I found some time ago a picture of a stage below the screen that was built and was curved. By chance, have any of you done this or do you know where I might find info on attempting this? My room is small, 16 X 14 and the stage is only for looks and can be relatively small (just say the screen length). Just looking if its possible for me to attempt (I am not the best at this sort of thing). Thanks in advance!

Bart

You can look in my theater build thread and finshed thread.

There are a few different ways to make the curve. I find the easiest way is to temporarily drive two nails / screws in the opening where you want the curve to be. For example, if you have an 8 ft wide screen, you would set the nails at maybe the 2 ft and 6 ft locations in front of the screen where you want the curve to begin. I also drive a small nail at the 0 or starting point. Tie a string to the 6 ft nail, stretch the string from that nail, past the 2 ft nail, around the 0 nail, and back to the 2 ft nail. Tie the string to the 2 ft nail. Now your string will make an arc when you put a pencil at the 0 mark and move it to the 8' mark, keeping the string tight.

Experiment with where to place the 2 and 6 ft nails. Moving them closer to the 0 / 8 ft ends will give you a more subtle radius.

Once you have the radius you like, you can use a jig saw or router to cut the curve.

This thread should give u plenty of info how to build a curved stage:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=566082

The easiest way to build a curve is to first draw a full size rendering of the curve. It doesn't have to be at the location the stage will rest just somewhere where you have room to work. If the curve is close to the wall you might not be able to use a string to make the line.

Then mark out some places along the straight edge where you will brace the curve. Measure each one and eyeball the angle of the cut and cut two braces at the same time of equal length.

Just assemble the curve using something pliable for the front (like pvc boards). Cover with plywood decking. Mark the curve on the plywood leaving a lip and cut with a jug saw.

Here is one picture to give you an idea of working from a drawing. This is actually over the screen but I did the same on the bottom.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b393/bigmouthindc/DSCN2604.jpg

In place.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b393/bigmouthindc/DSCN3309.jpg

http://tedwhite.homestead.com/Stage.html

That text is years old. The animation might be useful, however.

I simply mocked mine up in Visio to scale and then let it tell me the lengths of each brace. Piece of cake.

I just took an 8' 1/2" x 2" board.... and put a nail in each end, and took a piece of string and tied to the screws on the end. Just adjusted the length of the string until I liked the look of it in the room. Created a perfect arch for me.

Thanks for all the post fellows, now I need to figure out what I am gonna do. Hey Bigmouth, just take a trip a few miles sout to Fredericksburg and come build me one just like yours. ;) Thanks again all!

Bart