Cyclone Cinema Build - Page 12

Thanks for all the help guys! Hopefully I will get the door poly'd this weekend and hang it early next week.

Quick update. I put a second coat of dye on my store bought woodwork to darken it up a bit. I think it was sanded smoother than my columns/trim, so it didnt accept as much dye. I then sprayed everything with a coat of shellac to lock in the dye. That is all I accomplished this weekend on the basement.

Instead of working on the basement, I built a bathroom vanity for one of my coworkers.
Here is a picture of the face frame glued and screwed.


Here is a picture of the cabinet with the wood cut for the doors. In the background you can see the large sled I made for my table saw. I used that to trim up the solid wood panels for the raised panels, and also to cut the larger plywood panels to length (my table table saw fence is only good up to 29". The sled will squarely cut up to 44".


I didnt take a picture of this, but the frames are cut along with the raised panels. Everything is glued up. All I need to do is cut a nice edge for the fake drawer front and along the outside edges of the doors, then install the hinges onto the face frame.

Just a few quick follow up pictures. Today after work we routed the outside profile on the drawer front and doors, then installed the hinges and finally installed the two doors and the drawer front.

Here is the view from the back


Here is a picture with the doors open


And finally a pitcure with the doors closed


I didnt take any pictures of the raised panels up close, but it all turned out nicely. The spacing is equal between the doors/drawer and the outside edges, and the doors came out perfectly level and parallel.

A couple things to note. This cabinet is going to be installed in a U shaped opening, so we were able to use the kreg jig to attach the front face from on the sides and back instead of the inside - not a big deal, but its nice not seeing those pocket holes (and i am too lazy to install inserts/plugs). The other thing to note is that we used 3/4" plywood for the top, bottom, sides and back - we did this because we were only building one cabinet and ended up having enough. If we would have been trying to save materials, we could have replaced the back with some thinner plywood, and used some lower grade plywood for the top. He is planning on adding cement board and installing a tile countertop.

Overall it was a fun experience. The best part is now its sitting at his house waiting for the sanding/finishing (my least favorite part)! Hard to decide if I would build my own cabinets if I were remodeling my kitchen or something of that nature. I bought the cheaper HD cabinets for my basement - but I wasnt looking for a high quality cabinet down there (as they will see very limited use.

Thanks guys. I will get some finished pictures when he has it completed.

In other news, I try to keep an eye on craigslist for good deals on tools. Today I ran across a floorstanding drill press for $50...amazing shape. The same gentleman had a scroll saw and an oscillating sander for sale.

I didnt buy the scroll saw, but I did come home with both of the other pieces.


I got the pair for $150. The oscillating sander was also in really good shape and came with the stand it is sitting on!

In theater news. I have ordered my black GOM FR701 for the front wall. Which got me to thinking about what I am going to do for a screen. There is a very good chance I do the exact same thing as "the pimp my garage" thread....which is buy a frame from Jamestown Theater Screens (without the screen) and then buy a piece of Seymour Centerstage XD acoustically transparent sreen to install on the frame. I live about 30 miles from the Seymour warehouse, so I might just pick it up sometime and save on the shipping.

I have already received a quote for the frame (which seems very reasonable) and am waiting to hear back on a couple questions about the screen material.

Its getting closer now, I better finish my trim soon!

Thats great to know. I looked over their website and didnt see that option. I will at least get a quote to see what the upcharge is.

I have gone back and forth quite a bit also. The one thing that I can say already is that James at Jamestown has been very prompt and helpful.

I emailed him 30 minutes ago and had a response in 15 minutes. It looks like I can save a decent amount of money by buying/mounting the screen material myself, so I will go that way.

As for the frame. I have not priced what it would cost to do it all from scratch. But by the time you buy the wood, brackets, screws, felt etc. I think it would end up being close to the same price. I have to believe I will end up with a lighter screen than if I built it myself (as mine would be all wood, and his includes aluminum).

I will take pictures when I build it so others get an idea of what it entails.

Just a quick weekend update.

The main project I wanted to get out of the way was to prevent the center panels from rattling.

Here is a picture with some cloth protecting the columns from the top of the sawhorses.


Here was my game plan to keep the panels from vibrating.


The thin weatherstripping got pushed under the edge of the rails/stiles to push the panel tight to the front of the column. This picture shows it partially pushed under. After the picture I pushed it the rest of the way. I just used a flat screwdriver


After the weatherstripping was installed, I ran a bead of caulk around the edges, just to make sure nothing was going to move.


After I got all six columns completed, I took my THT from this...


to this!


I finished up the day by hanging the door.


In the picture above you can see the veneer strips pretty well. In person you can still see them, but they are not nearly as pronounced as the picture makes them seem.

My question for the day. What do I do with the small gap around the door? Just fill as tight as possible with acoustic caulk? Maybe Ted will chime in here and let me know, or maybe I will PM him later this week if I dont get an answer. The rough in was pretty close, so there isnt too much of a gap. If the gap was going to be too large, I was planning on installing a piece of sheetrock the full width to add as much as possible.

Also, here is a quick picture showing the majority of the trim. This is after one coat of poly. They are now sanded down with 00 steel wool and just need to be tack clothed before the second coat gets added.

Hard to show progress when all I am doing is putting coats of poly on my columns and trim.

Here is a final picture of the finished columns. Can't see too much, but the poly brought back some of the wood grain that had disappeared with the stain. I am pretty happy with how they finally turned out. After the first coat or two of poly the surfaces were pretty rough, but the third coat really smoothed them out.


So I applied the last coat of poly on Wednesday night, which freed up last night to do some painting...


I grabbed paint after work last night and started in on the ceiling. My wife got home an hour or two later to find me painting. Apparently she was not planning on painting the ceiling black... After a little discussion about picture quality (and the fact I had already bought the paint and started) she agreed with the color. Lesson: its easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

The funny thing about that is I had told her a long time ago that I was painting the ceiling black. She either forgot, or thought I was joking. She is okay with the black ceiling, but now says she has to pick out a different wall color....I thought everything went with black

Weekend update...not much to say, other than I had a pretty free weekend with no other obligations. On to pictures.

I finally lifted my rack into the A/V room opening and attached to the side studs. I thought I was going to need to put support underneath, but it is SOLID.


I bought some flat black spraypaint and painted the trim for my screenwash lights, smoke detector and riser step light trim. A few light coats and they turned out well.


I then moved on to painting. I put a second coat of black paint on the ceilings, and then moved on to the walls. I dont have a good picture of just the walls painted, but here is a picture of me beginning to mount the columns. Here you can see my permanent marker marks on the floor. I used these marks to help tell me where my studs were when attaching the second layer of drywall....that turned out to be a GREAT idea! I ended up using the marks again when mounting my columns. Here is a picture showing the floor mark transferred to the wall (just used a level).


Here is a picture showing my method of attaching the columns to the walls. The right marker line on the wall signifies where the stud is located, the left marker line shows the centerline of the column location. I marked the center of my 1x4 to line up with the column centerline and then used two screws to attach the 1x4 to the stud. I used a third screw on the opposite end of the 1x4 just for insurance - it only attached to the two layers of 5/8" drywall, but seemed to hold well if I didnt try to go too deep.


I used two 1x4's per column...


Then filled the column with insulation


Here is the column attached to the wall. To attach the columns, I predrilled a tiny hole and nailed a small finishing nail into the side of the 1x4. I also installed the light.


Here is a shot showing the sconce installed (with light off to see the actual sconce).


For the "what I would do differently" thread: Dont forget about trim when designing your theater room. I ran into a couple problems or almost problems.

Here is an almost problem. This picture shows the door and the column trim. That's right, the door clears the crown molding by 1/8" max! I think the door latch will just barely clear the side of the column also, so crisis averted.


That worked out okay, here I didnt get so lucky.


And the other side...these were different, as the stud layout changed slightly between sides (looking back, I should have installed the stud walls symmetrical...I didnt think it would matter). The tape is my 'clamp' to hold the tiny triangular piece while the glue sets.


And this is the final trim trouble...this wont be a huge problem, but I didnt have enough room between the door trim and the riser for a piece of vertical trim. I will install it and post a picture tonight or tomorrow when I get it finished. The blue tape is holding the return I have glued up.


Back to this picture for a moment. The unstained trim installed represents my inability to measure correctly. I minimized waste, but still ended up being about 24" short. The best news...I am out of dye! So, I need to order dye, have it shipped from New York before I can finish it up - mainly because the Woodsmith Store (where I got my first packet of dye) quit carrying the color I selected.


One additional thing to mention, I again used those permanent marker lines from the floor to help know where to attach the trim to the wall at. I would highly recommend marking stud locations...it saved me a lot of time. Plus, the studfinders (at least mine) has trouble locating studs through two layers of drywall.

I also need to build a threshold for the theater room door, so its not the end of the world. I also need to decide what color to use to trim around my equipment rack (white, black, or stained to match the door). Any recommendations are appreciated.

Also, just to note, after I finished painting the walls and before the columns were installed, I was worried about light. With my big work light and no column lights, it was pretty dim in there. Now that the column lights are installed, I dont even use the work light anymore. I suppose a dark carpet will pull a little more light out of the room, but I am pretty sure I will be okay.

Just a screen update. I ordered my Seymour screen last Thursday, and got a phone call today (4 days later) saying it was ready to be picked up.

I ordered my Jamestown screen frame on 4/13 but it has not shipped yet. In their defense, they said they were pretty busy so it wouldn't ship out immediately (I ordered a custom sized frame). He has been great to work with and very responsive to emails/phone calls, so I am not worried.

One question I do have though. I planned on building my black GOM frames for around the screen. Is it best to measure/build/install them after the carpet it installed? I planned on using the bounce in the carpet to hold them in place. It will probably be hard to estimate my carpet + pad thickness well enough to confidently build frames.

Has anyone here built their screen wall fabric frames before the carpet was installed? If so, what was your gameplan?

I was able to get some more work done on the basement last night.

My main goal was to get the riser and stage trimmed out.

Here is a picture of the riser with a permanent marker showing where it should sit when glued and nailed.


Here is a picture of the last piece of baseboard attached to the wall.


Here is that same baseboard with the return I glued up the night before.


Here is how I addressed the issue of not being able to wrap the baseboard down around the riser. I cut a rabbet into the riser trim.


Here is a picture with the first piece of trim glued down with PL Premium and attached with a few nails.


And here is the way the rabbet fit against the baseboard trim. I am very happy with how it turned out. It looks even better when you are not 6" away.


This picture shows the bed of PL I put down under the trim pieces. Normally I wouldnt even put nails in the trim, but I wanted to make sure the trim didnt come loose. I need to fix all the nail holes in the room anyway, so a few more shouldnt be a problem.


The finished riser. In this picture you can see how the trim came out near the door. Looks good in this picture.


I then moved onto the stage. Here is a picture showing all the marks. This helped a lot when cutting the pieces to length.


And the final stage


My list is starting to get to a manageable point!

Other progress:
-I ordered another ounce of dye yesterday, so that should be here later this week.
-My wife finished painting the doors and door jambs in the rest of the basement. The doors are now hung and the handles are installed.
-I priced countertops last weekend at Home Depot. They have a few different colors of quartz that they are selling at $39/SF installed...the gentleman also mentioned that in early may they are having an additional 10% off, so we will likely order that in a week or two.
-We looked at carpet a little last weekend also. I dont think I am going to go crazy on the carpet. With the columns and the small room, I have enough going on, I dont want the room to get too busy.

Next up is to determine how high I need to build my threshold. I will probably end up going with an automatic bottom seal, so I want to make sure I make it high enough, but not too high.

I also have to make a threshold for between the hallway and the storage room. After they are made, I can stain/poly them and I will be ready for carpet.

Thanks Floyd. I will wait until after the carpet is installed before I build the frames. I have enough other work to do that I will not hold me up anyway.

Let me preface this post by saying I have not done nearly enough research on projectors to know what I am talking about. I am just trying to find something that fits my situation. I could be way off base on multiple issues here, so any help is appreciated.

Okay. I need some help with projector selection....bad. I am struggling to decide what projector to buy.

Some information that may help you help me
-110"x47" screen.
-3D is the lowest (or no) priority
-I would like to stay under $3000
-Seymour Centerstage XD screen
-I will not be buying/using an anamorphic lens
-I have been looking at the JVC RS45, Panny 7000, Panny 4000 (if i can still get it). Maybe there are better options, I was looking at these three because of the automatic lens shift, which I may not even use now.

Here are two pictures showing the two options I have to go with.

This picture shows the projector mounted in the back of the room, with the center of the lens within the screen boundary. Lens to screen is 16'-6".


As you can see in the above picture, my power and HDMI connections are located in the vertical face of the soffit. I could reroute those connections to accommodate the rear projector location, although it would create a bit of a mess...maybe mess with my soundproofing.

This next picture shows the projector mounted high, within the soffit space. This would work perfectly with the roughed in power/hdmi, it also moves the projector closer to the screen, which helps out with the brightness of the projector. Lens to screen is 12'-10".


I would rather mount the projector high. In the rear position, it will be closer to the heads of the 2nd row viewers, and it would result in a dimmer picture. The one positive, is that the automatic lens shift of a couple projectors would work (because the lens is within the screen boundaries).

My first question is as follows:
1. Say I mount the projector high, tight to the ceiling. What series of steps do I need to take to switch from a 16:9 image to a 2.35:1 image?
-are there presets that I can program, then just adjust the focus?
-does it require me to physically move where the projector is pointing, then refocus?
-is this something that can be done just with the projector remote?
-I dont know enough about projectors to even know what else would be necessary.

After I figure out what steps are required to switch between formats, I will make a decision regarding projector location. After the location is determined, I will probably ask for recommendations on specific projectors.

Thanks Steve. To elaborate, the lens shift between 2.35:1 and 16:9 works when the lens is above the screen boundary? If so, that makes my decision pretty easy.