Who Has Done a Full Screen Wash on a Hi Power 2.8? / Methodology / Happy with Results?

The 2.8's surface itself seems fairly robust and smooth enough to take soft cloth, mild soap and water. Problem is, and I now have about 4 small ones after 4 years, when you do that the touched up area now looks a bit brighter than the untouched area all around it, with probably some degree of airborne residue residing after a number of years. Tiny specs from insects' waste and trying to swipe the occasional cricket off the screen and having the wrong angle with the towell swipe and smushing a bit. They clean up but on a bright white background if you know where they are.......they start to bug the crap out of you. Plus, when the spot is wet and drying it really scares the bleep out of you that it is going to wind up looking like that.

I have read it is possible to use a lot of water and I guess quickly as possible, but consistently, you start somewhere and just go for it. Across the top? Back and forth moving downward? What material & soap did you use? How often do you rinse it and how wet? "Light" amount of the soap mixed in the water? If you've been even with this..... I (think) I have read it dries and looks like new. But how very scary to make the decision to try it. Especially since 2.8 is no longer available.

Any success stories out there? Anyone repeat it more than once..... and your "system" is outstanding, even if you do say so yourself?

Thanks for the quick reply Doug! My screen is 8.5' wide 16x9.

How wide of an area (feet or inches) starting at the top do you consider "a small area"? Do you take that width all the way down to the bottom and then go back to top, move over same width and go down all the way again, overlapping a small bit?

What is the motion....side to side and then down a bit at a time? Circular or egg shape rubbing for each column?

I imagine the rags start picking up dirty color. How wet do you have to keep them, and do you have to keep only a "clean" portion on the screen? Use a lot of rags?

All these vertical columns with the wiping pattern you suggest, when the denatured alcohol dries it will wind up looking smooth, no wipe marks? Or do you need to give a final dry wipe or just damp wipe to the whole thing?

If you see some left over marks can you just go back in that area with new clean surface micro fibre and more liquid?

I have a one door theater with it being 20 feet away from the screen, and in addition to mini split air system, have a pretty strong exhaust fan in open beam ceiling not too far from the screen. If I turn that fan on high and open the door to let outside air come in to replace what goes up.....how nasty are these fumes? Is there a certain level rubber / canister mask needed, or just a good fitting cotton mask with maybe one of those charcoal heads on it.

Sorry for all the questions but I would hate myself forever if I wind up making it look worse instead of all smooth and clean. And I don't want to die in the process......


Ron

I periodically out of habit just dust mine top to bottom with a really soft feather type duster that's not feathers. More like soft animal hair. The surface looks clean except for the spots that look more clean. If / when I do this I would certainly dust everything loose off it first.

It sounds like a higher maintenance surface or not as smooth?? And more randomly sized beads from some photographs over in the projector forum, looking at them, then the 2.8 Hi Power. Which is moot since the 2.8 is no longer offered. Don't know how closeups of the beads look on he 2.4 version or its surface compared to the HPHC?

"Swiffer Duster" I did a search, can't tell how "soft" the thing is over and above attracting and holding dust particles.

Ahhh.... the old 2.8 beads are bigger and "beastier" plus more uniform it looks like. You have no idea how hard it was to get the quoted word past the bleeping persistent spell check. Damn!!

OK. Color me officially semi worried here. I did everything as per above. Even washed first the miro fibre rags to make sure they were soft as can be, because they kind of have that feel they catch on any irregularity. I generously kept about that 3"x3" portion of the rag wet enough to slide nicely over each new section as I went and tried to feather the edges. You said it would become evident and that seemed to be working. Bought the paint grade mask at Lowes for $30. Dusted well before hand.

My finished screen shows a lot of the edges lightly of the worked sections. I tried going back over the top portion again and it looks a little better than the bottom only once. Maybe because of the film removed, with the edges and slight off color. Unless the micro fibre is kept real damp or wet it does slide all that smoothly. How durable is that surface to how many times with the denatured alcohol do you think.

What is the method you use to get rid of all the faint marks. Yeah it's brighter now but the uniformity on bright white does not look good. HELP..... they don't sell these 2.8s any more of course.

It's the 2.8. Yes on the denatured alcohol. Well as mentioned the top section, the half I went over a 2nd time looks a little better than the bottom with only one pass on the sections. I don't suppose any of the marks / streaks left by the alcohol can be evened out with the light soapy water mixture? Probably need to keep going over with clean, wet alcohol rags?

But you never had this problem and having to go back with a 2nd or more passes after the first pass, first time you did it? Seems to me part of the problem was so many small areas (the 1x1 footers).

And yes it's smooth as butter as long as the micro fibre rag is nice and wet. It seems the 2nd pass where I tried and it was already cleaned once is leaving less of the marks but still not all gone after 2 passes. Not a huge screen at all. 8.5' wide 16x9.

OK thanks I will be having another go of it tomorrow. Have to pick up another can of the moonshine as well.

Mornin' Doug. Yes I have been careful not to rub hard and hasn't seem to be needed anyway. When sufficiently wet the micro fibre material glides well and the newly wetted sections of screen look totally clean. Most definitely with the projector on full white screen. Only way possible. No not sticky at all. I think the problem has to do with the very slight less than pure white color of the light film accumulated on it over the past 4+ years. Especially on the first pass, and shows up in the edges a bit of the worked areas as the swipes dry. I will start this time on the lower portion for a second pass, and then maybe the whole screen gets a 3rd pass quickly moving with the wet rag across broader areas. Wish me luck.

Yep ventilation has been fine between fan at open door blowing upward across the room toward the exhaust fan in peaked open beam ceiling about 10 feet over from the screen horizontally. I'm using one of these masks and can't smell a thing. http://www.lowes.com/pd_146659-98-R-7512ES_0__?Ntt=painting+respirater+mask&UserSearch=painting+respirater+mask&productId=3013769&rpp=32 And luckily with the quick evaporation when done the smell doesn't linger if materials all taken outside.

Update. I've gone from severe depression about this after another pass over most of the screen, thinking that I had let the visible but "minor" annoyance of the 3 relatively small bright spots where I'd cleaned in the past...... put me in motion with actions to where I just screwed the pooch with my custom made and ordered, fitted and irreplaceable 2.8 screen. Really pretty sick about it. Then one more experiment and this is giving me hope as it is getting better.

After the very careful, smooth, wet passes this time, really trying to feather any edges so no marks from any thickness of the alcohol rapidly drying at the edges of the wet swipes.....I had improved the bottom some but still have these marks. By now obviously the surface seemes totally clean up close.

Think of a very faint pattern, horizontally (direction of all the swipes except vertical left and right edges) on the white screen kind of like the patterns you see with many colors on Jupiter. "Very faint" but "very visible" in white, yellow, green, cyan somewhat and even red somewhat with the JVC test menu.

Then I'm up close and looking at some of those horizontal marks and imagining they are not from the edges of the swipes or still remaining coloration from surface film any more (looks really clean up close, can only see them easily from a bit of distance back) ....... but actually the minuscule, tiny differences in the clear coat's surface. NOT GOOD if true. From the careful wipes and flicking at the occasional bug over the years. And this new bright surface cleaning is now bringing all that out. In other words I'm BLEEPED. Any time there's a bright large area of screen during programming ......faint Jupiter pattern visible.

I thought I would try one more experiment to see if I could now possibly "alter" any of them by going over again, lightly, quickly, wetly and with same feathering directly on some of these specific patterns.

I could change them! OK, so with remaining liquid (actually still the quart can) ....... I did some more large areas bottom half of screen again as the top still seemed a little more uniform. Very light sweeping, wet rag so no friction, long swipes, again feathering.

The patterns Change. And overall they are getting lighter and more uniform looking. Still not acceptable, but now with the other light colors besides full screen white, it's getting harder to see the patterns. Red, hardly at all. So that's a very good sign it seems to me. The fact I can change the patterns and they seem to be getting more faint seems to indicate the clear coat is still in OK shape.

I bought the version of denatured alcohol below at Lowes on the right side if this link works. (Didn't even realize there were 2 or more versions) Do you think maybe that is the problem when you compare their properties? What brand do you use, Doug?

http://www.lowes.com/LowesProductComparisionCmd?catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&cm_sp=LowesProductComparisonCmd&NeParam=4294937087&NParam=4294857980&NttParam=&pcompitems=3063669,3078771&returnShoppingUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lowes.com%2FSearch%3Ddenatured%2Balcohol%3FstoreId%3D10151%26langId%3D-1%26catalogId%3D10051%26N%3D0%26newSearch%3Dtrue%26Ntt%3Ddenatured%2Balcohol


Now I'm seeing what I bought does better with shellac, rather than oil based product like the one on the left. But it is also supposed to do well on glass for no streaks. But you dilute it with water according to directions. Is this the Eureka moment?
Edited by RonF - 1/11/13 at 3:20pm

That's what I get for tree hugging, unknowingly anyway. Well GOOD I hope you are right and also same thing I am suspecting / praying is correct. And good news, I had to get out and get a bite to eat up the street with a really nice Club sandwich (add avocado) and a couple of Sierra Nevadas to put the angst in perspective with the promising results of my last passes. Right up the street from there is a little neighborhood True Value hardware store. I went in there before coming home to see what brand of denatured alcohol they carried and bought a can. It is the same Sunnyside quart can that I just got home and find you posting here on AVS.

OK!! I think I have time to try out a quick section, and still get it dry in time to be able to watch my Lakers get waxed by OKC in 2 hours. Without having to wear the freaking mask while doing it. Should be able to get the last of the fumes out by then.

Thanks, Doug

Oh hell yeah!!! That is a lot better. I quickly wound up doing the whole screen again. It even seemed to slide better. Maybe I was keeping the rag wetter though, or maybe it wasn't evaporating quite as fast. But now after drying with the fan the marks are getting close to being "gone". It's almost to the point where I would not notice. Really hard to see on any color but white. One more pass tomorrow and I should be stylin'. All nice and bright, bright white again..... no little circles. And going forward now I know the proper drill. Sunnyside is the brand to get if any questions or anyone not sure.

Doug.....you da MAN!! Thanks for walking me through this scary procedure. Much appreciated!

I tried another pass today but even still it is kind of difficult to get rid of every last trace. I kind of just changed the faint patterns around a bit and then had to touch up new areas. They are pretty light but I feel like I'm going to need to keep playing with it to make a little better. No longer panicked as I originally was, could live with it now if I had to.

Just making others aware that at least for me this has been no slam dunk with an easy process.

I wonder how the surface is on a material like the 1.0 gain flat Stewart SnoMatte (sp?) that some people are calling perfect (with bat cave and enough lumens) for this sort of a thing? Is there a clear coat for protection on that which allows the "perfect" surface, and for it also to be cleaned with some form of liquid??

Interesting, Doug. I came back in before reading your post to say that after a day and a half the faint but noticeable marks have gotten more faint and the uniformity has improved. Not sure why that is considering how fast the alcohol evaporates. Why do you think that would be.....after being apparently completely dry, it keeps getting more uniform a day later?? It's looking pretty good to me now. Certainly better than having the 3 small bright circles showing where it had been cleaned by water and light soap before I started. Water especially seems to leave deposit marks at the edge of the rubbed area when it dries. I tried it again yesterday, first thing, to see if it would help with some of the marks. NOOOO ..... it left worse marks. And like you said considerably longer to dry.

I may just cherry pick some of the remaining marks that I can see from viewing distance only on all white screen and use my method of staying side to side and with wet micro fibre. I don't like how, at least with my rags from Pep Boys, they seem to catch and are not smooth gliding if only damp. Maybe washing changed something but I don't think so. The feel the same to my fingers' touch and that was why I washed them in the first place. Very soft, but still seem to "catch" on any barely rough spots on my hands or on the screen if dry to only damp.

Your circular motion. Glad to hear it is working for you. Interesting in that I have read some directions on line (maybe posted from Mfg. but not sure of that) which said to not use a circular motion. Well sounds like yours came out great though. Good for you that you scored a vintage formula HP in good shape. These things will probably retain their value if in good condition.


How did you set it up with the pull down screen to be able to shine the projector light on it and have a smooth solid surface behind it to push against while using the rags?
Edited by RonF - 1/13/13 at 10:25pm