DIY Aluminum paint rolls well. . . but. . . - Page 5  

Hey Ddog,
1. I am thinking of starting with 1/3 glaze to Ultra Pure White semi-gloss for the base, then the same silver mix I used last time.

Does this sound about right????

2. Also this time I will use a glaze plus a little flat white base top coat( two knifes). Would you use a knife of silver as you suggested earlier??

Happy holidays!!

Rew

sportster64
I looked at that one too but I am going to try the Campbell Hausfeld 1000 system first. I 'll let you know. Also check out Gleem Paint on the Internet for the gun they have the best price. < than 150.

I only have a small 4 gal pancake compressor which is on the border for using this gun.

Rew

ddog,

I have a few problems. Number one, is that I ruined my piece of Parkland Plastics by trying to sand it down for primer. No one do this. It left marks in the sheet that I can't get rid of and it light scenes in films, you can totally see the scratches -- especially in moving scenes where you see sky, snow, etc...

Number two -- I LOVE THE PICTURE. I am returning the 'goo' (i'm going to try, I haven't even opened the box and I don't know if they take returns, but I'm going to try.) The black levels and colors are truly amazing for a DIY screen, OR for a purchased screen, IMO. I returned from a demo of Firehawk at my local dealer a few days ago, and this image looks just as good. And MUCH cheaper.

Number three (this is my question) How much flat base do you add to the top coat of glaze to prevent hotspotting? And should I add silver to this mixture as stated above?

What is causing the hotspotting? The silver? The white? or the Glaze?

Again, Thanks!

Joe,
1st,if your screen is already painted(it sounds like it is) and you're having problems with sand scratches then you need to sand the hole screen with a D.A.(or a Black& Decker mouse) and use 320 grit and this will take care of the scratches.

You need to re-dooo the screen.

2nd, put the flat base in the last coat of the Glaze. Don't put too much in(about 2 kitchen"butter knifes"worth) you just want to cut down some of the sheeeeen. And this will knock out the Hot Spots.

Rew425, Yes put 2 butter knifes worth of the flat base in with the glaze on the last coat. Don't put silver in the last coat because it makes the screen darker.

Yes, if you want to get more depth out of your screen after you put on the white base coat, mix 50/50 white/glaze and put another coat on and then continue the rest of the way as normal.

Ddog!!

Hey DDog,

You should post the screen/paint recipe on your theater site. Following this thread for directions is getting confusing! The discussion is fabulous of course, but once I finally go for it, I'm hoping to not mess up any of the steps due to the 7 pages in this thread!

Eric.

Ddog,

I'm confused. To eliminate hotspotting I should:

a: mix two knife-fulls of flat white to the silver/glaze/white/red mixture I have created and apply this as my LAST COAT.

or

b: make a mixture of ONLY glaze and two knife fulls of flat white as my LAST COAT.

Help!! The hotspotting is pretty aparent on mine -- that the ONLY flaw.

Thanks a million!!

Well, I am so impatient, I'm going to try and do a mixture of Glaze and a small amount of flat white and giving the screen one last coat of this and giving it an hour to dry... Wish me luck!

Check out ddog's post from 07-02-03 07:05 PM.

Short answer, just glaze w/ a touch of white.

No,

C: a mixture of ONLY Glaze and two knife fulls of Flat Clear Base and apply as your LAST COAT. This will kill the Hot Spotting!

[FYI] Flat Clear Base is what they start out with when mixing paint.

Ddog!!

New short answer: Never listen to Sillyboy, always wait for a response from ddog. :)

Sillyboy,

You can do it like that but it will lighten the screen. (but it will work)

Ddog!!

Is the flat, clear base a Behr product? I went to home depot and said I needed a flat base and they gave me the white...

Should I start over from scratch? Or can I just reapply a coat of the silver/glaze/white/red and go from there?

Also, Ddog, even with the coat of glaze/flat white, I still have hotspotting. Is this normal?

I'm absolutely fascinated with this thread. You guys are ABSOLUTELY amazing.

As I live on the back end of the universe we constantly get ripped off for product purchases and this sounds like a very viable alternative.

In your professional opinions :D would using flat galvanised iron work as a backing board? I ask as it is a product I utilise in my trade.

As for the paint brands and grades, I will just have to experiment with local types.

Why not? Start with a matte white basecoat*, and experiment. You might want to keep the other side matte white, for comparison purposes and so that you'll have a screen if an experiment fails.

*: Being a professional, you should know what paint sticks well to galvanised iron...

Joe,
The flat base does have a white look to it. (yes it is a Behr product)
To get rid of the sand scratches you need to start over.
If you still have Hot Spotting then increase the flat base.(try 40%base-60%glaze)


Ddog!!

Hey Ddog,
From Home Depot I got "Flat Enamel Accent Base No. 1556" is this the right one??

Rew

Ddog,

Does your technique help with mitigating screendoor. On some manufactured screens, I've noticed the effect of light slightly passing thru the material, which seems to lessen the screendoor effect (both on LCD and DLP). Does your coating have the same effect?

Thanks,
Ram

Just got back from my Home Depot and they have no idea what a flat, clear base is. I'm convinced that everyone at my home depot has been replaced with less productive, less intelligent duplicates.

I went to Menards where a nice old guy (who when I said I was making a Home Theater screen started to do a tap-dance right there in the middle of the store, and said "How's that for entertainment?") Just had to tell everyone that. Anyway, he pointed me in the direction of a clear-base flat latex paint, while not Behr, I assume it will still do the same thing?

I've painted three strips on my screen to see the effect: strip one is 100% flat base, strip two is 50% flat, 50% glaze and strip three is 80% flat and 20% glaze.

I painted these strips at the area's where I was having the most hotspotting in the prime seating position.

I'll keep everone posted on the outcome...

thanks ddog

Ddog,

Well, I'm not happy with my results.

In a direct comparison between the original screen (with the HotSpots) and the 3 samples I made on top of the screen with the glaze/flat clear base mixture, I noticed that although HotSpots were eliminated (mostly using the 100% clear flat base strip and the 1/2 and 1/2 mixture strip)

I now notice that my whites have a yellow tint to them.

Is this because the material has not completely dried?

This definitely makes the picture lose its punch -- should I just apply my Screen Goo? I just put a primer on the screen (AGAIN!!) and I'm going to do the same thing over again and on my final coat, try 40% clear base coat and 60% glaze (like you suggested). Hopefully that will take care of this

Rew425,
I'm not sure of the part# for Behr but, I got mine at WalMart for half the $$ and the Part# is 5053 Accent Base.
I hope this helps!

Avidgolfer,
Yes this screen really knocks out screen door and rejects ambient light like nobodies business.

Hey Guys I finally updated my Web site so be sure to check it out!!!!

Ddog!!

Joe ,
Yes the paint has to dry completely.

I would try to keep it under 40% and if you want you could put a little white in it.

Ddog!!

I have tried to locate Behr's Premium Paint Plus with metallic silver #743 on their site with no luck using either the name or the part number. Have they changed their formula/name very recently?

I was hoping for a visual comparison for possible paint types in my country.

The closest I could find, comparing the various silvers with the screen on DDog's site was Silverware #3B45-2, Silver Sky W-F-510 or, indeed, three or four other possibilites considering the mixing blend.

Will try a Google search as well.

After reading all of this, I am very excited. My wife is as well. She is just overjoyed with the fact we will be saving so much money going down this road.

My question is this, what kind of projectors are you all using? I am about to buy a Sony HS10 (when I can find one), and I am wondering if I am going to see a significant difference by painting my blackout cloth.

Darkhound,
I'm using a Panasonic 701xu it has 1200 lumens, 500:1 contrast and is an XGA 4x3 PJ(my next step is to finish my DIY Anamorphic lens)...(their almost done)

So you see the HS10 is an improvement over mine and you should see a big difference in the color fidelity, depth of the image, light rejection and most of all the black level and shadow detail.

Ddog!!

Well, I've tried and tried, and while I love the picture that this formula produces, I can't get rid of the hotspots which ruin the picture during dark scenes and ESPECIALLY very bright scenes.

Ddog, I've tried everything --- I did a 30/70 mix of the flat base and glaze, and a 40/60 and they all hotspotted. The only thing that worked was a 50/50 mix but that reduced my picture brightness too much.

Am I doing something wrong? I've primed my screen one last time and I'm ready to try one more time -- Ddog, can you review my steps to make sure I've done everything correctly? I am spraying this onto the screen.

Part one: Prime screen

Part two: 3 coats of ultra white semi gloss with two knifefulls of glaze

Part three: 50% silver, 40% glaze and 10% white mixed with a drop of red and sprayed on. 3 coats.

Part four: combo of 40% flat clear base and 60% glaze.

Let dry, turn on projector: Hotspots.

I opened up my screen goo to take a look at it, and surprise -- it looks exactly like your formula -- I'm hoping this will look as good as yours, but I'm doubtful.

Joe - maybe instead of using the semi-gloss , you could use an ultra white satin based finish instead of the semi-gloss ?

I think it's the glaze that gives me the hotspots (well, the combo of silver and glaze) If I put a 50/50 mix on top of that I get no hotspots, but anything less I get hot spots. Anything more, I lose the punch in the picture.

1gKar - here is the link to the metallic #743 silver:
http://www.behr.com/behrx/act/view/p...ishes&catId=18

DDOG,

Thanks! I really appreciate the time and effort you have put in for all of us!

When you applied the paint, have you used the HPLV gun, or did you use a roller?

Not sure if I can convince the wife to buy that paint gun for a single purpose. Will a regular paint gun work? (ie The ones advertised on TV.)

Thanks!

Darkhound

Well Joe, it sounds like we have problem?

I'm sure you are but I've got to ask, are you letting it dry completely between coats?...and are you reducing it with water at all?

If you're doing the two things above then I think you need to buy a FireHawk,.........NO! NO! I'm just kidding! He! He!

I think we need to cut back the Metallic and the Glaze.
So on the "Part three" try this 30% Metallic, 30% Glaze,20% White,20% Flat Base,and a drop of Red . Reduce with water and spray 3 coats and be sure to let dry between coats.

Don't do the Fourth coat,... wait and see what we've got first.

Ddog!!