Hanging a projector underneath a shelf - am I crazy?

thejimbon

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My house is undergoing some rennovation at the moment, and I'm interested in installing a projector and projector screen in an open plan space.

The only place available for the projector screen is in front of a big window:

1641936338913.png


The retractable projector screen unit is to be mounted to a crossbar on this large window. There will be blackout blinds on this window, to protect the screen and minimise light into the room. I am arranging for a power socket to be put in a handy place for the screen.

The projector would be mounted on a small wall that will be above our kitchen area, and is a little over 3.5m from the crossbar (so a distance from projector to screen of a little over 3 metres, once the length of the projector unit is taken into account:

1641936501290.png


Unfortunately, there is a crossbar between the projector and the window that is above head height, but still quite low, so if I put the projector on a shelf mounted to the small wall above our kitchen area, then I don't think it would get a clear line of sight to the screen in front of the window, or the picture would need to be very low. Moreover the ceiling above the little wall is slanted, so it wouldn't be easy to ceiling mount the projector either (and in any case, the ceiling is quite high, so the projector mount would need to be quite long)

1641936537390.png



My current thinking is that, to ensure a clear line of sight, I might ceiling mount the projector to hang from the underside of a shelf mounted to the little wall, so that the projector is below the shelf and can stick out slightly below the bottom wall to which it is mounted. I'm also thinking that I might use a height adjustable twin slot shelf to give a little additional flexibility to allow the shelf (and therefore the projector) to be moved up or down a little as needed during installation. The projector would be ceiling mounted to the underside of a hefty piece of wood placed forming this shelf:

1641936629443.png


In my mind, this will be a nice flexible solution, with which the projector height can be adjusted as needed (e.g. if needed because I upgrade my projector at some point). But I haven't seen anyone doing something similar, which has got me questioning myself as to whether this really is a good idea, or a bad mistake.

Is this a crazy thing to do? Is there a better way to mount the projector so it sticks out slightly below the height of the wall to which it is mounted?

Thoughts very welcome.
 
I don't think it's crazy at all as long as it's stable, not going to get knocked and it strong enough. Another option is to build a cage which is what I've done. I previously hung the projector using a mount but never really liked it so a couple of months ago put this up. It's braced at the back and bolted to the ceiling.
 

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You shouldn't have any issues if the section is strong enough to hold the weight. If its not then it's the same as fixing it to the ceiling without attaching it to a joist or making a bridging section between two joists. It will fall down and cause quite a bit of damage at best, worst is it could fall on someone and do some real damage

So, make sure you have something which can old the weight beneath what you cannot. If you are already passed that point, see of use some think MDF which will run the entire length so it looks hidden. This should then spread the load of the weight across its length. Do ensure this is locked in place to so it doesn't break away to, so many fixing points and something which will create a t-joint similar to this

Dado_joint.svg-5a6136fe7d4be80036837452.png


What projector are you looking to attach?
 
could just buy an off the shelf wall mount arm...

I use an old peerless...
 
Screenshot_20220122-160752_Photos.jpg
I made a media shelf and it's pretty handy and keeps everything tucjed away. It needs chalking in again as I have to pull myself up to reset the Chromecast which is proper annoying but that frame will has held 3 of us so it's going nowhere.

I haven't seen anything like that but it made to me at the time haha.
 
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Ikea lack hack
You'd be a braver person than me to put significant weight on anything from IKEA made recently, not in the direction originally intended!

I've bought tons of IKEA furniture over the years and have noted in the last 5 years or so they've really upped their material economization game, to the point where most of their cheap bits like the Lacks and Besta frames are now just air and an unfeasibly small amount of cardboard wrapped in a laminate covering. Maybe a tiny bit of chipboard just in a few key places.

I've got Besta cabinets spanning 17 years now here, and they definitely don't make them like they used to (and they weren't amazing originally).
 

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