The Cinema section

Home cinema room		Misc stuff
All images The room - before Building the screen Making the blind Mounting the AE100 projector HCPC Build (to follow) Audio setup (to follow) The Finished Article Screenshots		Scan of Medion MD4689 8 in 1 Learning Remote Manual (zip file)

Building the screen

The screen is built from 4"x1" softwood, and wrapped in black velvet. Screen fabric is white blackout cloth - the stuff with a rubberised backing to prevent light getting through.

Building the frame
Bought plain sawn timber - no need for planed, as it's going to be covered over. Based the dimensions on the fabric:
Fabric height: 54" - say 53" frame height to allow for overlap, and as the cloth with stretch, that should be OK.
Therefore frame width is going to be 53 x (16/9) = 94".
I bought the timber cut roughly to length (adding 8" to each of the calculated dimensions!!), then cut a mitre on one end, measuring down to work out the exact length for the other mitre. Finally offered the opposite sides up to each other to make sure they were the same.

Wrapping in velvet
I wrapped each of the four frame sides individually, and joined them afterwards. This seems to work pretty well.
This process was a bit of a kludge, as the velvet I had was an offcut, and was not as long as the screen is wide. This meant I have had to join the velvet in the middle, but it looks OK. I used double sided carpet tape to do this. One thing to watch out for is to make sure that the velvet's pile is in the same direction for both pieces, or the join will be obvious.
I wrapped the velvet round the timber, with an inch or so coming round on to the back. I didn't trim it to fit at this point, as the remains of the fabric gives something to hold on to when you're doing the second side. I then worked down the length with a staple gun, keeping the material taut, and making sure it stayed in a straight run down the timber. I stapled at about 6" intervals. I then went over the staples with a hammer to ensure they were in nice and deep.
I then pulled the fabric round the timber, and repeated down the other side, making sure there were no creases or bulges. Once done, I then went over it again, adding staples between those already in place, pulling the velvet nice and tight as I did so.
The corners are a bit of a pain, as you end up with excess material to fold around, but it worked OK.
I ran duct tape down the back of the frame to cover the edges of the velvet - partially to neaten it up, partially to stop fraying and bits of velvet fluff getting everywhere.

Putting it together
Laying the 4 pieces out on the floor, I got it roughly in position, then fixed my brackets to one side of each of the corners. I then (with help!), measured the two diagonals, jigging the frame around until both were the same. The measurement should be just under 119" inches for a frame of these dimensions.
I then screwed in the other side of each bracket (loosely), and checked the diagonals again. Finally, I fixed it all in place. One tip - make sure you leave some space in the corners for stapling the cloth in place - keep the brackets out towards the edge a bit.
One other thing - make sure the brackets/plates that you use are VERY solid - the frame may have a tendency to twist open.

Preparing the fabric
First thing - make sure you have LOTS of space, and a good flat surface. I was able to do this on a laminate floor. Sweep the floor thouroughly, so you don't get bits trapped underneath - especially on a hot day, these almost stick to the rubberised back of the screen fabric.
I taped the fabric down with duct tape, not stretching it at all, just tensioning it slightly. I then shoved some newspaper around to catch the mess. The rubberised backing prevents the paint from soaking through, but you may feel happier with something underneath it all!

The paint mix
I'm painting the screen grey to help improve the black levels - whites will still be OK as long as the grey is not too dark. The classic colours seem to be from the Dulux range, and are a series of greys called "Icestorm". They range from the almost black Icestorm 1, to the very light Icestorm 6.
I chose to go for something in between 5 and 6. To do this, I just bought 1 litre of matt Icestorm 5, and a litre of matt white. This way I was able to mix to the shade I wanted. I ended up with about 2/3 Icestorm 5, 1/3 white. For the two coats, I used just under a litre of paint in total.
The most important thing to do is make sure the paint bonds well with the fabic. To do this, add some PVA glue (or Unibond/PVA bond) to the mix. Also, the paint is too thick as it stands, so add some water too. I added about 100ml of water and 25ml of PVA, perhaps a little more.
I tested the colour out on some paper, and left it to dry, before diving in and starting to paint. You can also adjust the colour if you wish after the first coat, of course!

Painting the fabric
The paint will soak in very well on the first coat, so don't be suprised if you use a lot of paint. I started in the middle and worked out, trying to brush out any excess paint. I left it to dry for a good few hours, and then did another coat.
From close up, you will see some streaks and uneven patches (well I did!). However, once dry and complete, it looks fine. I have found that looking at an acute angle towards the light shows blemishes up, but that's not how I'm intending to use the screen!! Time will tell how it performs.

Attaching the fabric
Once the two coats had dried, I took my life in my hands and attached it to the screen. I tried damping it slightly with a sponge first, so the fabric would stretch a little, but this does bring off some of the paint, although it may be a good way to remove any inconsistencies.
I started in the middle of one of the long sides. and stapled at 4" intervals, stretching outwards. I did the whole top length first, then the centre of the opposite side, then worked round the shorter sides, then back to the edges of the remaining long side. Where I'd done the full length first, I ended up with a little "belly" of fabric in the corner. It weas easy to stretch out, though.
Once the fabric was in place, I then worked round again, tightening the cloth and adding more staples between my original 4" gaps.
From this experience, I would recommend doing the middle sections of each side first (not just one staple but a 2 foot section, say). One other tip - if you have a manky edge at all, do that one first, or you may end up with that pulled over in to view if you've stretched too much in one direction.

Mounting the screen
I used some spare corner brackets (the triangular ones, not the L shaped ones), and fixed them to the top and sides of the screen, with the apex of the triangle projecting beyond the edge of the screen. I had painted them first with the wall colour, so they don't show. These will be used to fix the screen to the wall.
We had already found that the wall curved, leaving a 1.5" gap behind the right side of the screen. Painted up and fixed a batten down that side of the screen to tidy things up a bit.

With a willing accomplice, we rested the screen on a stool which happened to be a nice height, and levelled the screen up. Whacked some screws in to the wall for the top brackets. Removed the stool, and checked for level and plumb. Uh-oh, the wall's not vertical. Need a couple of pads to bring the bottom of the screen out to get it vertical. Off with the screen, find a couple of bits of ply the right thickness, and fix them to the base of the screen where the side brackets project.
Screen back up again - not bad. Noticed a couple of small "dings" in rhe screen where the fabric has been stretched - presumably by our manhandling. Damp cloth and a gentle wipe, leave to dry - bingo! Stretched back again.
Next job is to fix a curtain rail up to we can hide the screen when it's not in use.

The curtain
You'll see the covering I'm using below in the photos - it's an old cotton throw I've had for years, which used to go over a sofa. A friend and I cooked up a method for making a DIY Roman Blind. My wife poo-poohed the idea, so we initially lashed it together with duct tape, garden twine and small threaded eyes. It worked a treat, but the eyes pulled out of the duct tape, so we had to do something a bit more permanent.

Jane cut some small patches of cloth, then sewed a fold down the centre of each, so there was a flap projecting. I then put an eyelet into each of these flaps, then we sewed the patches in four columns down the fabric, at about 15" intervals. We added a broad hem to the bottom, and ran a lightweight pole through. We then ran some polyester string (the multi plaited stuff used for hanging pictures) down through the columns of eyelets, and tied off to the pole within the hem. Some vine eyes screwed into the wall above the screen then lead the string along to one side where they were tied together. Now one pull raises the screen "curtain" nice and easily. Motorised, do I hear you say? Maybe one day.....

Epilogue
Of course a lot of this information has been gleaned from various sources - in particular the AVForums. Much of the frame build came from here.
Thanks to all who've either helped me directly, or who's sites/posts I've read and digested.

Any further suggestions for info I can add to this, please let me know

Screen build 1 - detail of corner - 19 Aug 2002

Timber wrapped in velvet, and joined - edges to be tidied later....

Screen build 2 - painting the cloth - 19 Aug 2002

The cloth is white blackout cloth, bought from the local market. Painted with 2 coats of grey matt emulsion. You can see the frame ready to be fitted with the cloth.

Screen build 3 - cloth in place - 19 Aug 2002

Here�s the screen with the cloth attached - make sure you have help when doing this!

Screen build 4 - detail of corner 2 - 19 Aug 2002

Here�s a corner once the cloth is in place.

Side view, showing the inch and a half packing I needed to add to this side to account for the bend in the wall!!

The screen, now in place. Wall was curved and not vertical, so some shims needed to be added to keep everything straight. Copper tube resting on top is to be a curtain rail for when the screen´s not in use.

The screen goes up! - mounting bracket detail - 21 Aug 2002

Here�s a close up of one of the brackets holding the screen on the wall.

Now, where did I put my projector screen.....

...Ah, there it is! Home made Roman Blind in action....

View from the side showing position of screen and projector, plus on extreme right, the essential component - a FRIDGE FULL OF BEER AND WINE!

Here�s the screen ready for action, from the rear of the room.

Screen shot - Monsters Inc 1 - 21 Oct 2002

Ignore the curved edges - camera´s fault!

Screen shot - Monsters Inc 2 - 21 Oct 2002

More Monsters Inc