Screen Paint for DIY Projector

Hi,

I made a DIY Lumenlab box design HD projector and I’m preparing to make a new screen so even though I’ve done a lot of reading I thought I’d ask for advice before I leap! My PJ has a pretty low lumen output and I’m ambitious with my screen shooting for 125”. My current screen is DIY ‘Black Widow’ paint on drywall. Black Widow is a mix of ‘bermuda beige’ and silver flake metallic that winds up as a dark grey color. Needless to say, though contrast is good the overall picture is pretty dim and I want to make some big improvements in this department. The PJ is ceiling mounted in a very light controlled room without windows BTW.

My current plan is to build a blackout cloth screen on a wooden frame and spray with S-I-L-V-E-R. I was thinking of using MM Low Lumen mix but I read on the CMRA thread that the SILVER had higher gain. I’m open to suggestions & comments please – especially now before I actually do anything!!!
PS – I’ll post results and thoughts about the process here too if anyone is interested.

Thanks!
Rich in SC

Hey thanks MM, after reading through so much of your information it’s really cool to actually hear from you on my post!

I was waffling between the SILVER and the LL so given your advice and my lack of experience with the the Graco HVLP sprayer I’ll go with RS-MM-LL if it is more forgiving. Unfortunately I just got back from a rather unsuccessful shopping trip and was unable to locate the rust-oleum and only got 4oz of liquitex so I’ll be buying those from Amazon. I’ll skin the frame today and hopefully will get the screen painted next weekend.

As for results, I have screen shots from my original 2006 720p Lumenlab PJ on a 106" Da-Lite model B, I’ll take some with 2011 Lumenlab PJ 2.0 with 1080p on my black widow screen and then some on the new RS-MM-LL when I get that painted. I’m looking forward to the results!

Thanks,
Rich

No pictures yet but I wanted to post an update.

I finally got to paint my screen yesterday after waiting several weekends for good enough weather to paint outside. 4 spray coats of Kilz2 then 6 coats of RS-MM-LL. I was attempting dusters which I have never seen and I think I got it right – perhaps a bit too heavy but it took at least 4 coats to completely cover then 2 more for safety. No runs anyway which was the primary concern. It was only in the 60’s outside so I carried it inside to dry between each coat.

Paint looks like a very slightly grey tinted white with a sheen that I wouldn’t call gloss but its not flat either. The results are a much brighter picture than my old Black Widow paint and my Da-Lite model B 1.0 gain screen. This is exactly what I was looking for in terms of brightness. Color and picture detail are great and there is no hot spotting.

Unfortunately there are some issues with the consistency of the BOC I used that became apparent only after painting. Some parts of the screen are smooth where other parts have a sight texture. You can see this only on bright images without much detail – sky shots, landscape pans etc. I doubt this is fixable without tossing the BOC and starting over. Its disappointing but not all that bad, my wife didn’t seem to notice it until I pointed it out.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the way the screen turned out! My sincere thanks to MM and everyone who posts to these forums sharing all of your knowledge and experience with DIY’ers like me. I will make some pictures and post soon.

THANK YOU!!
Rich