Fabric Frames - Page 24

Walking down the basement stairs, this is what you see first:



Standing in the arcade looking toward the lobby entrance door:



Walking through the above door leads to the lobby:



You can see the door you just walked through on the right. The flash really highlights the fabric stretch marks. You can't see these in normal light.

Closeup shot of the door:




Once again, the door leaving the lobby is in the corner (to the left of the trash can)

Lara Croft tries (succesfully I might add) to entice you into the theater:


The GrafikEye and HVAC rheostats are to the left of this communicating door.

This is my equipment closet (in the corner of the lobby to the left of the GrafikEye) with the doors closed:



Doors opened:



My passively cooled Emotiva amp is very sensitive to heat whereas the Carvin 900 wpc pro amp for the IB sub had no problem with heat since it has a high speed thermally controlled fan. I have solved the Emotiva amp thermal issues by adding a cheap 8" inline fan to my HVAC return ducting which already has a much nicer Fantech 8" inline fan that runs the deadvent. The lobby is "downstream" from the theater and I had a 4" passive return vent in the closet but it needed a little boost to move enough air since I didn't want to reduce the return capability in the theater.

If you look closely you can also see that I added (3) 80mm computer fans on top of the Emotiva amp pulling air across the unit. The 8" inline fan and these 3 fans weren't enough to solve the problem with the doors closed. I added (2) 120mm computer fans that literally sit face down on the amp pulling air out of the amp housing and this did the job. I doubt I need the (3) 80mm fans but they are quiet, so I just left them there.

If you look at the picture with the doors closed you can see a vent at the bottom that allows cool air to be pulled into the closet.

Once you walk past Lara Croft through the communicating doors you enter the theater. If you walk down the aisle to the screen and turn around, this is what you will see:



This is the right hand side of the theater, while looking at the screen, and you can see the door next to the bass trap in the corner. The doors have panels on them but I had to end them short so they wouldn't hit the bass trap when the door is opened. All 3 doors close automatically btw.

Other aisle looking toward back of the theater:



Note the jack pack at the bottom of the column.

Standing in the left hand aisle looking across the riser to the right hand wall:



Opposite wall:



Rear bass trap is visible in the corner.

Crappy picture of the pj box:



Once again, the flash lights up the fabric frame crossmembers and even the scrim behind the back wall panels. These can't be seen in normal lighting and if you turn on the pj, you can't look back without seeing a beam of light!

I should paint the inside of the pj box, but once again, if the pj is on, you can't see in here, even if you try. Since the pj is off, you can see a portion of the Panamorph UH480 sitting on it's sled (left side of opening) and on the right you can see the sled housing. When I select stretch mode on the JVC RS20, the sled automatically slides into the light path. Very neat IMO.

Self explanatory shot:













I added fidelio velvet on the curved soffit in front of the screen and black GOM on the wall panels immediately to the left and right of the screen. I'm glad I did this as I am very pleased with the contrast of the pj.

Arcade shots:



The white door in the distance leads to the lobby.

Driving cabinet:



The large box behind the driving cabinet is a 27" RGB CRT monitor that will be installed in a standup arcade (my next project!) that will go on this wall:



The standup arcade cabinet will be centered on this wall and once complete, I have some Asteroids stickers to compliment the Space Invaders that you now see.

MAME Cocktail cabinet that plays vertical games only:



I added Austin Powers so my wife wouldn't get too mad when she sees Lara Croft in the lobby, although she does turn her around quite often. Behind Austin is the supply deadvent. The return deadvent is in the mechanical room.



Door on the left leads to the laundry room, excercise room and mechanical room. I need to get an "Employees Only" sign for this door. The door on the right is the bathroom and needs a restroom type sign. I just leave it open now when guests come. There's a flat panel monitor in the bathroom btw, in addition to the monitor in the lobby and one on the back wall of the theater. So far, guests get a kick out of going to get popcorn, candy or sitting on the crapper and still being able to watch and hear the movie.

It's official:




That was probably too many photos?...I just finished my theater, so I'm a little excited, please accept my apologies.

can you make me those fabric panels and mail them to me

Thanks man it has been a long time coming! Learned a lot a long the too!

How about using concealed cup hinges?



(they're available a lot cheaper elsewhere, but Rockler had a nice picture)

Brad beat me to it. They look just like the picture he posted and are the type of hinges found on kitchen cabinets. You can pick them up at any big box home improvement store. I like them and like you noticed, they can't be seen at all when the doors are closed.

I really wanted my doors to open to the right into the corner but with the thickness of the doors (full thickness fabric panels) I figured I would be better off opening to the left. I would definitely have less space to roll the rack in and out.

Having said that, I don't think the hinges require much clearance past the outside edge of the panel (door), but I wouldn't feel comfortable with less than 1/2" clearance but that's just me. The hinges do have a little room for adjustment but not much. Mine open a little past 90 degrees (105 degrees?) which does help. I hope that helps.

Thanks to Greg for pioneering the original design on building a fabric frame theater, I designed the Flying Pig Cinema.



























In many of the pictures, the camera flash causes the wood frame to be seen through the fabric. But obviously, you don't see it with normal lights on.

On my construction thread you can see how I made the frames for my unique situation in the basement.

I love the way it turned out.

Thanks to Greg and all the other builds I drew ideas and inspiration from to make my theater a reality.

Pete

hmmm..lot to read for me...any guide how easy to read this..

Love the Beatles wall. Frames look great but not a fan of the wood on the bottom of the room.

Greg,
In trying to understand how the corners of your frames are joined, and looking at post 188, I see you have overlapped the 2 layers. Is that what you mean by "lap joint" or did you actually cut a half-lap joint in each board? If not, how did you attach the corners to make each frame layer? I know you have already addressed this, but I'm still a little confused. (btw, your room continues to be a great inspiration & I am getting close to diving in.)

They are regular lap joints, not half lap - 1/2" layer laying on top of another 1/2" layer in the corners.

Here's a picture of a corner on one of my panels, which are created the same way, except plywood+plywood instead of plywood+mdf:

Thanks Brad - I could see it even better in the pic before this one in your thread. Did you use stacked dado or just a saw blade? Great work on your project!

he used neither. just rip your 1/2" material to about 1 1/2" wide. then make a 90 degree angle with 2 of them. your depth is still 1/2". now place 2 more boards on top, your depth is now 1", it is called a lap joint because the joint are overlapped, they do not line up.
Imagine a brick wall pattern. The mortar is never in a vertical line from 1 row to another. That is what you are doing here.

Well - talk about overthinking! Thanks Greg and Chia. I get it now. It just never occurred to me to attach in that manner, since I've never layered material like that. I was all set to biscuit join. But it is now clear to me that I can save myself a ton of work with no loss of precision and integrity.

I just went thru many pages of this thread and by looking at all the HT's the quality/craftmanship of many-many DIY people is very clear by the results here.

This is the web at its finest, people sharing and learning from each other.
If I had seen this thread 3 1/2 years ago I might have tackled a fabric frame theatre build....anyways just saying great job to the people who've tackled this HT style as DIY.

I also have some pics of the joints in my thread (a few pages back from the emd) if interested. Did mine the same way but laminated as well

Cheers

And this way does not need allot of tools. Table saw to rip your pieces, glue the frames up. I used a pin nailer to hold it together until the glue dries. About 4 in the corners and 1 every 6-8 inches along the strips.

I understand your concern, but the design has not had any acoustic problems. Because it is also a game room, I wanted a more durable bottom section for those accidental kicks. Every corner of the room has a bass trap. The bead board is not just nailed to the wall, it has insulation behind and special traps in the rear of the wall. Bpape did the acoustic evaluation on the theater, and all construction is per his recommendations.


Side walls.


Rear walls with 4" 703.




Corner bass traps.

No idea on the HVLP guns - but I did make some progress on my fabric frames - not quite done, but close enough to show:

Just another thumbs up and atta boy to Greg for his inspiration and his creativity. My theater never ceases to get compliments and I could not have done it without his work... not the least of which was Greg taking the time to document his theater so extensively.