Building a Screen (1 Viewer)

[kyle-sm]

OK I've looked at the Dalite prices for screens and I'm not interested in paying them. I don't need anything that dissapears out of sight or anything, I'm willing to make the thing myself and have the tools to do it. How much should I expect to pay in supplies, and are there certain materials that are better than others for picture quality?

Last question, how much better will this make the picture look compared to my wall (drywall with white paint)?

 

[kyle-sm]

anyone?

 

[Bob Kavanaugh]

My buddy and I made a screen for his panasonic projector. We followed Ron P's advice and used blackout cloth (used for drapes) and Lowes Valspar brand paint in a Gray Plank color. The blackout cloth allows absolutely no light to pass through, keeping your picture bright, and the grey helps with black levels. Paint the fabric side, not the vinyl side. Also have the fabric person roll the cloth up, so you don't get wrinkles.

Here are some pics, caution dial-up, they're huge. ( ~1MB )

Screen Front

Screen Back

I think it does a great job, from all viewing angles.Good luck!

edit: I think the fabric was about 10 bucks, the paint maybe 5, and I had the wood laying around. Also, the black borders are flat black spray paint.

 

[kyle-sm]

bob I was thinking going silver instead of grey (I've got an LCD projector btw)could I do this with silver, and if so what paint would you recommend?

 

[Bob Kavanaugh]

Why silver? My buddy has an LCD as well. I can only recommend the Valspar Gray Plank, as that is all we tried.

Scan through this thread for Ron's reasoning behind his choice of Valspar Gray.

 

[MichaelDDD]

Bob K,

That screen is really nice. Great job on that!

Stupid questions follow:

1. How do you come up w/the dimensions for the screen? Is it a 16x9 screen? I'm no math whiz...

2. You affix the fabric to the frame, THEN paint, right?

3. What holds the screen up? Looks like it's floating.

4. The black border around the screen; that's paint, right?

Thanks for educating the ignorant. :b

 

[kyle-sm]

Thanks for educating the ignorant.

cool......

Um I was interested in the silver because I saw several screen shots with an LCD projector on white grey and silver and the silver looked best to me.

Here is a link to the screen shots

I skimmed that thread, it's long as hell and I never got to the part about the grey.

 

[Bob Kavanaugh]

Thanks Michael,

1. It is a 16x9 screen. We first determined our max width (to fit between existing speakers) and calculated the corresponding height. ( multiply the width by .5625 to get the height, or multiply the height by 1.77 to get the width)

2. Yes

3. It's sitting on those stacked speakers, the real center channel speaker was hidden behind the screen, we have since raised the center above the screen.

4. Yes. Flat black spray paint. I did it last, by masking the screen. Reffering back to question 1, after determining your screen dimensions ADD 2x the border width to each dimension, to maintain the proper ratio. If you simply put a border around a 16:9 screen, it is no longer 16:9.


Kyle,
The silver does look best, have fun spray painting that huge screen It was just way too easy and inexspensive to roll on the gray house paint.

 

[MichaelDDD]

Thank you, Bob. Excellent instructions...especially #4, b/c I would've NEVER thought of adding the border like that. :b

I'd have the BEST "Almost 16:9 Screen: on the HTF! LOL!

 

[Bob Kavanaugh]

Let's just say I learned that the hard way. :b I remembered to add it in the planning stages, but I got all gung-ho building it. It isn't off by much.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

If you want silver the one to use is the following....

50% Behr Silver
10% Pure white paint
40% Behr premium faux glaze

This is the so called DDog paint mix if you want to do a search for it

If you have a LCD PJ you might also want to drop in a couple of drops of pure red as well. Mix this very well then either spray or roll it onto your blackout screen. If you go with the roll on method I recomend a small 4" foam roller and while painting continue to paint over the area you just painted to keep roller marks down to a minimum. You might want to practice this technique a little before trying it on your screen as it takes some getting used to. The results though are well worth the effort

 

[Allan P]

hey gang...

Here's something for you to think about. I just found this tonight at Hancock Fabrics...Its a Silver Satin fabric(Im using the dull side) and so far it looks GREAT!!! It really has a color similar to the SilverStar. Plus, its pretty inexpensive...only $4 a yard.

 

[Phoenix]

I know nothing about screens but couldn't you use an entire sheet of drywall as a screen and paint it? its approximately 16:9 or you could cut it....