Here’s an easy modification to the entertainment center that was actually a lot of fun. I don’t say that very often! This project was created to create a safe place for our outdoor Dish Wally Receiver while we travel.

Outside Dish TV Project
Alliance Delta 294RK Outdoor Entertainment Center

Here are the tools you will need to do this project. A wall Bracket, A 2” Hole Saw, and A 2” Desk Grommet.

First off, let’s talk about Alliance Delta’s support. All I really wanted to know was what the rear walls thickness in the outdoor entertainment area was. That is really where I wanted to mount the wall bracket. 

Instead of getting a direct answer, I got an exploded design view that gave no specifications of wood thickness. Only one piece in the picture, that was not associated with a specific area showed 3/4″. When I asked if that was the rear walls thickness, the Delta Tech answered back “that is my understanding”. As it turns out It certainly was not 3/4″ thick and we will talk more about that in a minute. Here is an example of what was sent:

Here’s the background: The Delta 294RK has an outdoor entertainment center. This came with a number of issues.

  1. The satellite cable was cut in half at the factory – it was repaired under warranty. The entire satellite TV connection process that Alliance uses is a terrible idea. They expect you to go behind a panel in the storage area and hook up whatever tv you want to watch to the cable plate. They could just as easily hook up every cable in the rig to a 3 or 4 Port Coax Cable TV( Type- F) base plate. Then just label them Satellite 1, Satellite 2, Cable etc. That’s what I did.
  2. The TV completely covers two shelves in the outdoor entertainment area. There is no spot to place a Dish receiver on those shelves, so that you can easily see it. That is a problem because you need to know for certain that the receiver is working in order to trouble shoot connectivity issues. Complicating matters is that all the hookups (Cable and Power) are on the second shelf.
  3. The shelves are not deep enough to create a dummy shelf that the receiver could sit on, without overlapping the front framework. If I built a shelf, it would be hard to have the receiver sit on it without sliding off during travel.
  4. The bottom shelf has more height than the other two shelves.  That was good for me because it gave me more clearance for the receiver.

So here was my solution to issues 2 and 3 above.

First, we bought a “Universal Wall Mount for Cable Boxes” to hold the Wally against the back of the bottom shelf. Although Delta support told me that the back wall was 3/4″ plywood, I could tell from pressing on it that it was some flimsy 1/8″ pressboard. That is too thin to expect it to hold anything securely. So, I mounted the bracket into the bottom of the middle shelf support. The bracket comes with Velcro straps to hold the unit in place. I ran the screws that hold the unit in place through those straps as well. Since mounting on the lower shelf brace results in the bottom of the bracket being 3/4″ from the back wall, I also put a 3/4″ wood strip behind the lower part of the bracket to keep it from flexing during travel.

Second, I needed to rout the wires down to the receiver. Delta probably should have created a hole in the middle shelf to run wires below. However, it was easy to do with a 2″-hole saw. I then inserted a 2″ cable desk grommet into the hole. All three wires, Cable, Power, and receiver to TV connections fit easily through the opening.

One thing that was a surprise to me was that the shelf is only 1/8″ thick. That does not make for a sturdy shelf. So, I will reinforce it with a center support.

2″ Hole Saw
2″ Cable Grommet

Obviously, I still have some wires to bundle together and vacuum some saw dust, but I am very happy how this turned out.

Total cost of the project was $38.75, but that is the cost of the Bracket, Hole Saw, and 2” Grommet.  If you have a hole saw, you will save 16 dollars. That completed the project and I am really happy how it turned out.

The total Cost = $38.75

Wall mount – $16.99

2″ Hole Saw -$16.98

2″ Desk Grommet – $4.78

Links to products:

Wall Bracket: https://a.co/d/07ycLBvX 2″

Hole Saw: https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-2-in-Bi-Metal-Arbored-Hole-Saw/1000593877

2″ Desk Grommet: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-2-in-Plastic-Desk-Grommet/3127763

Overall this was a simple project that solved a frustrating design issue in the outdoor entertainment center. The receiver is now secure during travel, easy to see when troubleshooting, and all the cables are routed cleanly through the shelf.