I'm going to be setting out into the world of 2.4:1 projection in 2009 and I've been reading up on building my own screen but I was hoping that someone could critique my plans before I get too far along and possibly make a few suggestions. This is mostly just throwing together ideas from other people's builds, but sometimes a little from here and a little from there might not give the expected end product so I thought I'd solicit opinions. In case anyone asks I'm going for ~110'' diagonal, so about 101''x42'' viewable. I was thinking about a 3'' velvet border, but I don't know if there's some kind of rule of thumb for how big a border should be given screen size.
First, I decided up front that I don't want to paint. Not that I don't think it's a good idea, I just don't want to get involved in that as it could be messy, time consuming, and prone to me screwing it up
I considered the BOC but I think I've settled on Wilsonart DW that I can get from Lowes just around the corner.
For the frame I'm really liking 1'' square aluminum tubing with connectors from a place like EZtube. For me the time saved snapping an aluminum frame together vs. cutting and fastening wood is worth the extra money, and the weight savings should be a considerable help as well. Industrial velcro appears to be the method of choice for attaching laminate to an aluminum frame?
With the easy part out of the way, the black velvet border is where I'm currently hesitating. I didn't want to go with the black velvet tape, as I want something with a little thickness to it. My current plan is either 1x4's or 3/4'' MDF cut to size and wrapped in black velvet. I'm really not sure how to go about sticking that to the laminate, which is where I could really use some suggestions. I don't imagine that more velcro is the answer, so I was wondering about something like gorilla glue? Any ideas on either a better material for the border or a better way to attach it to the laminate would be appreciated.
Finally, all that should be left is the masking. Again I decided early that I didn't want to use curtains or any other "movable" mask that gets pulled on and off the screen. Here I think I may have had an original idea, but it seems so obvious that I'm almost sure it's been done before and I've just never seen a thread about it. I was thinking of making masking panels cut to size out of MDF and wrapping them in black velvet to match the border. From there small pockets could be hollowed out of the corners in the back of the panel and rare earth magnets glued or otherwise held in. Obviously magnets could then be glued to the back side of the laminate screen in the correct position and the masking panels should be able to be installed and removed easily whenever I want to switch aspect ratios. The laminate is so thin that I shouldn't even need large magnets, and one in each corner of the panel should probably hold the weight. Does that sound like a reasonable plan? And has it been done before?
Any ideas at all about this build plan would be greatly appreciated as I've just started pricing materials and I'm expecting to receive a few power tools for Christmas to facilitate the project. Thank you all for sharing your previous builds which formed the foundation and inspiration for giving this a try.
First, I decided up front that I don't want to paint. Not that I don't think it's a good idea, I just don't want to get involved in that as it could be messy, time consuming, and prone to me screwing it up
I considered the BOC but I think I've settled on Wilsonart DW that I can get from Lowes just around the corner.For the frame I'm really liking 1'' square aluminum tubing with connectors from a place like EZtube. For me the time saved snapping an aluminum frame together vs. cutting and fastening wood is worth the extra money, and the weight savings should be a considerable help as well. Industrial velcro appears to be the method of choice for attaching laminate to an aluminum frame?
With the easy part out of the way, the black velvet border is where I'm currently hesitating. I didn't want to go with the black velvet tape, as I want something with a little thickness to it. My current plan is either 1x4's or 3/4'' MDF cut to size and wrapped in black velvet. I'm really not sure how to go about sticking that to the laminate, which is where I could really use some suggestions. I don't imagine that more velcro is the answer, so I was wondering about something like gorilla glue? Any ideas on either a better material for the border or a better way to attach it to the laminate would be appreciated.
Finally, all that should be left is the masking. Again I decided early that I didn't want to use curtains or any other "movable" mask that gets pulled on and off the screen. Here I think I may have had an original idea, but it seems so obvious that I'm almost sure it's been done before and I've just never seen a thread about it. I was thinking of making masking panels cut to size out of MDF and wrapping them in black velvet to match the border. From there small pockets could be hollowed out of the corners in the back of the panel and rare earth magnets glued or otherwise held in. Obviously magnets could then be glued to the back side of the laminate screen in the correct position and the masking panels should be able to be installed and removed easily whenever I want to switch aspect ratios. The laminate is so thin that I shouldn't even need large magnets, and one in each corner of the panel should probably hold the weight. Does that sound like a reasonable plan? And has it been done before?
Any ideas at all about this build plan would be greatly appreciated as I've just started pricing materials and I'm expecting to receive a few power tools for Christmas to facilitate the project. Thank you all for sharing your previous builds which formed the foundation and inspiration for giving this a try.
On the bright side when I come back I expect to have mucho dinero in the way of Lowes gift cards and some shiny new power tools from my parents. My fiance even asked her dad for Lowes cards for Christmas so that she can pitch in towards the screen 
) and it was boggling my mind what to do with those profiles and what kind of connectors you need to fasten them. It just didn't look as simple as:
. I have no idea if they're useful or a complete crock, but I saw some decent reviews online... I've cut regular (non-industrial) velcro tape with regular scissors before and given the fact that I'll soon have 15' of industrial tape to cut through I figured I'd give these a shot. I've wasted $15 on worse things, and I'll let you all know how it turns out.
) by either 1/4'' or 1/8'' thick. Those would be small enough to embed in the 9/16'' (or was it 7/16''?) trim but I would need a lot of them to get enough pull to keep it in place. I would also need to add some steel or more magnets on the other side of the laminate for them to pull against. 1/8'' thickness magnets are $0.10 ea. and 1/4'' are $0.20 ea or $0.13 ea if I buy 150+. Even if I bought 150 of the beefier 1/4'' ones for $19.50 that's no more expensive than a box of velcro, and just think of all the fun stuff I could do with the leftovers!
