I'm looking for a universal ceiling mount for a projector. I've found several places to buy them on the internet anywhere from $45 to $150. I guess the question I have is, is there anything that I should look for in a ceiling mount or to avoid?

I'd post a couple links to ones that I'm looking at but I think thats against forum rules??

Here's my universal ceiling mount.
Wood and chain from HD.

http://webpages.charter.net/glenise/theater/projector.jpg

I'd not recommend doing what I did: I went to e-Bay and bought a $20 "universal" mount made for my projector's mounting hole pattern. I got back an aluminum plate in the shape of a triangle with rounded edges and holes accurately drilled at the proper locations for my projector's mounting holes, long bolts and nylon spacers for attaching the projector to this aluminum plate, a plastic ball-and-socket speaker mount, and hardware for attaching this speaker mount to the ceiling and to the center of this aluminum plate.

The ball-and-socket approach is not ideal for a projector. It's nearly impossible to hold the projector still (while keeping it level and aimed properly) and tighten the socket at the same time, even with two people.

One of these days I'm going to build one of the DIY mounts described in one of the forums on this site. With these, hardware that secures the projector to the mounting plate uses wing nuts on the threaded bolts to allow fine-tuning of the projected image's location. The mounting plate is secured to the ceiling with threaded pipe-and-flange hardware you can find at your local hardware store.

If you're up to tackling a DIY project, you might search for the MonkeyMan mount - I think that's the name of the AVS member who first came up with this approach.

ND

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=232749

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=232749

Yup that is what I built. See no reason to buy a mount when you can build that. Course I only have 8' ceilings, so very short (the shortest) pipe nipple.

Total build time? About 20-30 minutes.