Inexpensive Front Projection Screen

**davidld** · 11-13-2005, 08:09 AM

In combining some ideas I spotted on the Internet with a few of my own, I've come up with a cheap and effective way to build permanent screens for a front projector. I can do a 100 inch diagonal screen for $30 or so.

Parts needed
Three 1 x 4 lathe strips (2.19 each at Lowes)

Two approximately 1 ft square pieces of 1/4 inch scrap plywood. Its nice if the corners of these these are as square as possible, bur the size can vary a bit

Room darkening rubberized backing draperly liner (5.57 a yard at Lowes. For a 100 inch diagonal screen you will need approximately 8 ft, or just under 3 yards, so this will run $15 or so

50 1 1/4 inch screws

Tools needed

Circular saw
Power drill and screwdriver
Staple gun

Use a spreadsheet to calculate screen dimensions.
For example, for a 100 inch diagonal screen in a 16:9 ratio, employing c^2=a^2+b^2 yields a horizontal external screen dimenion of 87 1/8 and a vertical dimension of 49 inches. THis is a good place to emply the trig you learned in high school.

If you have the wall space 100 inch diagonal is a nice starting point for a theater-like screen, but you can scale these numbers up or down to suit your space and the screen size you want.

For a 100 inch diagoonal screen, Cut the horizontal boards at 87 1/8 inches
Cut the vertical boards at 49 inches less two times the board width. For 1 x 4 boards 3 1/2 inches wide subtract 7 inches from 49 inches and make them 42 inches long.

Cut your plywood pieces on the diagonal, so that your two squares become four triangles.

These triangles both brace your frame and act as a square for making it true.

Assemble your frame by putting the best side of the boards on the bottom (which is where the cloth is stapled over), and then use the edges of the triangles to square everything up. Use the 1 1/4 inch screws to assemble, making sure you dont drive the screws so hard to come out on the cloth side. You may want to drill pilot holes for the screws.

Spread the cloth out on a carpeted floor so as to not soil or damage it. (Its helpful also to ask the fabric store put this on a roll for you id they can, to avoid folds that would need to be stretched out.)

You can use either the rubberized or the textured side for your screen. I like the rubberized side because its perfectly smooth but you could use the cloth side with just a hint of a texture.

Stretch and staple the cloth around your frame.
This is a little like wrapping a gift, but work from opposite sides side to side as you go along.
The cloth is 54 inches wide which works well for a 100 inch diagonal screen.

I assembled this screen in about an hour yesterday and it worked wonderfully well in my tests last night. I also built a scaled-down 70 inch diagonal version yesterday that is portable, and I plan to build a still more portable 55 inch diagonal version today (from left over fabric) that I can put in my car when I want to use my theater projector at another locale.

Larger screens sizes than 100 inches might require finding truescreen material on the Internet that comes in wider than 54-inch widths, but I see no problems with the cloth I used as screening for these sizes. Best of all, if the screen gets soiled or damaged, its cheap enough that I can simply replace the cloth by stapling over another layer--for about $15

More to come, including photos when I get this hung in its permanent location.

David

**dlsbobby** · 11-13-2005, 08:23 AM

**georgeinaz** · 11-13-2005, 11:19 AM

That's pretty much what mine is. The material is called black out cloth and can be found anywhere.

There are also some inexpensive 'treatments' that you can apply to he screen to change it's gain ot alter it's color balance to help achieve better black levels and/or contrast.

<A HREF="http://sunwheelstudios.com/HT/screen.JPG">http://sunwheelstudios.com/HT/screen.JPG</A>

**jjdche** · 11-13-2005, 11:56 AM

I've done some searching on this subject as well and found some interesting alternatives. Black out cloth is certainly the best combination of ease and low cost, but its not very customizable. Some people might want, or need, a higher gain screen or a gray screen.

If that's the case buying a pre-framed screen with specialized screen mateial can be quite expensive. You can also buy the materials pre-cut by the square foot and build a frame, that reduces the cost considerably. Although I have found another way to reduce cost. With regards to Dalite screens, you can find the tensioned, pull down screens (called 'Model B') for cheaper, on a square foot basis, than buying the screen material alone. Simply cut the material off the spindle and build a stationary frame.

For example, Da-Lite High Power screen material is a type of specialty material for high gain applications.

Da-Lite High Power Perm-Wall 52"x92": $630 = 18.98/sq.ft.
Da-Lite High Power Pre Cut Material: $15.30/sq.ft.
Da-Lite High Power Model B 52"x92": $270 = 8.13/sq.ft.

I'm not sure why this is the case, but it is significantly cheaper to buy the material in a pre-made pull down screen than any other way.

**bogie** · 11-13-2005, 01:25 PM

I thought that people were using MDF or large plastic mirrors, and painting it with reflective paint.

**rodh** · 11-13-2005, 04:11 PM

> I thought that people were using MDF or
> large plastic mirrors, and painting it with
> reflective paint.

One inexpensive scheme I saw was to use Masonite painted with Behr Silver Screen paint.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Rod

**bogie** · 11-13-2005, 07:14 PM

...the paint? I asked at HD a while back, and the guy looked at me like I was nuts.

> One inexpensive scheme I saw was to use
> Masonite painted with Behr Silver Screen
> paint.

**jjdche** · 11-13-2005, 07:30 PM

> ...the paint? I asked at HD a while back,
> and the guy looked at me like I was nuts.

Its amazing some of the wacky things people are using for projection screens.

If you haven't already, go to the 'DIY Screens' section on AVS Forum. I swear there are people there making screens out of everything under the sun. I think I saw someone using bacon grease on a bed sheet. ;-)

**georgeinaz** · 11-13-2005, 08:08 PM

LOL, If I hadn't read some of the projects myself I would think you were making it up!

I played a bit too w/ mine but settled on the plain old blackout cloth as I thought I offered the best compromise w/o spending more on experimental goop than the PJ itself.

-George

**alienfishpants** · 11-13-2005, 08:17 PM

I picked this link up from an AV Forum - it looks like a straight forward approach - no painting!! I have an Infocus LP420 - it is a business projector - and I understand they do better with grey screens....

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

<A HREF="http://cgi.ebay.com/Home-Theater-Pro...QQcmdZViewItem">http://cgi.ebay.com/Home-Theater-Pro...QQcmdZViewItem</A>

> ...the paint? I asked at HD a while back,
> and the guy looked at me like I was nuts.

**Bruce** · 11-13-2005, 08:24 PM

"I think I saw someone using bacon grease on a bed sheet;-)"

I believe that one was on the "DIY screams" forum

**jjdche** · 11-13-2005, 08:37 PM

**bogie** · 11-13-2005, 08:42 PM

I'm a little leery about the concept of stretching fabric (and fwiw, I'm a graphic designer). Too easy to have imperfections show up. I think I'd rather just take something that I know will stay flat, and hang that.

> I picked this link up from an AV Forum - it
> looks like a straight forward approach - no
> painting!! I have an Infocus LP420 - it is a
> business projector - and I understand they
> do better with grey screens....

> Any suggestions would be appreciated.

>
> <A HREF="http://cgi.ebay.com/Home-Theater-Pro...QQcmdZViewItem">http://cgi.ebay.com/Home-Theater-Pro...QQcmdZViewItem</A>

**dthomas** · 11-13-2005, 08:53 PM

**georgeinaz** · 11-13-2005, 08:59 PM

It's actually a lot easier than you think. You say you ae a graphic artist so I kind of assume you may have attended some art school. If so, you probably at one time had to sretch your own canvas over a frame. It's EXACTLY the same thing. I only know this b/c my SO said so...

There ae some good tips around on how to do it but believe me, if I can do it, anyone can.

-George

**bogie** · 11-13-2005, 09:03 PM

Well, yeah, that was one of the things I hated... and it seemed like the large you went, the more likely you were to have problems as time passed.

**georgeinaz** · 11-13-2005, 11:36 PM

LOL, my SO kind of said the same thing, as soon as she could afford pre-stretched canvas it was all over for her...

But really, if you take your time and do it the same way, it works. Also leaving yourself some room for error helps too.

There was a fellow on AVS that found some kind of new canvas stretcher bars that would go as large as a typical HT screen. They were Oak I believe and allowed you to stretch and correct before 'committing' with the staple gun. I saved the link somewhere a while ago, if I find it I'll post it here. IIRC the were like $130 for a set that would do a 42 x 90 something screen area.

-George

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