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DIY Custom-Printed Movie Poster Acoustic Panels - cheap!

813K views 5K replies 556 participants last post by  nickbuol 
#1 · (Edited)
My small theater room is currently in the process of being rebuilt. Brick walls, a concrete ceiling, and wood floors translate to a room which rings like a bell. I've finally got some furniture in place and will be adding an area rug, but I also figured it might be useful to add a few acoustic panels to help absorb some of the wall reflections where possible. I looked at the options and found a number of how-to guides for building fabric covered panels, but that seemed a little boring. I then found a few sites that would print up movie poster style panels which seemed perfect. What didn't seem perfect was the $500+ asking price for each panel! I figured there had to be a better way, where "better" == "cheaper".


In short, an acoustic panel consists of a frame supporting the absorbing material wrapped in absorbing or transparent fabric. I'll cover each of these items separately, followed by a build log detailing the construction process.

Absorbing Material

The first order of business is some material to actually absorb the sound. There are plenty of guides for DIY panels around the internet, and the general consensus seems to be that Owens-Corning 703 glass fiber panels work pretty well. Roxul mineral board or mineral wool is another favorite. There are also plenty of lower-priced equivalent materials with similar specs from other companies. You can find this material online or check with a local insulation dealer. These materials are typically used for HVAC insulation, so you might find HVAC suppliers will carry what you're looking for as well. The standard size is 2' x 4'. In my case I had a local dealer which had JM 1000 panels in stock in the size I needed for $8 each out the door. As an aside - when I stopped by the local insulation shop looking for OC703 or equivalent, the guy I was talking to asked if I was making acoustic panels. Apparently I'm not the first person they've talked to about this kind of project! Anyway, don't be afraid to call up your local insulation guys - they do this stuff for a living and can be a great source of friendly experience.


Without going into too much detail, thicker material will absorb better across the spectrum and will also absorb lower. If you check the spec sheet linked above, you'll find the following table which illustrates this pretty clearly:

1 inch will be an absolute minimum and you can go up to 4" with most panels. In my case, the room is small already so hanging 4" panels on the wall is a non-starter. I went with 1½" material just for aesthetic purposes. 2" seems to be a common choice. If you're going with non-OC board for a lower price (and I suggest that you do), you're going to want something that's 3 lbs/cu foot or more.

Frame

The frame material will surround and support the fiber board and provide a rigid surface for stretching the printed fabric. Again, there are plenty of guides for creating a frame online. Otherwise, check local art supply stores for canvas stretcher bars . These are pre-cut materials used by artists for creating strong, square frames to mount ("stretch") canvas for hanging paintings and the like. They are dead simple to work with and can be assembled with few or no tools. The downside is that you don't often have a choice for how deep the frame will be to allow for 2" or greater material. Also, they can be expensive once everything is ordered. If you haven't figured this out by now, I'm cheap, so I made my own. I chose to rip a 2x4" to create 1¼" bars then tacked on ¼" quarter-round shoe molding to create a 1½" deep frame. Total wood cost for the four 1'x3' frames was $15.

Art

Finally, you need the printed poster! For this you are going to need two things: some source artwork, and somebody to print it on fabric. You can find source art all over the internet. If you don't mind spending a couple dollars this can be a good source. Otherwise, google image search can be helpful. You are going to be blowing this up to poster size so you are going to need high-resolution images to start with. Anything under 1000-2000 pixels high is probably not going to look too good. In my case, I selected a series of four posters from the movie Goldfinger, blew them up a bit with third party software , then touched up the final results to smooth out the resulting image (having a professional photographer wife helps with these steps).


Next, you need to get this printed. There are loads of shops that offer digital canvas printing - you don't want this! Canvas prints are great for art reproduction, but are very thick and won't transmit sound to the material inside at all. What you want is printed fabric. Your options may vary depending on where you are, but I found Spoonflower in the US and they are great! They have a variety of fabrics, a super-easy to use website, and can print large-format fabrics for cheap. The site also allows you to share posters you've uploaded. You can find mine here and here . You can order a fabric sample set from them to get an idea of what the options are. The fabric needs to be thin enough to transmit sound while still being thick enough to allow a decent print. You'll want to stay away from stretchable materials as they will be nearly impossible to mount. After reviewing the sample set then ordering a couple printed samples, I've found that the standard "quilting weight" fabric offers the best balance between print density and acoustic transparency. [update: mtbdudex is a stud and tested the Spoonflower "Quilting Weight" fabric for acoustic transparency here . Short version - it works great!] My order for the 4 posters came to $36 shipped and arrived in about 2 weeks with standard shipping.


After additional materials (some adhesives, fasteners, etc), this whole endeavor added up to just under $80 for 4 panels. That's more my price!


Full length view of 4 completed panels


Corner detail


Build Process

First - a disclaimer. This isn't intended to be a "how to", rather it's more of a build log of how I made my first panels. My woodworking skills would charitably be described as "novice". Feel free to adapt and improve upon what you see here, and don't assume that just because I'm doing it one way that you shouldn't do it another.


The first step is to build out the frame. I'll be making the remaining three panels which are 1'x3' each. I'm starting with a few lengths of 2x4 that I bought from HD because they were cheap. I then ripped them down to 1¼" square for the body of the frame. You can likely find pre-cut pieces to fit your project at the local lumber yard, or you might get them to cut the pieces for you.


I then tacked a ¼" shoe molding to the bars to create the stretcher bar. The idea is to create a narrow point of contact around the edge for the fabric so the wood frame underneath doesn't show through as much. For whatever reason this method doesn't appear in any of the DIY panel guides I've read, nor is it used for any of the (mostly overpriced) DIY "kits" for making your own panels. I don't know why this is - in the art world you simply don't stretch a canvas over a frame without doing something similar. Here is an end view of the pieces before cutting, and a shot of the molding being tacked to the frame. I've highlighted the outline in red to give you a better view of the profile. I'm using a brad nailer here, but you can use a regular hammer and nails if you want. Just make sure to use small nails (brads) to keep from splitting the wood.


Once the molding is attached, use a miter saw to cut the pieces to length. You can get a cheap miter box from your local hardware store for $10-$20 if you don't have one. I'd really recommend against just cutting this by hand without either a miter box or chop saw or similar - you're going to want these cuts to be 45° on the nose. Here's a look at the cutting process, along with the finished edge and finally the parts for 3 complete frames (six 3' pieces and six 1' pieces).


Next you need to assemble the frame. Some corner clamps help here, or just use a square edge and some normal clamps. Run some wood glue along the inside mating surfaces in the corner, then tack each corner with nails or counter-sunk screws. Once these are together, sand them down so the outside edges are smooth. If necessary, throw some wood filler in any gaps you might have. It doesn't have to be pretty, just relatively uniform in color without any gaps or uneven edges.




For these next few steps I'm going to be handling the bare fiberglass. This is nasty stuff, something a trip to the urgent care clinic taught me at a very young age. At a bare minimum, wear long sleeves, gloves, eye protection, and a dust mask. You really don't want this crap in your lungs or eyes (trust me on this), and it's irritating on your skin too. Do not screw around here - the gear is cheap.


First you need to cut the panel. Here I've laid my frame on top of the piece of fiberglass and used a marker to mark the edges. You can then use a box cutter or similar to cut through the panel. Once it's cut it should fit relatively snug inside the frame.


Once the panel is fit into the frame you might want to take the additional step of using an adhesive to make sure it stays put. I've run a bead of Liquid Nails along the edge and then smoothed it down with a disposable brush. I'm using the "projects" type as it's easy to work with and happens to match the color fairly well so it won't be visible afterwards.


Finally it's time to get the print stapled to the frame. First, make sure the work is ready to mount by ironing out any wrinkles. If it's dirty for whatever reason, run it through the wash. Remember - this is fabric intended for use with clothing, so ironing and washing is OK! Once the art is ready, center the piece on the frame and tack it in the middle of each edge. You'll be working from the back (still with gloves!), so it might take a couple tries to get it lined up perfectly. Don't be afraid to pull staples and try again if needed.


Now work your way out from the center of each edge. Once you get to the corners, you will need to square off the corners like a bedsheet. I've kept the folds on the top and bottom of the frame as those will likely be less visible than the sides.


Once you've got the entire piece stapled, you are going to want to add some sort of backing material to keep the fiberglass from getting into the air in your room. I simply used an old white bed sheet, you can use whatever you might have lying about the house. The color and condition shouldn't really matter as nobody is going to see it anyway.


After everything is stapled, you'll probably still have a few minor wrinkles. I've found wrinkle releaser from your local grocery will work wonders. Just spray the final panel down with this stuff and the wrinkles will pretty well disappear. Now add a sawtooth picture hanger, hanging wire, cleats, or whatever works best on your wall to get it mounted. I used a sawtooth hanger because I'm mounting to a rough brick wall which prevents me from any chance of actually firmly mounting these panels. You might find using a simple cleat will provide a stable solution to mount to more traditional walls.


Once it's mounted, you are then ready for the final and most important step - taking pictures and posting them here!
 
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#3,544 · (Edited)
#3,550 ·
300 DPI still not looking right

I ordered the basic cotton from MyFabricDesign and sent a 300DPI sample in. The detail seems lost. I'm not expecting miracles but I don't know if this will have enough WAF.

Do they have any other fabric or would spoonflower have any other acoustically transparent fabric that would hold a darker image better?
 
#3,552 · (Edited)
I ordered the basic cotton from MyFabricDesign and sent a 300DPI sample in. The detail seems lost. I'm not expecting miracles but I don't know if this will have enough WAF.

Do they have any other fabric or would spoonflower have any other acoustically transparent fabric that would hold a darker image better?
150dpi is the sweet spot. We are talking about printing on fabric, a porous material. This isn't photo paper, so that level of DPI is wasted, even if they accept it.

Also keep in mind that it isn't like you are going to be looking at these from a couple of inches away from your eyes like a photograph. Heck, if you ever get up close to a masterpiece panting, you will see that most artists deal in "blobs and globs" that are much lower resolution then 150dpi would be printed. From a couple of feet back, it will look good.

Trust us. :)

Depending on what you are printing, (as long as it doesn't look like a movie poster or other potentially copyrighted work) I would use Spoonflower. Their products are considered superior to MyFabricDesigns.

The fabrics of choice are Performance Knit and Silky Faille from Spoonflower. DEEP blacks and vibrant colors on a nice smooth fabric.
 
#3,559 ·
Coupon code

What are you waiting for? The bird is the word! Use code birdie to save 20% on your next order of fabric from MyFabricDesigns.com

This offer expires May 5th so fly over to the website today and see how printed custom fabric can transform your next sewing project.
 
#3,565 ·
In this video, he suggests using fiberglass window/door screen to help prevent sag. Seems reasonable and similar to scottnh1970's landscape fabric idea. Not sure how cost competitive it would be, but it's another option in any case.



I'm interested in this idea because all of the rigid products might as well be made from refined unobtanium here in central California, so using the batts is about the only choice available short of paying UPS an arm and a leg to bring the rigid stuff here.
 
#3,566 ·
In this video, he suggests using fiberglass window/door screen to help prevent sag. Seems reasonable and similar to scottnh1970's landscape fabric idea. Not sure how cost competitive it would be, but it's another option in any case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBHYiWIJhUA

I'm interested in this idea because all of the rigid products might as well be made from refined unobtanium here in central California, so using the batts is about the only choice available short of paying UPS an arm and a leg to bring the rigid stuff here.
Unless I missed it, doesn't he just use it for the backing material, as part of the "sandwich?" The front facing material he used is a lot more thick/dense than any of the printed fabrics that we use, so it helped him to hold in the softer insulation that he used.

If you want to try it, go for it, but just be sure to report back how it works and what tips/tricks you learned along the way.

People have been trying for years in this thread to use something like Safe N Sound since it is easily found in big box home improvement stores, but I don't think that anyone has yet been totally satisfied with the look. Comments like, "Well it sounds good anyway" or "It might not be pretty, but I didn't have to pay for ______" were usually made by the people that tried to use it. A number of people just never reported back or wouldn't show any pictures either, because of that I just wanted to caution you about spending the time/money on Safe N Sound and then possibly not being happy with it and having to buy a more expensive product on top of that and doing it over. I would feel bad if I just said "go for it" and then if you weren't happy with it, have you come back and say "why didn't you warn me?"

If you can do it successfully, then you will be a hero around here for anyone who has yet to build their panels.
 
#3,567 ·
I believe he used it front and back, and you're right, he covered his in thick felt, which is different from the plan here. I went ahead and picked up some safe and sound since I was able to get a bag of twelve 15" x 47" batts for $14 with the deal linked earlier in the thread, so it will be a reasonably low cost experiment. Am just barely getting my head around the process, so it will be a few weeks before I get anything going for real, but I'll share the results here, good bad ugly or indifferent.
 
#3,568 ·
Sounds good. I think that one thing that I was never super clear on is that Safe n Sound as a product WILL do a good job of treating your space from a broadband absorption perspective, which is what this thread is about. I don't want anyone thinking that I am saying that the product won't perform acoustically as it will. It just comes down to "puffiness" with a finished product, and I've even mentioned some potential options to help with sagging, but nobody ever reports back on if any of it works... So we are all counting on you! :D
 
#3,571 ·
Banner artwork?

Hi, has anyone ordered any tall banner artwork? I'm looking for a piece to hang vertically in my basement stairwell. Approximately 3 x 12 feet. Figured I could have the ends sewn to hold a dowel. I'm not real creative - leaning towards printing the sigils for the great houses of Westeros on one large banner.
 
#3,574 ·
Hi, has anyone ordered any tall banner artwork? I'm looking for a piece to hang vertically in my basement stairwell. Approximately 3 x 12 feet. Figured I could have the ends sewn to hold a dowel. I'm not real creative - leaning towards printing the sigils for the great houses of Westeros on one large banner.
I think their limit is 8 meters, so 3 x 12 feet is perfectly doable in just one piece.
 
#3,575 ·
Looking to frame in several panels for the theater. I didn't want to use standard pine since I'd be worried about it twisting over time. What is the go to wood that you guys are using for the framing? We were considering using a sheet of 3/4" birch plywood and cutting it into 4" sections.
 
#3,579 ·
I started cutting the trim and I am about to cut the sides but not sure if I need to wait till I have the printouts in my hand to cut to measure or can go ahead an do the desired size.

Talking about the size, what is the most use frame size 3x2 ?

I have 8' walls and I am planning to do 8 movie "posters" but I see so @nickbuol first post and slimmer panels look interesting are those 4 x 1.5 ? I think
 
#3,580 ·
Those images in the first post aren't mine. The comments in the post say that they are 1' x 3', but they look more like 1' x 3.5' to me

"Traditional" movie posters work well at a 2:3 ratio, so 24" x 36" or 27" x 40.5" or anything bigger or smaller but in a 2:3 (or 1:1.5) ratio.

Most image work that I do is 24" x 36" or 25.5" x 37.5" (the bigger one allowing for people to use a 24" x 36" piece of insulation and thus accounting for the thickness of a wood frame).
 
#3,581 ·
@nickbuol Hope all is well buddy.

Props for still being at the helm of the ship! Quick question for ya.

Can any of these fabrics be backlit? I am researching, and going to attempt to build, a SEG (Silicone Edge Graphics) Display.

Here is what it is. I would (obviously) be building a wood version:



This application has no acoustic functionality. Strictly will be made for trade show display purposes.
 
#3,587 ·
@nickbuol Hope all is well buddy.

Props for still being at the helm of the ship! Quick question for ya.

Can any of these fabrics be backlit? I am researching, and going to attempt to build, a SEG (Silicone Edge Graphics) Display.

Here is what it is. I would (obviously) be building a wood version:

https://youtu.be/f3uUpryIqMQ

This application has no acoustic functionality. Strictly will be made for trade show display purposes.
I tried with performance knit and some led strip. Result was ok, the diffusion of the light was not even, and the design on the fabric would fade away. Maybe the light was too bright... I even created a “groove” within the frame to install the led and reduce the direct light.
I am traveling on and off, I will drop some pic and video later so you can see. But at this point I didn’t find a good solution. I want to use one for my ceiling panel.
 
#3,590 · (Edited)
Just a quick note that I am out on vacation until May 30th.
I won't be taking on any more image work request until June 1st.

Heading down to central Florida to help my daughter move. Hopefully the unusually high amount of rain stops while we are moving their stuff. (It always rains pretty much daily this time of year, but usually it blows through quickly. Not this past week.) Might take a day and visit the mouse while we are there. Our daughter works for Disney, so we have some free passes to burn.

Will be great to get away from work (of all kinds) for a week.

Thanks for understanding.
 
#3,597 ·
The "tube" suggestion has been made in the past. Their response was basically that they are providing fabric with the primary focus on clothing, which would be created and washed, so they don't care about the wrinkles. Also, it is a lot cheaper for them to fold the fabric and put it into a soft side mailing pouch too.

Spoonflower does the same thing, and as far as I know all others that were tried when Spoonflower stopped printing movie images and they tried other options.
 
#3,599 · (Edited)
Nick, thanks for the assist. All of them came out great! Hopefully next weekend I can get some measurements with REW.

-Ward
edit: Warning - if you print your own Joker 5 panel set, the center frame is 48"h x 17"w x 3.5"d and the fabric will not wrap around the top and bottom to the rear of the frame. Maybe this center piece should be oriented/printed in landscape with more black border on the top & bottom. Mine ran short due to it being oriented/printed in portait. You can't see the run-short on the ends of the frame as they are well above & below your normal line of sight. Not really an issue for me, but the next guy might wanna tweak it to correct this.:)
 

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#3,602 ·
YES! I've been waiting to see the Joker one printed out on installed.

A note about the center piece not printing as expected. The interesting thing is that I provided you with the center piece in a landscape orientation (just checked both my backup files and the web storage at the link that I sent you), so either it was rotated after downloaded, or MFD did something to it. Bummer that you had an issue with it, but glad that you were able to make it work.
 
#3,611 ·
So it seems like it would be better to orient the picture in portrait mode so you have almost unlimited height available? I was confused before because I didn't realize the size limitation was width, ie left to right as looking at my clipped picture above.
 
#3,613 · (Edited)
You order by the yard. Each fabric has a different “yard” size, for example 54x36, or 58x36. The yard orientation is always “ horizontal” (landscape), the longest side is horizontal for one yard at 54 for example.
They will not change their orientation, so a panel 48x24 will have to be horizontal 48.
If you upload 48 vertically (portrait) you will pay for 2 yards (54x72 for example).
I believe the longest side is constant.

If you have a design at 58x30 for example, you will have to upload it 58 vertically and pay for 2 yards.
When I did a panel 72x36 I had to order 3 yards when adding the black edge of the panels. 72 vertical, 36 horizontal.

Also when you design a picture for a panel, you need to consider the side of the panel. For example, 48x24 by 2inch deep, will be 52x28 final print size.
48+2+2=52
24+2+2=28
So watch out when you order your fabric and consider design plus side panels for total size.

If you upload a design larger than the fabric, the printer will not notify you and just print whatever you upload that fit within their fabric.

If you have doubt when uploading your pic, and before you place your order, take a screenshot and share it in here. I am sure someone within the group will confirm or answer your question quickly.

I hope this help.
 
#3,612 ·
Yes, the width is fixed but the height is arbitrary, so it's necessary to orient them to fit. If you've ever seen the wide-format Epson printers Costco has for printing pictures and posters and whatnot -- exact same idea.

It's also a good idea to think about nesting images for material efficiency -- sometimes you can more than one image in a single sheet width, so you can have them both printed on that one piece and cut them out when you get them home.
 
#3,616 · (Edited)
Hey all, I wish I had time to read through this whole thread. So many good insights in the dozens of pages I did get to read. I thought I'd post my current plan to see if anyone catches any oversights on my part. I may be looking for some help on the images themselves, but we will see.

Of the various costs (lumber, insulation, printed fabric) the fabric is the highest cost to me (ignoring potential discounts) so I tried to optimize around that. I plan to use 1x4x12" Poplar, so am designing around a .75" x 3.5" nominal.

The Basic Combed Cotton has a roll width of 54". Assuming 3.5" nominal depth on the posters and .5" overhang to staple to, I am looking at a 54"-7"-1"= 46" tall poster and a corresponding 44.5" inside frame height. I will need to cut the ProRox SL 960 down a bit to get it to fit this dimension, but that is okay. I would prefer to NOT have to cut the insulation on the other dimension though, so that leads me to a 24" inside dimension of the frame and a corresponding 25.5" outside width for the frame.

Frame Inside Dims
24"Wide x 44.5"Tall

Frame Outside Dims
25.5" Wide x 46" Tall

Poster Image
25.5" Wide x 46" Tall

Poster Fabric (3.5" board & .5" overhang for staples x2)
33.5" Wide x 54" Tall

I am looking at building 8 posters, so that brings me to a roll length of 268". I have not checked if MFD only sells by the yard, or by the fractional yard. I will assume I have to purchase a full 8 yards for budgeting purposes. (8 * $17.50 = $140 + tax)

Each poster will use a 12' stick of poplar to cut out two 24" pieces and two 46" pieces(horizontals will fit inside verticals, no fancy edge joinery). That is 140" of board used with about 3.5" of waste after the 4 cuts are made and board ends are cleaned up. (8*$17 = $136 + tax)

I'll be using 1 sheet of SL 960 for each poster at 2" thick. I'll be buying a lot more than the 8 sheets to build bass traps in most wall to wall and wall to ceiling edges, which will all be 4" thick. So for budgeting purposes, we'll assume I can buy a pack of 8 instead of the normal 7. (8 * $7.12 = $56.96 + tax)

$140+$136+$57 = $333
$333/8 = $41.63 / poster not including glue, staples or mounting hardware that is already laying around.

Not sure how if this is roughly in line with what it should cost to build on of these acoustic panels or if i'm way over/under. Any feedback would be appreciated. If the links below are not allowed, or if price talk is frowned upon, I can resubmit without those. No problem.
I do have the 8 posters that the fiance and I have picked out from Moviemania.io. I'm not sure if there is any history of MFD accepting/rejecting these images, but they will likely need altered to fit the odd aspect ratio that these posters come out to.

Images selected are as follows
UP
Game of Thrones
Deadpool
Fantastic beasts
John Wick
Underworld
Lord of the Rings/Hobbit
Jurassic Park

EDIT: Just realized I forgot a backing of some sort. It is late, so I'll have to add that up later. I do not expect it to be significant. I'll likely just grab the cheapest thing I can find at Joanns. Additionally, I have ~20lbs of poly-fil left over from a bunch of speaker builds. I assume it can do no harm, and potentially help to fill the remaining 1.5" of space behind the SL960 with the poly-fil for additional dampening?
 
#3,617 ·
Just some quick answers.

You shouldn't have any issues with those images at MyFabricDesigns.

I wouldn't worry about stuffing the backs of your panels with any poly-fil. The benefit will be next to nil, and if you put too much in, you can end up pushing the other insulation out and making "puffy panels". If you don't cram it full to the point of puffing the front, then it really isn't enough to do much help. Also keep in mind that having an air gap is actually a good thing. They go into it in great detail over in the Acoustical Treatments thread on here, but the science is there that the air gap is your friend.

I think that your overall game plan is correct though. One thing to keep in mind when doing panels is of course the functional size, but also the artwork size. Most movie poster type images aren't designed to be tall like you are planning. That doesn't mean that they can't be edited to work, or that they can't look great, but just plan on some significant cropping of the sides or manually adding more details to the top/bottom to make them "taller."

A "standard" poster with a width of 25.5" would be 38.25" tall for example. All of the images that you put a link to are "textless" so that helps a lot.

If you get stuck with image work, hit me up.

Also, where in "Eastern Iowa" are you located?
 
#3,618 ·
Just some quick answers.

One thing to keep in mind when doing panels is of course the functional size, but also the artwork size. Most movie poster type images aren't designed to be tall like you are planning. That doesn't mean that they can't be edited to work, or that they can't look great, but just plan on some significant cropping of the sides or manually adding more details to the top/bottom to make them "taller."
Should I target a nominal 25.5" Wide x 46" Tall or should I be undersized to account for stretch? Do I fill the surrounding area in as black that will be wrapped around the frame?
 
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