careful not to have the spring loaded mechanism go back in since you will not mount the iMac, I don't how you will be able to pull it back.