Check out the model I made for my upcoming Spandex screen.

Should work as you picture it, although the angle braces look to be too much. I think the plates you want to use on the back would have to be enough.

Poplar is more expensive, but might end up being more stable than pine. Having a nice, stained frame looks fine when the light is on, but maybe it would be better for viewing (if you have a router) to use a router to round the outer edges of the poplar, and then paint the frame black.

I am unfamiliar with the spandex material.

Absolutely, Lone Cloud is right.

Use Poplar. And pre-drill the holes for all the screws used in the brackets

Great project. The model looks good. The finished unit should be a great screen for you. I know I have really enjoyed my screen. I did use poplar and I don't regret it.

Professional screens and some guys in DIY also create a black border around their screens. I think this is basically a trick for the eye, but it does work.

I was not aware that you were stretching the material over the front. If you do, you might end up seeing the outline of the frame behind it- not because of color, but because wood is a natural material and you can't ever get it to keep a perfect and flat shape.

Why?

Except for the need to use a sizable (24" x 24" )Carpenter's Square to be 'perfect', those Right Angle Brackets are your best friends. The degree of True'ness of the corners can be off a very small amount without issue if the design for the accompanying Trim is instrumental in the final framing of the image. However, the rigidity that such a "inside corner" brace adds is definitely an assist against low torque twist. The combination of outside surface & inside edge "brace joining" is exactly what is needed when a Frame does not have lateral or horizontal bracing.

When building these frames, and taking in the fact that the "Pull Force" needed to get spandex pretty taint is much less than Black Out Cloth or Mfg Screen materials, much (if not all) of the need for agressive bracing is needed.

A little irony here.

Fixed Mfg Screens often still have a slight twist. That's one reason the "L" brackets that accompany them are for. To correct and hold any slight twist the Screen's material might impart to the Frame. And most Mfg Frames purport to be pretty stout! Yet here on DIY, the frames we build must hang easily & straight, not twist, never warp...do everything a Mfg Frame can/should do, and cost less while doing it all.

Frankly, when a DIY'er resorts to thicker "cloth-like" materials, he's forced to build a stout, well braced frame out of good, hardwood Finish Timber. More costly. More involved. Hence one reason I never have bothered much with such applications...unless desperate for a "BIG" surface to paint upon.

Well with Spandex, 75% of all that goes south, away from being a concern. It's almost a no brain'er, and certainly a easy one person job to stretch out evenly w/no wrinkles. And that easy, low force pull means a well built rectangular frame without bracing is certainly more than adequate if made from the right materials and constructed with a minimum level of required corner Bracing.

Straight, hand picked, Kiln-Dried hardwood Finish Timber. Outside and Inside corner bracing.

The Fabric Stand Off edge can be eliminated if the Frame is made out-sized, allowing for spacer blocks at each corner and along the side in between. These are flush edged to the inside Frame, and are intended to serve as fastening points for the overlaid Trim.

Now if a "Zero Edge" look is desired, then the Quarter Round is a valid ticket. There is not real issue with bleed through coming up through the White/Gray Spandex layer from the wood underneath, and the rolled edge minimizes any surface variables. It is more work though, and requires the use of Miter Boxes or Miter Saws. But if painted White.....well there ya go.

If you cannot (...and should not...) see any of the Frame, and the 1st layer of Spandex is White, then it's an obvious choice to paint the underlying Wood Frame a closely similar shade of White. As stared above, not being able to see any impression of the wood surface lying underneath two layers might be problematical....but even Zero Edge screens really have a small (thin) Black bezel.

Just construct the Frame so that your inside edge is at least 1/2" in from the dimensions of viewable edges of the formatted screen surface. Add those additional 1" x 4" blocks around the outside edges ( ...use Elmer's Wood Glue and tape then in place to secure them while drying...)

Stretch the Fabrics.....Cut / Wrap / Place your Trim around the Screen....and use a "Hangman ** " French Cleat to secure the Screen to the wall.

** Note: http://www.amazon.com/Hangman-Products-HM-30D-Heavy-Duty-Anchorless/dp/B000VWAYQC/ref=pd_cp_hi_0

This Hangman is the longest one you can get. White it's capacity is not needed, it's long span serves to make positioning much easier, and also adds some additional stiffening to the top span

Now if a "Zero Edge" look is desired, then the Quarter Round is a valid ticket. There is not real issue with bleed through coming up through the White/Gray Spandex layer from the wood underneath, and the rolled edge minimizes any surface variables. It is more work though, and requires the use of Miter Boxes or Miter Saws. But if painted White.....well there ya go.

If you cannot (...and should not...) see any of the Frame, and the 1st layer of Spandex is White, then it's an obvious choice to paint the underlying Wood Frame a closely similar shade of White. As stared above, not being able to see any impression of the wood surface lying underneath two layers might be problematical....but even Zero Edge screens really have a small (thin) Black bezel.

Just construct the Frame so that your inside edge is at least 1/2" in from the dimensions of viewable edges of the formatted screen surface. Add those additional 1" x 4" blocks around the outside edges ( ...use Elmer's Wood Glue and tape then in place to secure them while drying...)

Stretch the Fabrics.....Cut / Wrap / Place your Trim around the Screen....and use a "Hangman ** " French Cleat to secure the Screen to the wall.

** Note: http://www.amazon.com/Hangman-Products-HM-30D-Heavy-Duty-Anchorless/dp/B000VWAYQC/ref=pd_cp_hi_0

This Hangman is the longest one you can get. White it's capacity is not needed, it's long span serves to make positioning much easier, and also adds some additional stiffening to the top span
Edited by MississippiMan - 8/24/12 at 9:21am

bigbri9,

You seem to be in the right path.

No need to over-engineer, but don't scrimp either.

Get'ter Dun !

Lots of ways to effectively hang your screen from off a uneven wall, most all of which would look better than it being suspended by Wires.

Yeah...better relate all the specifics you can so we don't pitter putter abount.