The
quest to build a great home theater is
one of our recurring themes for Engadget's How-To Tuesdays. And as anyone home theater buff will tell you, any HDTV worth its weight in salt will present its viewer with a 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio display, or in some cases, project a 1.8:1 ratio. For todays How-To, though, we're building one of the holy grails of the home theater: a 2.35:1 widescreen. Yep, that's movie theater widescreen, alright.
The most important component is the screen material. Mom's old bed-sheet just isn't good enough (and is actually quite nast). Most fabric stores carry rolls of material called curtain backing or black-out cloth. It's a light, opaque white material used to make curtains actually block light. Made from cotton and polyester, one side looks like woven cotton while the other looks like it's plastic coated. At our local fabric store it was about $5 per yard and 54-inches wide. When buying your fabric, we suggest buying at least 4-inches wider and longer than your planned screen dimensions to allow room for construction. If you want to build a MECHA-screen, it's available even wider.
Shopping list:
- (3) 1 x 4 x 96-inch Douglas Fir boards
- (1) 2 x 2-foot x 13/64 piece of plywood
- 1-1/8th-inch fine thread drywall screws
- Staples
- (3) yards of white curtain blackout cloth
Tools:
- Drill with Phillips screwdriver bit
- Saw
- Staple Gun
- Hammer
- Utility knife or scissors
Our 2.35:1 screen is designed to maximize the materials we purchased. We decided to aim for a 104-inch wide, 44-inch tall screen. By placing 1 x 4 boards at the ends of our 8-foot (96-inch) boards, we achieved 103.5-inches of real estate.
The frame is constructed using theater set 'Flat' construction techniques. 1 x 4-inch boards, some plywood and drywall screws will make a very strong frame. We used Douglas Fir because it was easier to find nice straight boards, and it costs about the same as the more brittle (and bent) select pine. (To visually check the board, hold the end and look down the board lengthwise like a gun barrel. Avoid twisted and curving boards.)
To get started, the 1 x 4-inch boards need to be cut to length. Don't forget that 1 x 4-inch wood is actually .75 x 3.5 by the time it gets to you! Our trick for getting them even is to screw the two boards together and cut both ends at once. Screw two of your 8-foot long boards together and just trim the ends so they're perfectly even. Unscrew them and set them aside. Cut around 45 inches off your last board. Screw the two pieces together and trim one end even. Now cut the two boards down to 44 inches at the same time. (Don't hit the screws with your saw!)
You'll need to cut some 1-foot triangles out of the plywood for each corner. If you don't have a saw, you could just have the hardware store cut out 1-foot squares and use a square on each corner. We cut our triangles on a table-saw.
Lay out your wooden frame on a flat surface. The edges of the 44-inch pieces will be against the ends of the 8-foot pieces. To get the frame square, get a helper and a tape measure. Measure diagonally corner to corner. If the two measurements match, it's square.
Place your plywood triangles on the corners. We uses a scrap piece of 1 x 4-inch to place the triangle evenly off the edges.
Use your screw-driving drill to put the drywall screws in a pattern similar to the picture. (It's generally 3 screws in each corner and a couple along the areas the boards join.) You might want to double check the squareness of the frame as you work just to be safe.
When your frame is done, it'll look something like this. Theater flats usually have a cross bar, but for our light wearing application, it's just not needed.
Now you need a CLEAN surface to work on. Lock the dog in another room and lay your blackout material down on the floor. Carpet or a large clean blanket is important to use. Place your new frame (triangles up) on the middle of the material.
Starting in the middle of one of the long sides, wrap the cloth over the frame.
Apply a gentle tension to the edge of the cloth and staple the cloth about 3/4 of an inch from the outer edge of the frame. Work your way completely to one end. Return to the middle and work the other direction. Repeat for the opposite side. Do the same with the short sides. As you work around, evenly tension the cloth so that there will be no wrinkles. Take your time and it should be fine.
In the corners fold the material over itself and staple everything down.
If the fabric came out nice and even, go ahead and tap all the staples snugly into the wood with a light hammer. Don't hammer so hard that you cut the fabric in the process, you just want the spread the tension of the staple across the fabric.
When you're done, trim the extra material with a utility knife or scissors. Be careful and don't slip and cut your new screen.
Now that the screen is built, mounting depends on you. I used two brass shelf mounting tabs and drywall screws. Just locate some studs (our are part of a cloth covered frame behind the screen). and screw the tab to the back of the frame, and run a drywall screw through the mounting hole.
Voila! Total bill of materials: about $35 US.
posted August 29th 2006 7:09PM
How bout painting the fabric with screen goo? Wonder how the fabric handles paint and if it would alter any charteristics of the screen goo paint. This situation would be ideal if you can't or do not want to paint your walls.
If you want to do the paint, I'd use muslin instead of blackout. It's the usual theater flat fabric. Initial painting must be crosshatched and allowed to dry to shrink the muslin tight. I'd use a good primer, then goo if you must.
(or some of the mixtures out there.)
I built a 12'x8' screen that can be dismantled
and assembled in less than 15 minutes.
Used PVC tubing, reinforced by steel rods.
Then used screen material and set grommets
every 1'. Used bungee cords to stretch.
works beautifully for my outdoor ampitheatre.
m
Black velveteen is an ideal material for the
black out border. I just built an additional
1 x 4 frame outside the screen frame and nested
them together with mending plates.
the fifth element
i was lookin @ Sony's screen with the filter that bounces back only RGB. are there any other materials out there that would do that and could be used in a screen? true theirs is 80" and for a commercially made one @ 1,300$ online thats not TOO bad but outta my range.
would be interesting to see if there are other materials that are well suited to absorbing as much white light as possible.
Last time I checked white light contains all colors, so if you want to absorb as much of it as possible you are going to have nothing left to look at :P
I made the screen in this article and it turned out great. Only thing is it made very little difference in the picture, Shining the projector at the wall was just as bright. More of a cosmetic upgrade. Luckily I enjoyed making it anyway :)
I build a variation of this screen over the weekend. I was previously using an old lecture style projection screen that was about 12" 4:3. It was old and had discolorations, not to mention it is ugly as hell. Built this one in about 2 hours and the results are incredible! the image is brighter, the colours are crisper and it looks a hell of a lot better than the old one ever did. Because of the layout of my theatre room, the screen is actually mounted in front of the window, which I've blacked out using a roll down blind and some cardboard. I've never had such a clear picture, and the screen is also girlfriend approved, which rocks!
Thanks for the tutorial!
I also built a screen similar to this. Used 54" remnant blackout cloth I bought from a local fabric store for $1.49/yd. So my total cost was about $20 for a 100" screen. I bought enough to make a portable screen made with PVC to take outside or on the road as well. Bought black faux suede drapes at Wal-Mart for $13 per 54x84 panel to put around the screen for the finished look. Total cost: Approx $60.
Am also going to make a blackout screen "cover" to fit over the one window I have to deal with. Right now I just drape it over the window and it works great, but a custom fit cover will work even better.
where can you get a 2.35:1 projector?
im in the market and all i can find is 16:9.
im looking for a 720p widescreen projector for under 2 grand.
know any?
which is beter: DLP or LCD?
This is what I use. I haven't used anything else but am wondering if there is something better or just as practical. After reading all the insightful comments I think I'll augment what I use with some of that Goo paint and see what happens. I just use a white pull down window shade. You can get them in various sizes. Prices and materials vary. I spent like $30 on a 74 inch retractable window shade. The cheap ones are of a dotty material. More expensive ones are very smooth. Then for light control, I very precisely measured all my windows, went to a local fabric store, got several yards of the wide roll black vinyl fabric. I also picked up a few rolls of half inch velcro sticky back tape from the hardware store I bought the window shade from. I cut the fabric to size, applied one side of the sticky back velcro to the fabric and lined the window trim with the other side, and wallah, I have a decent home theater. My buddy is going to air brush some pictures on the vinyl too. I think it'll be cool. Thanks for the Goo tip.
Hi,
I am not sure if you made the screen yet, but a good tip would be to use snap-on buttons to fix the fabric onto the frame. Fix the buttons to the front, as this would be easier when setting it up.
Some usefull tips on portable screens can be found here: http://www.beamax.com/Portable-home-projection-screens
This will give you some ideas to think about when constructing the screen.
As for the frame, if you use aluminium, it will give you a lightweight construction. 6 to 8 cm wide should be enough to hold the pressure from the tension of the fabric. (You don't want it to sag in the middle).
Using corner brackets and pre-drilled holes will allow you to set it up relatively quickly.
For the fabric, use proper projection screen fabric which can be stretched (PVC based) and carry it in a protective bag, so it doesn't get damaged.
Good luck!
Otto
So, is this fabric somethign that can be sewn?
I am trying to do a full dome theater setup and looking for inexpensive fabric that will work well and I can use to make a dome cover.
thanks
Sophia
you could try using white acrylic gesso on any material,this is used as a primer before you paint your picture and is quite effective and also solidifies the material once it is stretched on to the the frame.
hop the idea helpsm all out.
hope this helps
Can anyone help me with information about how i can build double side projector screen. I really don't mind to buy one. ( A screen that when projector send a picture to the screen the picture will be seen on both side of the screen. PLs. help.
Hi,
This is possible with rear projection fabric. Even though one side will be optimal, the other side will still display an image, as the rear projection material is translucent.
Another thing in to keep in mind, you need to set your projector to rear-projection otherwise the image will look as if it was projected in a mirror.
The fabric can not be used in all screens, but this range of electrical projection screens can be used with the rear projection fabric: http://www.beamax.com/projection-screens/M-series-projection-screens
Rear projection fabric normally does not come with a black border.
If you need any other information, please let me know.
Good luck
I have tried Screen Goo & other acrylic paints before and spent a couple hundred $$ in the process. I ended up getting a couple HDTV format screens from http://www.projectorscreenstore.com , cut the fabric and hung on my wall. I spent like $400 on Da-Lite Model B's, High Contrast Matte White's (3 of em!), and mounted htem to my wall. Worked way better than any paint setup and was just as easy to cover up.Using a Sharp XR series Projector, the system is the best I've had, and for under $1,000 total! (with sound!)
Went out today and picked up everything in the post, and followed directions verbatim to make my 72" diagonal 16:9 screen (yeah, I know I could make a 104" but my throw range is small and I dont want my eyes to bleed when I want to watch tv).
I can honestly say that vs my white bare walls, the "blackout" curtain cloth that I bought at Hancock Fabrics looks INCREDIBLE. I spent sub $40, and about 2 hours to save hundreds of dollars.
Seriously, awesome.
http://www.projectorscreenstore.com has over 70 screens for under $100. Cheaper than making your own!
These Guys at Projector Screen Center, www.projectorscreencenter.com, have a good solution which involves painting your screen on the wall directly with some special paint, you'll have to call them about more information though as it's pretty new.
These Guys at Projector Screen Center, http://www.projectorscreencenter.com, have a good solution which involves painting your screen on the wall directly with some special paint, you'll have to call them about more information though as it's pretty new. (Sorry for duplicate comment, I left out the HTTP!)