DIY Projector Screen (1 Viewer)

[Frank Rizzo]

Has anyone taken the challenge of building their own Projector Screen for their Home Theater? I am in the market for purchasing a screen but I would rather not spend $1,000 on a screen if I could build something that is compareable for alot less..

Thanks!

Rizzo-

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

I'd start researching "blackout liner" as it's pretty cheap and commonly used for DIY Projector Screens. I remember seeing a several DIY sites, sorry I could only get you one link. Most of them involved blackout liner, a wooden frame and then a black matte frame or curtain around it.
Link Removed

 

[Robert_J]

AVS Forum has a screen section which includes DIY.
-Robert

 

[Jeff Meininger]

I watched (and sorta helped) some Austin DIY folks help Colin Dunn build one. It looked very simple to build... MDF as a backing, with plastex (plas-tex?) as the screen surface. Plas-tex is a sheet of flexible plastic that is smooth on one side and rough on the other. I think it's used to line shower stalls. He used contact cement spray to fix the plastex to the MDF, then lined the border with moulding painted flat black. The rough surface is the "screen". You should ask him how he likes it.

 

[Dustin B]

I'm still a long ways from buying a projector (need to get a decent paying job first :p)). But I have been doing a little research. Not so much into screen construction methods yet. But I did run across one thread that convinced me that when I do build a screen it will be a constant area screen (at least for the 1.85 and 2.35 to 1 aspcect ratios, I'll let the area decrease for lower ratios).
Third post in the thread has the pictures that did the convincing. He has 3 sets of pictures showing size differences between a 1.85:1 and 2.35:1 movie on three different screen setups. Constant width, constant height, and finally constant area.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=15649.

 

[Robin Smith]

Check out this page:
http://home.golden.net/~mbrennem/HT/
It is the site of a guy I met on this forum. He has a page detailing how he made a screen and masks. It wasn't that expensive a project, but the results look good.
I have seen the results and the image is pretty awesome. I think he gathered most of his info over on AVSForum.
Good luck
Robin

 

[Todd Shore]

Yes, I built a screen for my NEC 6PG a couple of years ago and it has done a great job.

I used drapery blackout fabric from Joanns stretched over a 1"x4" frame and secured by staples on the back side. Total size for the screen is 94"x54". Weight is just a few pounds and can be held up with one finger.

Compared to my boss's Stewart screen, I would take the Stewart if someone gave it to me, but I certainly would NOT spend the $1500 he did for it. Compared to the Dalite screen he auditioned ($800) I would keep my $60 screen -- I like mine better.

It is perfectly flat, light, and goes edge to edge.

Wall mounting is easy -- it is hung on two nails.

 

[Rob Lloyd]

I'm in that process right now. I purchased a sheet of Parkland Plastics 5x8. My screen is only 72" wide x 48"-52" high (I forget, just put the projector up last night at 11:30). The plastic is white but I'm going to paint it w/ a light gray, Glidden Universal Gray, for now. I will probably end up getting Screen Goo to paint it.

I asked Ken at Screen Goo for a sample so if that looks better I'll be getting that. I have samples from Dalite and their gray was to dark and the white is definetly not what I'm looking for. I have a LCOS projector so light gray is what I need to darken the colors a bit.

I'm just going to make a frame around the plastic to mount it and then get some black felt for masking material when doing wide screen.

AVS has a very extensive listing of DIY screens.