CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

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Hello together!

I would like to describe my own motorized masking system I've built for my new basement theatre.
Here is my solution for the mechanical part (the elctronic part follows):



I installed a hollow aluminium spindle with a step motor behind the screen (actually for roller blinds and very cheap).
I fixed 4 ropes on the spindle unsing the holes on it. These ropes are attached to the mask (two frames for upper and lower masking) and are redirected twice by two reels respectively (8 reels all together). In the picture above you see the reels for the first redirection (perpendicular to the screen -> parallel to the upper edge of the screen). In the next picture you see the reels for the second redirection (parallel to the screen upper edge -> parallel to the screen right and left edge):



The ropes are winded in opposite directions on the spindle. When the spindle is rotating counterclockwise the upper mask frame is moving downards while the lower mask frame is moving upwards for cinemascope masking:



For clockwise rotation of the spindle the frames move in the opposite direction for 16:9 mask:



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Now the elctronics part. For the control of the mask and a couple of other things I use a diy infrared receiver with 8 relais outputs, that means you can control up to 8 different devices with it. I have realized the circuit using a simple stripboard, here is a picture (when I have some time I will make a printed circuit board ):



I bought a small chassis for the whole stuff and this is the result:



The circuit understands RC5-codes (standard infrared codeing developed from Philips). The heart of the circuit is a programmable PIC-chip where you can upload the RC5 codes you want to use. Almost every programmable remote control today uses RC5 codes. You can upload the codes using a small serial device that can be pluged in near the chip.
The chip has 40 memory blocks free for programming (plenty space for HT usage).
The circuit works really fine and reliable.
You can find more information under:

http://www.bitmonster.com/ir/index.html

Unfortunately this is a german URL but you can find there everything needed to realize the circuit (firmware for the chip, windows software for uploading the codes and the firmware to the chip, the circuit plans and a complete parts list).
If you need some help for reading give me a hint