CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

acrawley · Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 18 Location: Redmond, WA

Building a cheap (ghetto, if you must) projector screen

Stuff you'll need:

Four 8' 2x3's: ~$8 (You could use 2x4's, but I decided they were too heavy)
Four corner brackets: ~$2
Large piece of blackout drapery: ~$40 (Here's what I used: Roc-Lon Blackout Drapery Liner, 105"x80:)

Gaffer's tape (If you want a border): ~$15

Stuff you'll do:

First thing I had to do was cut the boards according to the following diagram:

For this, I broke out my trusty miter-box. Those of you lucky enough to have power tools at your disposal would probably be better off using them, but I figured my apartment complex (and my neighbors) wouldn't really appreciate the extra noise.

Once all the boards were cut to length, I assembled the 8' and 6' sections into a frame. I basically laid the boards out on the floor, then attached the brackets to the inside corners to hold them in place. Once all the brackets were screwed down, I drove large screws through both pieces of wood from the outside corners. (Excuse the mess, I was building this screen shortly after moving in.)

Next, I took the four 1' pieces and attached them in the corners for stability:

With the frame complete, the next step is to attach the screen material. It comes wadded up into a tiny package, which sucks because it puts some serious wrinkles into the material:

The material has two sides, one with a soft texture, and one with a canvas-like texture. I decided that I wanted the soft side to be the projection surface, since the canvas side had a very visible texture to it. I laid the material on the floor, soft side down, then laid the frame on top of it, centered as close as I could get it:

Getting rid of the wrinkles in the material means stretching it tight. Really tight. My rule of thumb was to pull it until I thought it was tight enough, then pull it a bit more. It's pretty tough stuff - I never managed to tear it. The basic procedure for stretching is to start on one of the long sides, then move to the opposide side, then do the short sides the same way. Repeat the whole process, moving outwards from the center of each side, and always stapling opposite sides as mirror images of each other.

First the long sides:

...then the short sides:

...then repeating until the whole thing is stretched out and stapled down:

At this point, the screen is basically complete:

To make things look a lot nicer, though, I decided to put a border on my screen. I started by putting a strip of gaffer's tape around the outside of one edge of the screen:

Then, I put another strip of tape along the front of the screen, lining up with the tape on the edge:

...repeat for the other two sides:

...and you've got yourself a screen!

**kal** · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:56 am Post subject:

I love it!

I've been looking for a good set of intructions for a DIY curtain blackout screen that's a lot like the one I built to post on the main site (but without me having to build another one and take pics)...

Do you mind if I steal your instructions and pics and put them in the "Advanced Procedures" section of Curt's main site? I'd give you credit of course.

I'll probably add my painting instructions with Behr Ultrawhite & Floetrol (see my photo album for details) to get the gain up a bit.

Kal

acrawley · Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 18 Location: Redmond, WA

Sure, if you want to use my pictures, you're welcome to them. If you want to give me credit, my name's Andrew Crawley.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:09 am Post subject:

I love this too. So simple. Well done.

PsychoDogBeast · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:44 pm Post subject:

Excellent thread.

Nice one Acrawley, welcome to the forum

Best regards

James

**kal** · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:19 pm Post subject:

Thanks again Andrew! The instructions are now up here:

http://www.curtpalme.com/Building_a_Screen1.shtm

I added some painting instructions that I followed almost 5 years ago (and I've been happy with).

Kal

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

I prefer to put a cross-brace across the middle (vertically, bracing the long sides) so the long sides don't bow when you tighten the BO.

You can often get BO very cheaply on sales. E.g. if you have a Joann in your area, they often do 40% off sales. I think I paid about $12-18 for the BO (3 yd x 60in) for my 48x87 screen. Works fine for a 16:9 screen, but you'll need a large piece like acrawley listed if you want a big 4:3.

Gaffer's tape looks interesting. I've never bothered to put a frame on my screen (the walls are very dark) and that looks like a simple solution. Duve Pro (Duvetyne) tape is supposed to be even better. Goo Systems Flok tape is the best but it's $40 for 2" x 25'.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:31 am Post subject:

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Having read this,.. I'm considering redoing my screen again.

I went from Blackout Fabric to Melimine (sp?) board but I think I may actually prefer the look of the blackout fabric.

And,.. I'm thinking I ought to build a 4:3 screen and then have masking plates for 16:9 and 2:33 or whatever. (I'll have to rethink the mounting of the center channel.)

There's lots of compelling 4:3 stuff that I have these days and I feel bad about using such a small portion of the tubes to show it.

-Brian

Ridebreck · Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:52 pm Post subject:

After hauling my 3/4" melamine screen from the garage up to my HT, I was wishing that I had done something like this. Smile

JaceTheAce · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 80 Location: San Diego, CA

Here's my DIY screen........Click here.

**kal** · Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:22 am Post subject:

Very nice Jason! Nice and simple too. Parkland plastic's a pretty popular way to go too... what sort of gain does it end up being? Any idea?

Kal

BradTheAggie · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 651 Location: Oak Point, Texas

I built the DIY screen using blackout cloth this weekend. Took less than three hours start to finish. A few observations.

I thought using the metal angle brackets mentioned somewhere in another related thread works very well. Lowes has them in a pack of 4 including screws.

I also used a vertical brace in the middle to add rigidity. Lowes has packs of T-brackets to help with this brace.

My Lowes (God I wish I had bought stock in Lowes before i bought my house!) had a pretty crappy supply of Pine 2x3 lumber, so I went with Douglas Fir instead.

Pre drill your screw holes! Douglas Fir can split pretty easily if you are not careful.

I also used to soft white side of the fabric, not the textured side. And the directions regarding how to staple the fabric were spot on. Start in the middle of one side. Stretch the opposite side. Switch to an arbitrary diagonal and do the same. Circle around the frame stretching and stapling. Made a really good taught screen with no wrinkles quite easy to do.

My final bill was around $20 for 3 yards of 54" blackout cloth from Handcock Fabric + $35 for the lumber and brackets at Lowes. Already had the staples and gun to staple the fabric to the frame. Built it to 89x50 inches, and it looks great!

thanks to everyone for posting instructions and observations on this project. It is VERY easy to do, looks great, and is cheap to boot!

Brad

wallace123456 · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 2236 Location: Northwest VA area

wallace123456 · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 2236 Location: Northwest VA area

Ok, so the 2X3's I bought are worse than I thought (Home Depot and Lowes stink!!). The lower right corner is bowed outward. And I have a sticky situation; the screen is hanging from the ceiling as I can't (or don't want to) attach it to the wall. See photo. (yes, that is real stone and concrete on the wall)

Anyone know how to get the bow out of the screen? Maybe like run some tension wire behind on the frame??

Other than that, I am willing to take a piece of drywall and paint it with good quality product for a screen??.........

Thought, comments?? Thanks.

Clarence · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 3:31 am Post subject:

wallace123456 · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 2236 Location: Northwest VA area

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:06 am Post subject:

Which way is your screen bowed, in or out? It's hard to tell in that picture

**kal** · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 2:38 pm Post subject:

Strange that you had problems with bowing. My frame's made out of 1x6" pieces from Homd Depot with a brace in the middle. I made sure to buy nice straight pieces and it hasn't shifted or warped in 6 years. (I keep the basement at a pretty constant 50% relative humidity).

Kal

wallace123456 · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 2236 Location: Northwest VA area