A 135" Diagonal 2.35:1 White Milliskin over Light Silver Milliskin Spandex Screen Build.

Just this last weekend, I had the distinct pleasure of making a short drive up into the hinterlands of Central Missouri to help member "monumentally" construct a large Spandex Screen, as well as advise him on a few various sundry aspects of his proposed Theater. Got to indulge in his excellent hospitality, and quaff several Guinness Black Lagers too, which helped with the creativity quotient.

As specified, the object was to construct a 135" diagonal 2.35:1 Screen, with the intention of creating a platform for a Constant Image Height application. Already in hand and waiting to be abused was a Panasonic AE-8000U.

Inasmuch as "monumentally" also wanted to place a "ultra low profile" Martin Logan Center Channel speaker at dead center behind the proposed Screen, I determined that the construction of a shallow Shelf at that location was in order. Also, that the Screen assembly itself needed to stand off the wall a full 4.5" to accommodate the MLCC.

So we both got to work. First... "monumentally" did an excellent job of hand culling some very straight sticks of 2" x 4" x 12" Pine Studs. These were laid out "on Edge" after having Mitered the ends of each. Stud Dimensions were 130.5" "outside" on the Top & Bottom lengths, and 59" "outside" on the sides.

After selecting the "straightest of the straight" timber for the longer lengths, and some good ones for the shorter ends, precise Mitering of the corners allowed for a very square frame. (...after assembly there was a slight twist, but nothing ungovernable...) Below is a diagram showing the method and materials used to join the corners.



Both a 3" Corner Brace "AND" 2.5" Coarse Threaded Screws we used to secure each corner. First the Corner Braces were applied (...after marking and pre drilling guide holes...) to hold the assembly together, then two screws were inserted into each "wide side" of each corner (w/Countersinking also...) to pull each corner tight.

To hang this biggun' onto the wall and accommodate a 4.5" stand off, a "Ledge" bracket was made (2) for the Top & bottom lengths out of 2' x 4" Blocks. The outside "Top Edge" edge of the Hanging Block had to be Flush with that of the Top Edge of the Frame. (see next image)



Here is an image of the Frame hanging on the Framed Wall:



......and another image that shows both the degree of "Stand-Off" from the existing Wall Framing, as well as the Corner Bracket used:



Here is a shot of the completed Frame laying on the plastic covered Floor "Face Up" with the initial "Back Layer" of Light Silver Milliskin draped over:



The Light Silver Milliskin stretched and secured....................:



..................and now the White Milliskin stretched over the Top:



The porosity of the White Milliskin allows a good deal of the Light Silver Milliskin to bleed through, effecting a very light Silvery Hue. That can only be a good thing, as the ensuing images will show.

Here are images with a White Milliskin remnant laying across the finished, White Milliskin surface. You will note the difference in shading.

With Flash:



No Flash:



And now, the first "reveal". The Screen hung in place, with good 'ol "monumentally" standing by it's side.




.................and finally.....Screen shots!

A Menu shot showing bright, accurate color:



Everybody's favorite Blood Sucker:



The Couple:



Bite me......



Some else's Wedding...obviously...:



That's all for now....I only had the DVD at hand to work with, and time was almost gone for me to get started Home.

Comments welcome! Soon, "monumentally" will pop in and both give his impressions on the process, and take on questions, and hopefully later provide a variety of images that don't purvey the Undead.
Edited by MississippiMan - 2/14/13 at 11:55am

The two primary differences are:

Surface Texture: Milliskin is smoother....but just the same, Moleskin isn't very much rougher. Really, the lighter Silver Milliskin is desirable for a Top Coat because it is in fact a lighter shade if Silver/Gray than it's Moleskin cousin. Both "Whites" are very close, but Moleskin's thicker constitution doesn't pass quite as much light through. In in the same respect, the rearward layer of "any" silver won't have as much bearing on how the "white" Top surface reacts to projected light as does the thinner Millskin.

To be absolutely definitive in this, direct side -by- side comparisons....FULL SIZED preferably....would need to be made.

The second is cost. A $2.00 difference per yard in the Milliskin's favor. Not a bundle of difference.....but still.

Tossing in a third for good measure, the Milliskin stretches out easily and far. It is sublimely easy to get smooth and flat, even pulling out set-in wrinkles.


One important word of advice to all. When ordering "ANY" Spandex for DIY Screen use, request that it be sent on a Roll. Otherwise, they will stuff any order at/under 4 yards in a Box.

I ordered "monumentally's" to come on a Roll and there was nary a single wrinkle in all 8 yards (2 x 4 yards)
Edited by MississippiMan - 2/14/13 at 11:57am

Oh yeah.....,

Here is a shot of the amount of light bleed through with two layers...white & silver. A pretty good case for using the thicker Moleskin in either White or Silver as the respective backing for it's opposite.



Looking...the dark vertical bars are the Studs behind the screen.

Yeah, but if one employs BOC, first it will require 10x the effort to stretch it across a frame. After that, it's easy enough to spray on a coating that would trounce anything Spandex can offer.

However if painting is not an option, then Spandex offers up one of the most finest surface you can find in any cloth....including coated BOC. Given the choice between BOC and Spandex as a surface, what with BOC being .85 gain, about identical to White Spandex, it would be IMOHO the "go to" choice.

...........if you have the lumens....and/or your screen is small enough.

Everyone be on notice...I'm not a Spandex Fan Boy. But under the right circumstances I would never hesitate to use it again.

Yeah, but if one employs BOC, first it will require 10x the effort to stretch it across a frame. After that, it's easy enough to spray on a coating that would trounce anything Spandex can offer.

However if painting is not an option, then Spandex offers up one of the most finest surface you can find in any cloth....including coated BOC. AT properties notwithstanding. Given the choice between BOC and Spandex as a surface, what with BOC being .85 gain, about identical to White Spandex, the latter would be IMOHO the "go to" choice if backed with Silver Spandex..

...........if you have the lumen output....and/or your screen is small enough.

Everyone be on notice...I'm not a Spandex Fan Boy. But under the right circumstances I would never hesitate to use it again.

IMO yes. Smoother weave, good shade of Silver Gray, less expensive too.

No Lens. Some PJs have a feature called Lens Memory which can recal specific Format sizes, and automatically adjust the image size to such. That requires a PJ with motorized Zoom & Focus. In this Thread the PJ used is a Panasonic PT-AE8000u

The Spandex source links:

http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/5954

http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/795

1 screw (2.5") driven in at an angle through the rear edge of the Fame and into the ledge block.

Zat's it.

total build time......7 hours

Thank you for the Kudos.

The Frame shown in this Thread was not painted. It received a bottom layer of Light Silver and a Top layer of White, and under projected light there seemed to be no bleed through of the underlying 1.5" Wood Frame, nor any acertainable difference between the brightness of the image inside the Fame and that which was showing "on top" the Frame.

The suggestion to use a layer of a Black "something or other" behind a AT screen harkens back to the use of conventional, single Layered, perforated AT Screen material. Which in fact was erroneous because the brighter screen surface when combined with a much darker rear surface only accented the difference between the perforated holes and the reflective screen surface. That caused "Morie" artifacts...and real drawback to AT screens in the past. Using no backing but a blacked out rear area was at least as bad a choice, because then the light that was lost through the open perforation reduced the gain over the perforated area and created the same issue. Those who really had the correct grasp on things simply painted their Speakers to reduce any tendency for the light that made it through a AT Screen from illuminating the Speaker cabinets / Grills.

It is the extreme "airiness" of Spandex that makes it such a good substitution for conventional Mfg AT Screen material. In fact, a few Vendors have sold Spandex as Screen material for a while (...we won't mention them...the Craven opportunists!...) Also, there is no detrimental aspect to having a White Spandex backing under a white or Silver Top layer. Some have taken the stance that you do not want "ANY" light returning to, or existing under a layer of Spandex. That's pure Bunk, based on supposition, and offered up by the same people who never could get their heads wrapped around the fact that attenuated light, shifted down in both intensity and shading, when recombined to the light existing on a overlying translucent surface, will only help to reduce lost light through absorption, as well as enhance color saturation that would be reduced by such loss, and enhance contrast by adding a darker, more impenetrable base.

ahajr143, ya dun beat me to the draw again. Well...I may be slow, but once I pull out my Shotgun, I can fill 'em up with a lot more lead.

Ugh.
I hate painted Trim. Even the very best type Black Paint and a superb job of applying such cannot even be considered as being on the same Planet as the results you'll get with Black Velvet wrapped Trim.

Again.............................Ugh.

If you use the Pre-Primed Mdf baseboard sold at Home Depot, you can forget about any warp-age concerns

I realize that, and alluded to such in my final comment above. Mdf is much, much less prone to absorbing humidity to the point of swelling and warping. (...it doesn't do as good if immersed though... ) Pine on the other hand will absorb moisture from the air, and as it goes through repeated humidity-type wettings and dryings, it will warp and twist like crazy. As such it must be sealed far mo' bedder than Mdf Trim.

The Base @ HD is already Primed on one side, the side facing out, which is the only side you need to be concerned about. However if you put primer on the rear...your not hurtin' nothin'

You will find that the thickness of the Primer on the Mdf is quite thin. It's there mostly to prep the surface for any eventual paint to be applied. If you decide to apply more paint, you should also apply the same amount to the reverse side to prevent contraction from drying on one side from pulling the material into a mild Bow. In truth, if the Trim is to be set into place using Finish Nails set into the Mdf-Wall / and nail-set below the velvet layer, warping is almost going to be impossible.

Bullseye.

Dat's sum mitte fyne shootin' dere, Pard!

Far as I know of, ain't nobody found a way to directly overlap Spandex with Velvet on the same Frame. I thought fer certain sure we were talkin' 'bout a "Frame" for the Spandex and "Trim" being wholly separate.

Not that it might not indeed be possible to integrate it, if you reverse-wrap the spandex so it is on the back of the Frame, much like you see in a Commercially Mfg Fixed Screen.

But that would also entail dealing with other issues, paramount being you could not have any Centralized supports....the depth of the Frame can...and will create a shadow along at least two edges unless the PJ's lens is almost centered withing the screen.....oh.....don't make me go on.....it can be done, but you don't wanna go there.

So just how were you thinking you would do it? Might be something new to learn here.....