Metallic Silver/ MississippiMud screen intructions - Page 6

He's back!

Indeed, and does he love to say it 1001 times

My problem is that the wall is not flat so it is very difficult to get good focus at the corners with the uneven studs. It is easier for me to construct a new wall and paint it.
I also have a DaLite rollup (that's UP not down) screen and have problems with waves.

My question: has anyone done an A/B comparison of the complex paint schemes to just a brilliant white wall (or screen in my case). Any real measurements on gain or just audiophile type gobbledegook that "you can't see it so your eyes just aren't good enough!"

thehobe-
Prepare yourself. MMan will be back from his trips soon and there will be lots of pic posting in various conditions, etc. Then you can judge.

I believe CMRA has previously posted a few shots of the SD/MM screen versus a plain white screen, but I don't know if those were taken at the same time, with the same settings, etc. Maybe he has a matte white screen lying about that he can use to project half and half for a direct comparo? If I still had mine I would, but it's been gone for awhile now.

CMRA- what do you say?

The formula calls for this:

1 quart of Behr Ultra Pure White Flat "Ceiling" $8.99

But there are 2 types:

BEHR PREMIUM PLUS® Interior Ceiling Paint No. 558 (red label)

http://www.behr.com/behrx/act/view/p...=1050&catId=19

and

PREMIUM PLUS® Interior Flat Ultra Pure White No. 1050 (blue? lable)

http://www.behr.com/behrx/act/view/p...m=558&catId=19

Can someone tell me which one is THE one?

Thanks

oops, got the link swapped

kin_ng5-
It really doesn't matter. White is white as long as it looks white.

Mine was converted to a 'silver' solution awhile back. Both it and my ME screen get floor space...behind the sofa. Both held their own very well until SD/MM.
White, gray and silver have had their day. The real focus should be taking 'light fusion' to the next level. That's what I say.

I spent last week working on my screen and I must say that I am very happy with my results!!! I have a Sanyo Z2. Here are some observations/comments for those that are hesitant about a DIY screen.

• My room is small, so I only need a 82" screen. I am working on finishing my basement, but have to wait for the drywall guy (I could do it, but don't want to and it will probably turn out better if I don't) so I had a 1/8" piece of hardboard cut down to 72"x40.5".
• I did all my painting on the floor. I didn't have a wall to put the board on and the room was pretty dust free. I can't say I found any undesireable particles that landed on my screen.
• I used Kilz primer tinted grey first on the board. Two coats to cover the brown board then wet sanded.
• Silver metallic over that with a foam roller. I thought this was a good idea, but it may have been a mistake. The paint was very smooth, but it was easy to see the lines between different loads of paint. In the end I did 4 coats, wet sanding between each coat. The sanding made the lines barely visible - I had to get right up on it to notice them. Maybe I was expecting too smooth a finish.
• I used a 3/8" nap roller with MM (original recipe). Wow, that stuff is thick. I now know why its called "mud". The 3/8" nap roller was not very consistent going on. Probably my fault. I sanded and followed up with a 1/4" nap roller. That seemed to go on much smoother. I followed up with sanding and a final coat. In the end, the screen looks pretty much light grey - almost white. When you get up close you can sort of see the SM, but if you didn't know what was the process, you probably wouldn't guess.
• I was a little concerned because the MM was not a smooth and even as I was expecting. I have painted a lot of walls and they always came out very even without lines. Maybe its because I painted on the floor, but I'm thinking it was the nature of the paint.
• When I actually projected onto the screen, I could see no lines or blemishes. When I was projecting on my white wall earlier, I could see all the imperfections so I'm pretty confident imperfections I was seeing up close in broad daylight were not really something I should worry about. Perhaps it could be better, but it is certainly better than projecting on a wall.

For $50 I have a pretty nice looking screen. I have a friend with a 55" Mitsubishi rear projection TV that was amazed by the quality and started thinking about how he could convince his wife to let him get a new TV.

I believe a lot of this may have to do with what you are comparing to. My screen turned out great compared to my wall. Perhaps MississippiMan's or Scoob's screen would make mine look awefull. Perhaps a Stewart GreyHawk would make mine look aweful. But since I haven't ever seen those, I'm more than happy. You owe it to yourself to save a few bucks and spend a few nights trying this out. For less than it costs for some box-set DVD's you can make a screen that you can be happy with. And if you decide to get something better later (of course "better" is subjective), you really aren't out too much.

Thanks for the help guys. I just saved $1000 and bought myself a subwoofer.

blue-
Glad to see someone else has had some success with this stuff. I hope others benefit from your (and others') experience.

Under normal conditions, how long does it take to put together a SM/MM screen?

Do you have to wait 24 hours between coats?

Without the heater, it took me less than one week. Because I wetsanded a lot, I thought it would be better to wait 24 hours between coats. Although, when I wasn't wetsanding, I waited around 4 hours.

Something to remember... it takes longer to clean up than it does to paint! At least with a smaller screen like mine.

Does anyone have a suggested method or set of instructions for hanging and applying a border to a 3/8" MDF 100" 16/9 screen. As well, is it better to hang it first and then paint? or paint it laying flat and then hang? I found some suggestions that talk about building a frame but I was thinking it may be better to screw the screen straight to the wall. Do you think it would bow or warp if I went without the frame?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Bruce-
the MDF probably won't sag significantly unless you live in a particularly humid climate. Lord knows it's already heavy enough without the frame, eh? Screw that sucker to the wall and paint it. While easier to paint laying down flat (maybe), it'll be sure to attract dust bunnies, etc. Up on the wall, you paint just like a wall and much less dust will settle onto the surface.

Be sure to prime the heck out of that mdf with some gary tinted primer. It will absorb some paint and better the primer than the expensive Silver Metallic.

Thank you very much, I am going to do just that. Another quick question if you don't mind: I was going to pick up some 2" trim molding and paint it black and tack it right on to the screen for my border. Is a 2" border enough? Also is painting the molding sufficiant or is it necessary to cover it with a black material?

bruce
Mississippi has given you detailed instructions which are good, but pretty permanent screen solutions , you were asking if you could screw it to a wall ? yes only it would be preferably to screw them around the perimeter where it will be covered by your border then if for any reason at all you would just simply peel off the border unscrew the screen and you then only have a couple of small holes to fix , also if you screen is going into a finished room you could hang it somewhere else while painting either in a shop or unfinished room then transport it back , thanks Mississippi for the info on the border tape excellent solution . Good point on the painting technique i think most people don't realize that the starting and finishing strokes are where there is the biggest chance of getting imperfections on your finish whether you roll or spray if you start your spray stroke on your screen you will have some problems start and finish off the screen . i'm not sure if you already covered this somewhere else but thought it couldn,t hurt to mention it
bruce ps 1/2" a betterchoice than 3/8"

Thank you both for the further suggestions. Unfortunately I already have the 3/8" MDF. I was hoping to screw it in so it could be moved in the near future. I think the wall is pretty flat but I will make sure it is prior to hanging. I get my Z2 on Tuesday so I'm not big on ordering the border tape at this time however I will for a Super Deluxe I intend to try in the summer.

Any suggestions for the border where I could utilize Home depot products to make it? I like the idea of attaching it over top of where I screwed the MDF into the wall.

Thanks again.

Sure, a 2" borader will make the screen look professional and finished. Black paint is okay as long as it's FLAT. You can also get some black velveteen material from JoAnn or WalMart to wrap the moldings.

Thanks Scoob

Hi
I used the HVLP sprayer from Harbor freight today (I'm amazed at the quality of the unit for forty bucks, very good and have some high end tools). Any how when spraying the silver metallic I notice rather large drops that created craters upon impact. I thinned the max amount (2oz per quart according to the behr instructions) but I think it was still to thick to atomize properly. Has anyone seen this and has anyone added more than 2oz per quart for spraying?

Chuck

Chuck, try adding Floetrol to the mix. It should thin it appropriately.

Thanks, I'll get the flotrol tommorow but the 2.2 nozzel is't available at the Harbor freight B&M so I may have to order it.

Hi MM CMRA and all,
Time to share my experience with my SD/MM. I have finally taken the plunge and gotten my screen fixed. Because I am based in Singapore, I took an opportunity to grab the UPW, Deep Base and "White Opal" Perlescence whilst I was on a biz trip in Chicago during Feb 2004. When I returned, I was dismayed that I forgot the SM! Drat. Fortunately, I had a colleague who made a trip shortly after me and was kind enough to get a quart for me. I have left the materials lying in my store room for a while.

One month later:
I got myself an acrylic sheet measuring 160x90 cm, approximately 72 inches in diagonal. A month back, I finally took out my Wagner 1800, plugged it into a step down transformer (since Singapore was using 230V), and fired it away. NOTHING came out, all the gun made was a loud noise. Shoot, all the anticipation coming to naught.

The end of story? Not quite. Recently, I moved to a new apartment, I noticed that there's a carpenter with a spray gun and compressor. I decided to approach him for help. After agreeing to pay him for his inconvenience, I set myself up yesterday to get my acrylic sheet.

The carpenter emptied a quarter of SM into his gun and fired a test shot. Too thick he said, without asking, he diluted it with his drinking water. Yikes! Now I got his spit in my SM. He sprayed 2 coats with approximately 15-20 minutes in between. We broke for lunch after that.

Two hours later:
I came back with the SD mix. Heh heh, using a MacDonald's cup as a measuring tool, I filled an empty can with three scoops of these. When I was done mixing it, I handed it to the carpenter. Again, he complained that it was too thick for his gun. Poured quite a fair bit of water (and his spit) into my mixture and started to spray.

The strange thing was by the time he was done with one end, the other had dried up. So, he continued to spray. I was not sure if I should stop him, but I noticed that it dried pretty fast. After applying ~5 coats, it looked pretty decent, and I took it up to my place.

Doing the 'politically' right thing, I accompanied my wife for some shopping. I was excited to fix up my screen. She could sense it. When we finally returned a couple of hours later, I got my old screen down (by the way, it was a plywood with a layer of white laminate) with her help. Re-assembing it wasn't too difficult, but when I hoisting the frame back on to the screen hook, I noticed that the picture frame wire came undone and it was offseted by ~10 cm.

Never mind, I told myself, I will just take it down and adjust it. As I was taking it down, I slipped on one of the ladder rungs and fell backwards! The board crashed against the ladder, leaving a black gash across! ARRRRRRRGGGH.

My beautiful and untested board was damaged even before using it. You would never believe how upset I was. I felt like breaking down. Pacing down in my small dining area for a good 5 minutes, I decided to examine the damage. Hey! It wasn't that bad, the gash kinda rubbed off when I ran my fingers through it. That's hope! I took a wet tissue and started polishing it slowing. Other than a thin streak, it was barely noticable. I quickly got my wife to adjust and set it up.

Eagerly, I powered up my projector and sat down drenched in my sweat. My wife hinted and I should take a bath before viewing, she hates sweaty sofa.

5 minutes later:
Clean and dry, I took the LOTR II and loaded it into my 963SA DVD player. WOW! It left me speechless...The contrast and brightness improvement was immediate. In fact, I could see a bit of defect in the SM (the carpenter used his hand to test the dryness ) I was amazing in the sharpness as well. Also, not a faint of hot spotting that my previous screen had. It was sharp I tell you.

You know what? I am proud to say that this is a happy X1 owner. Contrary to other stories, the colors are vivid and I have not even calibrated the projector with DVD Essentials yet. It was a valid comparison then since my project settings were un-altered.

24 hours later:
Tonight, I watched Underworld and Driven, the dark scenes were not washed out even with ambient lighting; I could never have done this previously. For the Driven DVD, the PQ looked like when we were at the dealer's store, my wife commented; he was using a Steward StudioTek 130.

My equipment used:
Infocus X1, Philips 963SA DVD player and Lexicon DC1.

I know everyone will want me to post screen shots out. Unfortunately, I have a back wall and prevents me from taking the full screen. I will try it this weekend though.

The verdict? Its worth every effort! Thanks MM and CMRA for taking the time and effort to share your findings with all here. Keep up the good work and the spirit of DIY.

Cheers,
Ed