Thank you,

I will pick these parts up when the time comes. Any thoughts as to if these parts will work on the panny's 900 replacement, the ax100 in case I splurge and buy this one?

Thanks again guys,

Brandon

This mount is a helluva lot more sturdy/stable than my old Peerless mount.
Also, very easy to adjust whereas the Peerless was super tricky/touchy. -j

I don't think the springs are necessary. They are pushing the PJ away from the plate, but gravity is already doing that. In fact, my design doesn't even use wingnuts as I make slight adjustments simply by unthreading out of the PJ's bosses a little. Of course, you have to be careful that you don't fully unscrew from the PJ.

http://www.pbase.com/mustang100/image/23294336.jpg

Bobby


The springs would really be necessary if you convert this mount in to a floor
standing stand holding the PJ with a very heavy base. In that case gravity
would come in to play.

Ok, I'm building this mount tonight. I found this thread earlier this week. I fought the urge for 3 days, but yesterday I went and bought the materials.

Mine will have a short rod of only 3 inches. I have just a 7'6" ceiling and I wanna keep it high.

My new 900 just doesn't fit my other homemade mount and it looks so awesome, it needs a new pirch anyway.

My other mount was 3 years ago and I didn't know about this forum so I developed the idea just out of necessity alone.

It incorporated a VCR mount that would hang under a wall mounted TV. I modified it and included a hinge with a sping mechanism that would absorb the shock of my upstairs neighbors when they randomly decided to do hall bowling or cheerleading tryouts or whatever they did.

They may have just had one LARGE resident who often had the urge to try and recreate thunder.

Nonetheless, it worked well, my picture would shack but I never had a bulb go less than 3600 hours.

This mount will be much cleaner and I no longer have people above me.

When I go to a house at some point I can just get a new rod section of whatever length I want.

I like the mount MM very simple design that works. I just redesigned and built a new mount for my projector out of some very simular parts. I had origionaly purchased one of the speaker mound derived projector mounts off ebay and havent had any real problems except for the mount ball moving over a weeks span. The reason that I had to build a new mount is I fliped the room 180 due to the sun comming down my basement stairs and hitting the corner of the screen. When the room is fliped there is and 11 inch beam in the way so the projector has to project the imiage under the beam. I have corrected the problem buy still using the same ball mounted into a rubber sleave with a metal friction washer on it. I also use a floor flange with a pice of metal pipe that also has vertical adjustment. I have just finished the mount and will post some pictures tomarrow. I belive that the part I used for vertical adjustment will work on the mounts that all or you have used. I purchased it at LOWES for about 4 dollars and it range up to about six dollars for the larger than 1 inch pipe.

Yes, they are the same screws as Monkey and RGB listed: 4mm x 70mm.
Here's RGB's modded list:
"Nyloc nut
finishing washer (concave design "cups", or retains, the spring)
spring
finishing washer
(plexiglass)
flat "fender" washer (fender washers have larger outside diameter (OD) than regular washers)
wingnut
The bolt/screw is a 70mm long fully threaded M4.
Lock washers not used in photo."
-j

where did you get the 4mmx70mm bolts from?

I recommend a small local hardware store. I couldn't find any at places like lowes or home depot.

You can also find them at hobby shops.

Now if I can just find the stupid 2.6mmbolts for my Optoma H27...

I have a metalcraft mount I bought from ebay and found that it has a problem when someone walks above the projector it will cause the projector to bounce (oscillate) for a few seconds before it settles down. I think it is due the the design of the mount and I want to try adapting it to be more like this mount. If I touch my projector to press a button or focus it etc it causes the same oscillating bounce that lasts a few seconds (3-5). Does this mount suffer the same problem? I would plan to use a short down tube of about 6 to 8" at 1.5" diameter steel pipe. Mounted to steel flanges. I am just looking to get rid of the bounce. I don't mind if I see one bounce when someone walks or stomps above it my problem is with the oscillation that last 3 to 5 seconds.

thanks,
Brendin

Turned the metal craft mount into a monkey man mount and added some rubber vibration dampers to the top flange.

I like this mount idea, but I need mine to be realy realy short. My projector is the Optoma HD70. The HD70 apears to have quite abit of verticle offset. From what I understand, the offset is 33%, so if I have a 46" screen height, the offset is 46x0.33=15.8" My room is 7'2", or 86". So if the lens were even with my ceiling, the bottom of my screen would be at 86"-15.8"-46"= 24.2". This seams about where I want it, or perhaps a little lower, maybe 20 inches minimum. Unfortunatly the lens is not even with the ceiling, and if I use a monkeyman style mount, I'll be down even lower. I'll assume the lens is about halfway or 2" down, and I still need room for a mount. Did anyone design a "slimline" mount? Or are their other options? I assume tilting and keystoning are no-no's so I realy want to avoid this.

Turned the metal craft mount into a monkey man mount and added some rubber vibration dampers to the top flange.


I ended up going this route with the mount...http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8837225&&#post8837225

Well, I have to say that this mount idea is brilliant! I will be building one like this soon for an HD70 - I will go "shelf style" (have to mount to the back wall) with a wider mount and the PJ under the shelf Simple... WAY adjustible. Clean. KISS. It is difficult for any mount to get metter than this IMHOP in terms of performance/price aspect.

Kudos.

Here is my version of the Monkey_Man mount. It is an apartment setup so I was reluctant to put holes in the ceiling, plus the unit is probably 30 years old. I trusted the wall studs more than the ceiling to hold up my projector. The polycarbonate material used was a cutting board from a large retail chain. Someone else in this thread did the same thing and it works quite well. The handle cutout of the board actually gives me access to a screw needed to remove the filter for cleaning. In the photos you can see I used 3 wingnuts per m4 screw. I was going to use the middle set to lock the projector in place once I had it adjusted but I have since removed them. They got in the way more than anything. The only problem with the mount is that it is easily prone to being moved, so it probably wouldn't be great if your wall is subject to lots of vibrations. I haven't had any problems so far.

Tagged!

I'm glad this got brought back up. I'd like to thank MM again for this as it saved me big $. I just replaced my X1 with an IN72 and was able to use the same mount, just drill new holes in the plate. It still looks great. :)

I'm glad this got brought back up. I'd like to thank MM again for this as it saved me big $. I just replaced my X1 with an IN72 and was able to use the same mount, just drill new holes in the plate. It still looks great. :)

Twehttam,

What holes did you use on the bottom of your IN72 for mounting on MM's design?

Wow! Great info in this thread.

One question I didn't see answered (or simply missed) --- how do you ensure the projector is perpendicular to the screen when using threaded pipes? Is it as simple as tightening the mount to the pipe until it is tight, but facing in the right direction? This would mean it wasn't as tight as it could be. Seems like there may be some trick here I'm missing.

Thanks

... Altan

Wow! Great info in this thread.

One question I didn't see answered (or simply missed) --- how do you ensure the projector is perpendicular to the screen when using threaded pipes? Is it as simple as tightening the mount to the pipe until it is tight, but facing in the right direction? This would mean it wasn't as tight as it could be. Seems like there may be some trick here I'm missing.

Thanks

... Altan
Easy, mount the top flange to the ceiling or board, mark and screw in. Then screw in the bottom flange on the pipe----using a magic marker, mark where it hits your acrylic. Then drill those holes...viola, straight on mate!

Easy, mount the top flange to the ceiling or board, mark and screw in. Then screw in the bottom flange on the pipe----using a magic marker, mark where it hits your acrylic. Then drill those holes...viola, straight on mate!

You got it. This is one of the reasons I used plexi glass in the first place!!!

Props to Monkey, curses to the builders of my apartment complex.

After a _itch of a time trying to find the joists, I ended up with the old drill till you find it method....23 inches apart? wtf? lol anyway, I am limited on space so I threw up a 3x26x1 inch of oak and drilled into the joists, ofcourse pre-drilling the oak, don't want to split it.

From there the only change I made was the acrylic. I went with 1/2 ply because my flange is mounted towards the rear and the acrylic was giving me a lot of flex. I also used wing nuts exclusively on the 50mm screws, it's great leveling this thing, I highly recommend this.

Thanks Monkeyman, you da monkey!

PS ignore the pencil marks, they must have laid down some metal drywall mesh or something? So much for the stud finder!

Props to Monkey, curses to the builders of my apartment complex.

After a _itch of a time trying to find the joists, I ended up with the old drill till you find it method....23 inches apart? wtf? lol anyway, I am limited on space so I threw up a 3x26x1 inch of oak and drilled into the joists, ofcourse pre-drilling the oak, don't want to split it.

From there the only change I made was the acrylic. I went with 1/2 ply because my flange is mounted towards the rear and the acrylic was giving me a lot of flex. I also used wing nuts exclusively on the 50mm screws, it's great leveling this thing, I highly recommend this.

Thanks Monkeyman, you da monkey!

PS ignore the pencil marks, they must have laid down some metal drywall mesh or something? So much for the stud finder!

Well done!!! I likey :)

This weekend I managed to adapt this design to my HD1000 in a room with only 7'4" ceilings and a 95" screen. The springs are close to completely compressed, but I found a 1/2"-length galvanized pipe to put between the flanges which made it all possible (apparently you can also get a "close" length which leaves minimal space between the flanges, but my store was out of them).

After looking at multiple big box hardware stores, I instantly found all of the items on the "hardware store" list at a local chain hardware store (duh!) - they had M4 fully threaded at a 70mm length, though if you're going this close to the ceiling, you could get away with maybe 40mm screws and cutting your compression springs in half to save on cost. I used wing nuts above the board and nuts/locking washers against the mounting points on the PJ.

Leveling adjustments were fantastic. Thanks, M_M.

This weekend I managed to adapt this design to my HD1000 in a room with only 7'4" ceilings and a 95" screen. The springs are close to completely compressed, but I found a 1/2"-length galvanized pipe to put between the flanges which made it all possible (apparently you can also get a "close" length which leaves minimal space between the flanges, but my store was out of them).

After looking at multiple big box hardware stores, I instantly found all of the items on the "hardware store" list at a local chain hardware store (duh!) - they had M4 fully threaded at a 70mm length, though if you're going this close to the ceiling, you could get away with maybe 40mm screws and cutting your compression springs in half to save on cost. I used wing nuts above the board and nuts/locking washers against the mounting points on the PJ.

Leveling adjustments were fantastic. Thanks, M_M.
I have 8' ceilings and just got my HD1000 as well...

Would you be able to tell me how high is the bottom of your screen from the floor? I am thinking about getting a 106" screen and worry it might be too close to the floor.

The bottom of my image is just under 22" from the floor.

Anyone make one of these for an Epson Cinema 400?

Pics?

What fastener size do the Epson 400 mount holes use?

So I came across your thread after a quick search. I liked RGB's mods, so I went that direction.


I will be looking for my royalty check in the mail :D

But seriously, the Nyloc nuts really help round out the design and lend a clean, polished look to the finished mount. Plus, if you follow my installation instructions earlier in the thread, the nyloc nuts help prevent over-torquing the M4 screws in the projector mount threaded inserts, which could damage the projector.

I'm glad this got brought back up. I'd like to thank MM again for this as it saved me big $. I just replaced my X1 with an IN72 and was able to use the same mount, just drill new holes in the plate. It still looks great. :)

That's one of the great things about this mount, especially if you upgrade projectors every year or two, the savings add up.

This is coming from someone who paid about $200 each for the mounts for my first two projectors in 1999 and 2002. The bad thing was, I had to give away the mount with both projectors, as they were custom commercial mounts made for each projector. And you basically had to throw it in at no cost, so you lost the entire amount you paid for the mount.

So, the monkeyMan mount was a breakthrough, particularly when it was first posted.

Nowadays, with Monoprice selling a universal mount for about $17 (though it doesn't work with many projectors), the DIY approach might not save a lot. However, I believe the monkeyMan mount can be more flexible than cheap commerical mounts, and allows you to hide cables through the pipe, which many cheap commercial mounts can't do.

Just my take on already a grate idea

Thet's what I used (White plate is lexan)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1220/1391457967_691dc62a03_o.jpg

Made some changes later- replaced 10" still pipe with 12" PVC and didn't use the springs.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1253/1382055953_eeb6cc1607_o.jpg

Volga, very nice. I like the hidden wires.

I just recently moved to a new apartment and built a new mount. I finally moved to a place that has a large living room. The point of this slide mount was to dial in the picture without using the zoom. Now, I have perfect geometry with my panamorph.

http://www.msu.edu/~hagenmi1/x.jpg
http://www.msu.edu/~hagenmi1/y.jpg
http://www.msu.edu/~hagenmi1/n.jpg
http://www.msu.edu/~hagenmi1/b.jpg

Out of curiosity, what purpose do the compression springs serve?

Gravity Enhancers :)

Gravity Enhancers :)

*Edit* Wait, the springs hold the span between the projector and the plexiglass without the need for an additional nut on the underside of the plexiglass. That's the purpose.

The springs push the PJ away from the plate. It's not a critical component, but helps to keep PJ in the desired position when adjusted. I live an apartment and I was worried about the PJ moving when people thumped around above me.

Man, this rocks. I plan to build one for my IN72. Strangely, the IN72's mounting holes seem to be (from the datasheet) entirely behind the centerline of the projector--two in the back, and one offset to one side of the center point.

It seems that with sufficiently long mounting bolts, you could mount the IN72 without removing its swivel base, which means you won't lose the swivel base in your pile o' debris.

I've used this design twice now, once for my 4805 and then again with my HC1500.

I'm impressed with the ingenuity of MonkyMan's mount. :)

I did things slightly different from the original design, however. I used a piece of wood for the plate the second time around as plexy just felt too wobbly for my tastes. In fact, in some of the earlier pictures, you can see the plexy bowing under the weight of the pj. (plus, the wood for my new plate was free from the scrap I had laying around)

Second, rather then trying to find long M4 bolts (which was just too hard and special order defeated the purpose of a cheap and easy mount) I used the longest M4 bolts I I could find at Lowes, 30mm to bolt the plate to the pj, using rubber washers to cut vibration transmission. I used 3in 10-24 bolts screwed through the bottom of the plate to attach it to the lower bracket. I used wingnuts so I could adjust the positioning once I had it up there.

My first design, I did it the other way around and ended up needing to spin the whole projector to get the thing down. Now I can just unscrew the four wingnuts and drop it off.

I didn't, however, think of using compression springs, just gravity. That was a brilliant notion on whoever thought of that's part. I'm going to add them to my design.

I might even sand and paint the plate while I have it town. For now, it just looks like a scrap of wood.

I'm not too worried about aesthetics though, I mean, it's 6 inches from the ceiling, you can barely see the mount as it is.

I like the changes! I used the compression springs from the get go and continue to use them.

The main reason I went with plexiglas was to cut down on weight. If you look above, I had to use two layers of plexiglas to hold my H78DC3.

Another reason I used plexiglas was because I was being lazy. I thought it would be easier to mark the PJ mounting with the plexiglas apposed to having to make careful measurements with wood :) However, weight was the main reason and I’m sticking to it!!!

That's also why I went with plexy on my first mount, easy to mark.

However, when I made the wood one, I just laid a piece of paper on the back of the pj, marked the holes, and used that as a template. It only took minor fiddling with the drill to get everything to line up.

I didn't find the wood to be all that much heavier. I also used some very wide based drywall anchors to spread the weight more. It seems pretty sturdy to me.

However, my pj is the HC1500, so it's only 4 or 5lbs or so. I don't know how much yours weighs.

My PJ is 16 plus I think. In total, it's a heavy rig with mount. Good idea on the marking of the holes.

Volga, very nice. I like the hidden wires.

...

http://www.msu.edu/~hagenmi1/x.jpg




wow.... slick :)

16? Yea, that's a heavy rig.

I nearly got one of those Samsung SP-H710AE from that animal place's sale, but the 19lb size seemed just too dang big to mount up.

I'll get some pics of the HT setup when I get it done. I'm building my system into a credenza and hiding the speakers when it's not in use. I think it's going to look pretty good. In fact, I'm browsing the forum while I wait for my first coat of paint to dry. :)

This thread has been dormant a while, but I thought I'd post pictures of my own implementation of the monkey man mount.

It's a pretty faithful rendition. The only unique aspect was that I added a second piece of plexiglass. The mounting holes on the projector (InFocus IN72) were in an odd configuration and didn't lend themselves to being used as pitch and yaw adjustments. So I mounted one sheet of plexi to the projector to create a wide, fixed surface, and then attached the second sheet using the typical four screws with compression springs to serve as pitch and yaw adjustments. There might have been a more elegant solution, but this worked out well.

Props to Monkey Man for the original idea, and the rest of the community for helping to flesh it out.


Link to photo set (http://flickr.com/photos/cotecorner/sets/72157604548947534/)

The completed unit.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2381/2415607473_703482d96a.jpg

Close-up of the mount. The three shorter screws (two on left, one on right) attach the bottom sheet to the projector. The four longer screws (one is obscured by the pipe) with the compression springs attach the top sheet to the bottom sheet, and are used to level the image.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/2415609465_cfed3a7ba2.jpg

The installed view ... the bottom sheet of plexiglass really isn't even visible.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2215/2416431762_13a80f6a05.jpg

This thread has been dormant a while, but I thought I'd post pictures of my own implementation of the monkey man mount.

It's a pretty faithful rendition. The only unique aspect was that I added a second piece of plexiglass. The mounting holes on the projector (InFocus IN72) were in an odd configuration and didn't lend themselves to being used as pitch and yaw adjustments. So I mounted one sheet of plexi to the projector to create a wide, fixed surface, and then attached the second sheet using the typical four screws with compression springs to serve as pitch and yaw adjustments. There might have been a more elegant solution, but this worked out well.

Props to Monkey Man for the original idea, and the rest of the community for helping to flesh it out.


Link to photo set (http://flickr.com/photos/cotecorner/sets/72157604548947534/)

The completed unit.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2381/2415607473_703482d96a.jpg

Close-up of the mount. The three shorter screws (two on left, one on right) attach the bottom sheet to the projector. The four longer screws (one is obscured by the pipe) with the compression springs attach the top sheet to the bottom sheet, and are used to level the image.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/2415609465_cfed3a7ba2.jpg

The installed view ... the bottom sheet of plexiglass really isn't even visible.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2215/2416431762_13a80f6a05.jpg

I love it! Nice and slick. Thanks for the feedback and keeping the mount alive and well :)

I was going to paint the plumbing parts black but I kind of like the sliver contrast.

Your mount looks really sleek. It must have a good WAF.

Guess I'll add the mount I made. It's basically a big shelf, as it was easier to put shelf brackets on the wall than to hang something from the ceiling. I made this about 2 1/2 years ago, meant to paint the wood black but never got around to it. :p

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/PatrickGSR94/My%20House/IMG_1567.jpg

After I trimmed off the threaded rod, added 1x4 supports between the shelf and the wall brackets, and painted the room:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/PatrickGSR94/My%20House/IMG_1801.jpg

However, when I made the wood one, I just laid a piece of paper on the back of the pj, marked the holes, and used that as a template. It only took minor fiddling with the drill to get everything to line up.
.

...or use an overhead transparency to mark and transfer the hole pattern...

You can just use a crayon lightly rubbed over the holes on a piece of printer paper. No problem at all getting the holes to line up as long as you hold the paper flat and don't move it between marking each hole.

A little public service announcement though. After having my Z3 installed for 3 years, the 1/4" plexiglass/acrylic was clearly sagged. I thought I was getting lense shift drift but it turns out the mount plate was flexing.

My new PJ is the Z2000 which is much heavier so I duplicated the plate in 1/2" MDF. Pics to come.

Just bought an optoma HD70 on ebay and looking to mount on a vaulted ceiling which is about 15' high in the center - room is approx 18' x 24' and the only way to mount on ceiling is at an angle. How can I adapt the Monkey Man mount using the same deisgn? I thought about screwing in some small sections of studs in a triangle shape into the ceiling, with flat edge on bottom and leave mount design as is. Maybe an angled plumbing fitting? What about speaker mounts?

Any help will be great - this one's a puzzler for me.

Just bought an optoma HD70 on ebay and looking to mount on a vaulted ceiling which is about 15' high in the center - room is approx 18' x 24' and the only way to mount on ceiling is at an angle. How can I adapt the Monkey Man mount using the same deisgn? I thought about screwing in some small sections of studs in a triangle shape into the ceiling, with flat edge on bottom and leave mount design as is. Maybe an angled plumbing fitting? What about speaker mounts?

Any help will be great - this one's a puzzler for me.

You might try these or find some other inexpensive ball joint:

http://www.panavise.com/f/cctv/cctv_deluxe.html
http://www.hififorless.com/showProduct.php?productid=79137

Chief Manufacturing makes an angled ceiling adapter that accepts pipe with 1 1/2" NPT.

http://webimages.chiefmfg.com/CMA-395_large.jpg

just search for CMA-395 and you'll find several retailers selling it for around $50.

It may sound a little pricey, but Chief makes great products. We recently got one of their mounts for my office's conference room DLP projector. It was about $180 and has individual 3-axis adjustments. It was pretty easy to get it set to the perfect angle to get a perfectly straight and square image with no keystone adjustment whatsoever. It also has a removable plate that attaches to the projector that can be removed and put back on very easily, and it keeps all prior adjustments perfectly. Like I said, really great stuff from that company.

Finally found a way to hang my PJ on a 14' ceiling. I used a ceiling fan adapter kit/hanger ball with a 48" 3/4" downrod. Here's the complications I'm running into...

1) The Optoma HD70 projector has screw holes in a traingle pattern - not square

2) PJ Requires M3 screws and I can't find anything longer than 25mm

I had to go with 2 plates instead of one (M3 into PJ and M4 60mm/springs into plate w/flange - using .93 plexy and lexan combo to build each to 1/4". The plate on the PJ looks to be OK, but the plater on flange is bowing in center. Should I go 1/4" plexy on both plates? can I leave bottom one and just replace top? what about 1/4" MDF? Getting the hardware and plexy has been the problem. :mad:

Also, I'd like to secure the PJ to the downrod or ceiling with a chain of some sort. Is there a way to hook one up right to the PJ or should it go on the lower plate that is screwed into PJ?

Any suggestions?

hello all diyers

got my pj (Sharp Sharp XR32X) recently and decided to build me a mount. Came across this http://www.lowtek.ca/roo/2008/diy-ceiling-mount/
really liked his idea so I got all the parts. Didn't go with threaded rods just bought some long M4 screws. the flange and pipe I bought is 1/2" and not 3/4" and instead of Plexiglas I used a 1/2" board.

All looks fine, I'm in the process of painting the parts now. and hopefully tonight I'll be mounting it on the ceiling. Do you think 1/2" pipe is ok? I personally think it should be fine but need some expert opinions.

Thanks. (will post pictures soon)

btw. where did you guys buy your long video and power cables?

Do you think 1/2" pipe is ok? I personally think it should be fine but need some expert opinions.

Thanks. (will post pictures soon)

btw. where did you guys buy your long video and power cables?

1/2" will be just fine. I bought my cables from http://www.bluejeancable.com and http://www.monoprice.com

The Monkey_Man Mount lives on!!! I remember when I built this mount, commercial mounts cost over $100.

i went with a mdfb box rought. but do have a i beam that is in th middle of my theater ad i boxed it in with drywall.

Greetings fellow DIYers. Thought I'd share my version of MonkeyMan's projector mount. My theater is themed after the Nautilus from Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea so all of the equipment needs to fit in with the Jules Verne Steampunk theme.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/BungalowFilms/home%20theater/Proj_Mount.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/BungalowFilms/home%20theater/Proj_Mount_CU.jpg

The mount plates themselves are made from plexiglas, painted to look like tarnished brass. The countersunk brass screws around the edges of both plates are purely cosmetic. All of the iron pipes are actually plastic ABS, textured to look like cast iron.

The circular ceiling plate is lag bolted to a sub plate, which is in turn bolted to the ceiling joists. The bolts get covered with hollowed out rivet heads. The four holes in the center of the plate hold 3/8" T-Nuts to which the mount bolts.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/BungalowFilms/home%20theater/Proj_Mount_Disc.jpg

Here's the top plate bolted in place, four long 3/8" bolts going up through the plate and compressing the riser tube, which is made from a short piece of 4" ABS pipe. The flange and nuts around the top of the riser are purely cosmetic. The cables run through the side pipes and down through the top plate, then are pulled back between the top and bottom plates.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/BungalowFilms/home%20theater/Proj_Mount_cables.jpg

A top view of the top plate, all built up out of 1/4" plexglas. Since my projector has lens shift capability I didn't make the mount able to pan, but if it had been necessary, the 4 bolts holes could have been milled into short slots. The circular ring fits inside the ABS riser, lining everything up nicely.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/BungalowFilms/home%20theater/Proj_Mount_Top_Plate.jpg

The top plate mounted to the projector. Again, 1/4" plex with additional strips around the outside edges to add visual thickness.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t63/BungalowFilms/home%20theater/Proj_Mount_Btm_Plate.jpg

My complements to MonkeyMan for his initial mount design. It's very straight forward, works great and could be easily dressed to fit in with the design of my theater.

Now I have to make a themed shell to enclose the projector...

That is....awesome....wow!!!!

Here is my diy mount...

http://www.dvdplaza.fi/galleria/data/852/thumbs/PLV-Z700_katossa_02.jpg (http://www.dvdplaza.fi/galleria/data/852/PLV-Z700_katossa_02.jpg)

http://www.dvdplaza.fi/galleria/data/852/thumbs/PLV-Z700_katossa_01.jpg (http://www.dvdplaza.fi/galleria/data/852/PLV-Z700_katossa_01.jpg)

http://www.dvdplaza.fi/galleria/data/1049/thumbs/PLV-Z700_kattoteline_03.JPG (http://www.dvdplaza.fi/galleria/data/1049/PLV-Z700_kattoteline_03.JPG)

http://www.dvdplaza.fi/galleria/data/1049/thumbs/PLV-Z700_kattoteline_02.JPG (http://www.dvdplaza.fi/galleria/data/1049/PLV-Z700_kattoteline_02.JPG)

I just got a Benq w5000, and it's a pretty big and heavy projector(21 lbs.). I wanted to go with the monkey man mount, but i'm concerned about the weight. Will this mount have any problem holding the Benq? Also, i went to Lowes and got all the parts listed in the parts list, but when i came home i found out that the 4mm rod is way too small for this projector. I actually got hardware(nuts, bolts, threaded rod) in 4,6,8, and 10mm...and all are too small. I can push the 10mm into the screw hole of the projector, barely, without the need to screw it in. So i think it might take 12mm, but then again, it could be 14mm. I also notice that these numbers don't come alone, but they are followed by a dash and a second number(as in 10-24, or 10-32). I believe these second numbers are supposed to refer to the thread pattern. So here's my question: Does anyone know the correct size screw/threaded rod that the Benq w5000 takes to mount it? If not, is there any place online that could tell me?

Update:
Never mind the questions i posted. All of my questions have been answered elsewhere, so all is good!

Here is my low profile mount. I have low basement ceiling (7'6"). I made it from 1/4" alum. Luckily I have access to the cad/cam software and cnc machines to do this.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj126/glend123/DIY%20projector%20mount/moto_0017.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj126/glend123/DIY%20projector%20mount/IMG_1827.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj126/glend123/DIY%20projector%20mount/IMG_1832.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj126/glend123/DIY%20projector%20mount/IMG_1839.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj126/glend123/DIY%20projector%20mount/IMG_1840.jpg

Monkey-man....your mount lives on! This is the one I made for my Infocus X9.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/littlerabbitfufu/IMG_0022-1.jpg

Awesome and creative mounts guys, nice work!

Hi guys,

Impressive DIY mount by MonkeyMan and co. I hope people still read this thread...

I read on one of the pages in this thread about installing a green LED near the mount, so the projector looks like its floating. Has anyone ever done this? If so, could you please post photos of what it looks like? I'd be very interested to see how it looks.

Reason I ask is, the only place I can get power for my projector within the roof is a nearby light fitting which I have removed. This means the projector will have a switch upstream of it. It would be nice if the switch flicked an LED light on or something as well as the projector, rather than having a light switch dedicated to a projector (seems a bit stupid).

Thanks

I just want to say thank you to Monkey_man and all the great posts in this thread.
I am brand new to the home theater projector thing, but was recently given an older 720p DLP projector that I decided to hook up as my console gaming display. After building the original mount design I discovered that my projector had a fixed lens, so I had to mount it at just the right distance from my screen to get the size correct. Of course that location turned out to be directly underneath a ceiling fan. So I took the original idea and just expanded on it. Two vertical mounts screwed into ceiling joists made with 3/4" pipe, 1" tee's with 3/4" reducers, a 6' pipe connecting the two, and the projector hanging from that. The projector can move back and forth to get the picture size correct now. The tee's are all drilled and tapped for a bolt to tighten everything in place once its all set up.

It's pretty rough looking, but it worked great, and gaming on a ~100" screen has been totally worth the time and effort.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_W4SS2Uazm2U/S4LX_VIT9mI/AAAAAAAABwo/DTqdK6YrT_U/s400/mount_small.jpg

I just want to say thank you to Monkey_man and all the great posts in this thread.
I am brand new to the home theater projector thing, but was recently given an older 720p DLP projector that I decided to hook up as my console gaming display. After building the original mount design I discovered that my projector had a fixed lens, so I had to mount it at just the right distance from my screen to get the size correct. Of course that location turned out to be directly underneath a ceiling fan. So I took the original idea and just expanded on it. Two vertical mounts screwed into ceiling joists made with 3/4" pipe, 1" tee's with 3/4" reducers, a 6' pipe connecting the two, and the projector hanging from that. The projector can move back and forth to get the picture size correct now. The tee's are all drilled and tapped for a bolt to tighten everything in place once its all set up.

It's pretty rough looking, but it worked great, and gaming on a ~100" screen has been totally worth the time and effort.
Wow! I salute you for your ingenuity and creativity. That's great! :)

I just want to say thank you to Monkey_man and all the great posts in this thread.
I am brand new to the home theater projector thing, but was recently given an older 720p DLP projector that I decided to hook up as my console gaming display. After building the original mount design I discovered that my projector had a fixed lens, so I had to mount it at just the right distance from my screen to get the size correct. Of course that location turned out to be directly underneath a ceiling fan. So I took the original idea and just expanded on it. Two vertical mounts screwed into ceiling joists made with 3/4" pipe, 1" tee's with 3/4" reducers, a 6' pipe connecting the two, and the projector hanging from that. The projector can move back and forth to get the picture size correct now. The tee's are all drilled and tapped for a bolt to tighten everything in place once its all set up.

It's pretty rough looking, but it worked great, and gaming on a ~100" screen has been totally worth the time and effort.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_W4SS2Uazm2U/S4LX_VIT9mI/AAAAAAAABwo/DTqdK6YrT_U/s400/mount_small.jpg

Cool!! And it doubles as a chin-up bar.

I'm going to see if I can rejuvenate an old thread here :eek:

Should be the same results. This mount will work with any PJ under 10 pounds.


Has anyone tried this with a heavier projector? I love the design
and would like to try it with my heavy Epson 8350 (16lbs). I could go up to 3/8 in. plexi if I need to. Does anyone think this mount would have any problems with that weight?

Nice! I'm not sure on the 3/8" plexi part, but I recently bought an Epson 8350 myself and retooled my giganto-mount into the standard configuration for this type of DIY mount. It used 1/2" MDF for the mount and it's fine. Just make sure you are mounting it to a ceiling joist ;)

Great thread you guys!
OP, which post has your latest & best deign for a projector mount ?


Thanks,
John

Any day now I will be putting together the non-dedicated theater room. The last big thing I need to completely visualize and plan is the projector mount. Using this one is a no-brainer. However, there are slight complications.

I am using a short-throw DLP which means no zoom and no lens shift. The room is not dedicated, so we want ot be able to run the projector in two "modes." One is a large movie/gaming mode with a 110" screen. The other would be a regular mode with a screen closer to 50". (The projector is what it is for Wii gaming in front of the screen and 3D.)

To accomplish this I plan to install some sort of track that the projector will hang from. It will be close to the ceiling as it is only 8' high. This track needs to do one thing that complicates the matter. It needs to be close to the ceiling when the projector is back, but when the projector is slid forward it needs to come down a good 1.5-2 feet. I think it would be best if only the far end came down, like a hinge.

It would be best if there is a way to slide the projector side to side a good couple inches or so as well due to the lack of any adjustements on the projector.

Does anyone have anything like that? Has anyone seen anything like that? Any neat ideas from anyone? I'm going to spend some quality time at HD in the near future trying to work out a solution. The MM style mount will be attached to whatever hangs from the track and I am not to worried about that part.

I want to thank you Monkey_Man for initiated this thread and everyone who contributed the ideas. I have Optoma HD180 using M3. Bought a bracket from mono. It's ok but the adjustment is not good. Followed this thread, I made one yesterday. I couldn't find M3 with 3 in long at Lowes or Ace hardware. The longest I could find was 40 mm (1.5 in). So I used two plates like other's. The cost is about the same as mono's (close to $20) but the ability of adjustment is that what I wanted :)

Has anyone tried this with a heavier projector? I love the design
and would like to try it with my heavy Epson 8350 (16lbs). I could go up to 3/8 in. plexi if I need to. Does anyone think this mount would have any problems with that weight?

Hi
I built this awesome MonkeyMan mount way back in '04 for my PT-AE300 projector, and still love it today.
This week I move up to the Epson 8700 (same size and weight as 8350 mentioned above.)
Instead of the plexiglass, I'm going with a laminated printed circuit board I found in the scrap pile at work. It's 30 layers thick and extremely stiff and less than 1/4". I'm not sure about 1/4" plexiglass, or if something stronger is needed for these PJs. I think the other thing to consider is the ceiling fixture--I'll be testing with my original flange and seeing how stable it is--will post back soon.

I assume you mounted the 8350 by now--what did you do?
- Paul

Just remembered to update this thread with the results of my Monkeyman mount on the Epson 8700: works like a charm. I painted the circuit board white to match the PJ and ceiling, and the whole thing is awesome! There's about 1/4" of flex in the PCB, across its entire span. Not negligible, but certainly acceptable.

Bump to keep the spirit alive :-)

Kudos to the creativity displayed throughout the thread.

The sliding pipe setup was pure genius engineering problem solving at its finest!

The 20,000 leagues under the sea adaptation demonstrates the flexibility of the design.

Have my basic Monkey_Man mount built, still need to paint it but figured I would put it here and give a HUGE thanks for sharing this great idea, I am guessing inflation has caused the floor flanges, steel pipe and M4 (super hard to find) bolts to go up a TAD bit in prices!

I used the 1 1/4 floor flanges and pipe so I could run my super thick HDMI cable and Power cord through the pipe, so I had to bore a hole through both the mount and the mount above the ceiling.

I could not be happier about it and positive once I get the room finished it will be seamless with no cables visible almost at all.

Thanks again for your idea and willingness to share it for non visionary folks like myself!

Monkey Man lives on.

Built this tonight for my new 3010. Keep having the fear that it's going to come flying out of the wall, but I know it won't. 13 pounds just isn't as heavy as I want to think, and those are 2 brackets both screwed into studs. It's not going anywhere. I'm fairly sure the 1/4" plexi isn't breaking either.

I picked up the vizio wireless hdmi at costco today, but it's going back. The dumb thing about it is that it can't be self- or battery-powered, so I have to run a power cord up there anyway. For less than $170 I can definitely pick up a good HDMI cable and run that up the wall. Still, having that shelf above the projector gave a great place to put it.

Now to figure out how to get the lens cap on and off...it's ~9.5' up the wall.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/826/wp000352.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/13/wp000352.jpg/) Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

There's no reason to put the lens cap on. If you take it on and off, you'll have to refocus it every time.