DIY screen link request please

[buns]

I saw a post a while back with someone detailing how they did their DIY screen and they had links to how to make the screen and also on how to tension it........ i have been looking but i cant for the life of me find it, has anyone any ideas?

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[buns]

the screen tensioning was actually something along the lines of how to stretch a canvas if that helps.....

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[Gary Lightfoot]

Hi Buns,

There are pics of my screen on my website, so you can see how it looks before and after.

I used 18mm x 69mm wood from B&Q. It cost around £7 for the 2.7m lengths (they didn't have the 2.4m lengths that I wanted).

I placed two of them together and cut them at 84" - that way they were both identical in length. Cutting them individualy may have produced slight differences. I did the same with the 3 middle pieces.

I then drilled two holes through the wood for screwing into the center pices - I also countersunk the holes about 1.5 ins so I could use 3" screws. I then glued and screwed the frame together.

To stretch the fabric (I used blackout cloth initialy, and that's what you see in the pics, but I'm now using some 1.2 gain stuff from www.ellie.co.uk), you'll need two of you, and start from the middle and work out - here's a link for canvas stretching:

http://www.rexart.com/stretching.html

It isn't quite the same method I used, but this method probably works well if it's just you doing it.

HTH

Gary.

[buns]

Thanks Gary....... didnt mean for you to type me stuff up but very helpful anyhow! It was the canvas stretching i was primarily after so thank you kindly for that!

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[Caveat]

Be warned that you can stretch things too tightly!
My timber frame has warped - partly low quality workmanship, partly low quality timber - but at least partly over enthusiasm in stretching the fabric - it only needs to be crease free after all.

Id do it differently now:
1: Id probably stretch the fabric over a piece of thin MDF with batterns on the back to keep it flat and edge it with more thin mdf.

2: Id use velcro rather than staples to secure it - would be nice to be able to wash the screen (blackout material in my case).

Gary:
Were you pleased with the money spent on a screen material over the blackout material?
Any comments on what gain you thought the blackout material was giving?

[Gary Lightfoot]

Hi Caveat,

The proper screen material cost me £102 including postage (it seems to have gone up a lot since though), and as the material was 1.2, it confirmed that the blackout cloth was about unity gain.

As a comparison, the brightness is the obvious one, but other than that, there's not an aweful lot of difference. If you have enough lumens, the blackout cloth is great value and does an excellent job in my opinion.

Gary.

[RichardH]

Could it have been up on my site? It's been down for a bit, but I'll just nip off and get it back up again.....

EDIT:

OK, it's back again.

Building my screen (http://www.areyoulocal.com/cinema.asp?choose=r2screen)

[gallus23]

I may be a bit late but ...

http://www.eboyztoyz.net/1031q/pages/diy_screen.htm

Looks like it could do the job...

[buns]

thanks to everyone....... my screen is now complete and a perfect fit to my available space. I have an 80 inch wide 16x9 screen with 3 inch borders using blackout material painted with icestorm number 6....... i havent completed my projector hush box so have only had a quick look but i can say that the result is without question preferable to my previous dalite pull down affair :grin:

thanks again

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[Gary Lightfoot]

So where are the pics then? :)

Gary.

[buns]

unfortunately this member happens to be a student........ and all his digital camera money keeps disappearing into his cinema!

Best i can do is get some dodgy quality web cam pics of the finished item later this week!

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[Gary Lightfoot]

Better than nothing. :D

Gary.

[Mr. Wilby]

My Yamaha LPX 500 arrived this week and I have my dad visiting here (with 3m of blackout fabric in tow :-) so we spent about 4 hours last night making a screen using basically the same design as listed on the American website further up this thread.

The measurements were increased slightly, so its actually 2.4m wide (approx) by 54" (yes, inches) tall. Normal blackout height, hence the 54" bit.

Incidentally, I couldn't find blackout fabric anywhere in my city in Finland. They hadn't heard of it in all the places we tried. Dad brought it out from the UK, still on the roll, but refused to allow it to go in the hold of the plane since he was told that if it freezes it will damage the light-blocking layer. Due to this, he was given special dispensation and allowed onto the plane first. A handy tip for some of you less than patient flyers :D

Anyway, back to the screen.

We cut 2 long lengths of 2.4m (horizontals) and then 4 short uprights of 130cm (allowing for the size of the wood). The four uprights provide extra supports (two sides, plus two center braces). If you go down this route (which I guess most will) one good tip is to sink the supporting uprights back from flush with the front of the frame. This way, the screen material will not be forced or pushed by the braces when you come to the stretching part. We sunk them back about 3mm which was plenty enough and still provides bags of support.

We used double screws on each corner, as well as L-plates on the back of the frame (rather than inside the frame as with the American site) at the four corners to provide support. Wood glue was compulsory too.

For the diagonal joints, we four cut 22" pieces and then cut at 45 degrees. These were fixed internally with a single screw + glue. We bought some vertical metal plates as well for the supporting uprights but decided that we didn't need to use them. Plus, making the internal uprights slightly proud meant it would be hard to fix them anyway unless we bent them slightly.

After checking from corner to corner the frame was perfectly square (well, rectangular :-) ). The frame was assembled outside, but my top tip here is try not to do this in the Finnish summer-time when the mosquitoes are about! I think the itchiness this morning was just about worth it.... :(

I forgot to mention that my dad is a picture framer by trade so fortunately he has the tools necessary for canvas stretching. He brought a pair of canvas stretching pliers as well as the obligatory staple gun.

Even though the blackout material was on a roll there were still creases, but thanks to the pliers we managed to stretch them all out. The frame is rock solid so I don't think that it will pose any problems taking the strain.

My one tip for the stretching is try and get these canvas pliers if you can - they really do make things so much easier.

I will post some pics later on when I get home, but just to describe them quickly now; they look like normal pliers at the handle/grip end, but the actual head is almost like a vice. Its about 6 cm's wide, 1.5cms deep and has a griddle-like gripping mechanism that traps the fabric in-between the two sides of the pliers so that you can pull it without it slipping. Also, the top head on the grip is larger than the bottom which means you can use the pliers themselves as a lever against the wooden frame when pulling/stretching the fabric. Hard to explain but pictures this evening will help hopefully.

Tried the PJ briefly afterwards and the picture was simply stunning. The best compliment I can say about the screen was that there were no faults to distract me from actually watching the film itself. No annoying creases or issues. Really happy :)

Pics to follow then.

[Michael r]

thanks to everyone....... my screen is now complete and a perfect fit to my available space. I have an 80 inch wide 16x9 screen with 3 inch borders using blackout material painted with icestorm number 6....... i havent completed my projector hush box so have only had a quick look but i can say that the result is without question preferable to my previous dalite pull down affair :grin:

thanks again

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Hi Read your reply with interest. Regarding the border - which is a very prominent part of the scren -- I myself used a material (in lieu of velvet) called Chenille. Used timber about 3 to 4 inches deep and half an inch or so thick and using thumb tacks I attached the cloth which was then mounted on the 8foot by 4foot 6inches painted mdf sheet. No tacks are seen from the front or sides. The black version of Chenille (Pronounced "Shaneel") is jet black and velvety looking and gives the darkest, deep , mid-night black you ever saw! No reflections at all. Much classier than any paint job imho! (In my own case I am thinking of getting more and somehow screening off my white ceiling -at least in part -to stop the bright reflected light onto the screen from above .)
Regards Michael r. ps It can be a little on the expensive side but of course I'm speaking Irish prices!

[gdavey]

Here's a tip for masking on a DIY screen

Use a roll away window screen (modified)

See http://www.rollaway.com/detail_104.htm

The casette (box) is only 1.8" x 1.8" (not to thick for embedding into your frame box.

This will give you a very professional dual masking (use one at top and bottom) but only manual.

The screening inside will have to be replaced with some black satin (personally I will stick the blqack satin straight onto the existing screening material (only as far as needed).

Because it is spring loaded, you will have to event a locking mechanism (little hole and pin maybe on 16:9, 1,85:1 and 2,35:1 heights.

For me it is how neat the final result is, and not if it takes 5 seconds or 30 seconds to set the heights.

[inzaman]

Moved to Cinema Screens :cool:

[disco74]

Hi. Thinking about getting a projector in my conservatory. Would a white blackout blind do the trick as a screen?