Fabric Frames - Page 27

Do you have a build thread Andreas?

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Chase "Fetch"

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1257652/build-log-diy-rotary-sub-for-contemporary-ht-in-100-year-old-house

Thanks Brad. I don't think I have many/any pics of the frame construction, but let me know if you want me to post any.

Don't distract us with pictures of frame construction. We want more pizza pics!!!

I would like to see some if you have any, if not no worries.

Spaceman: I haven't made pizza in a while, but maybe I should?

cdika17: I posted some pics here: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1257652/build-log-diy-rotary-sub-for-contemporary-ht-in-100-year-old-house/1170#post_22436511

Let me know if you have any questions.

Andreas

How much would you say that you spend on the fabric frame for the HT?

Not including any of the acoustic treatments that go behind them, the material cost me about $1,400 to panel the entire room (plywood for furring strips and panels, speaker grill pegs, fabric and lots of staples). I spent another $150 on two staplers - a crown stapler to build the frames and an upholstery stapler to attach the fabric.

You could knock at least $250 off that total if you don't need them to be removable. That would eliminate the cost of furring strips and speaker grill pegs.
Edited by Spaceman - 12/6/12 at 9:33am

Theater looks great Gpowers. I’m hoping I can borrow from your and other in this threads experience.

I have a while before I’m ready for my fabric panels but I like to think ahead and do my research beforehand. Thanks for the link to the fabricmate plastic track. I shouldn’t have too many panels and I think that will be a good way to go for me. I also need at least two panels to be removable so that seems like a lightweight solution that could be hung with Velcro.

In looking for OC703 and other products (seem like fiberglass is the cheapest compared to cotton) most seem to come in 2’x4’ panels of varying thickness. So when planning out panels should I try to work around those sizes or just build the frames and cut the fiberglass into whatever shapes I need?

The wall spans are very odd like 9’, 4.5’, 1’, standard 2.5’ door and then 3.5’

I wouldn't let the size of the acoustic panels dictate the size of the fabric panels. Come up with a panel design that you like and cut your acoustic material to fit. I stuffed mine with Linacoustic and it was very easy to cut the size I needed from the big roll.

Went to hd to buy a new table saw and rip those 1.5 inch strips b/c mine is toast. Felt bad for even asking but cringed and asked the kid if he'd mind cutting these into 1.5 inch strips and surprisingly he said "gladly". Whew. Just saved myself a lot of sawdust and time and put off the purchase of a table saw for yet another day . Still felt like crap watching him cut it up so tip was definitely appropriate. So do most of you do furrings and attach panels to the furrings? I know I saw Brad and GPowers pics in here before but for some reason just scrolled through every page and must have skipped them. Will go for round two of the search...
Edited by ArthurVandelay - 1/14/13 at 12:44pm

WOW! And he did it? The last time I asked for something like that I was told that " we can't cut anything less than 2 inches." So I had to have them cut it to 2x8, carry it home and set up my table saw. What a pain that is. I would have paid the extra cut fee to avoid it.

It depends on whether you need to hide the staples behind the panel or not and whether or not they need to be removable. In the theater area of my room I didn't plan on removing any of the panels so I attached the furring directly to the wall. The staples on top of the furring are hidden by molding; on the bottom face by baseboard. On the exposed end, I made a smal panel and wrapped the fabric around and stapled on the back, THEN attached to the wall.

I JUST did my final wall and the edges are exposed on both sides, so I had to hide the staples AND one of the panels needs to be removable for access to my whole-house humidifier. So I made a big bottom panel and used french cleats and the top two friction fit once the bottom is in place.

Thanks for the quick responses! Yeah, I was surprised he was game simply for the number of cuts he'd have to do. It's hit or miss at the one by me, couple of the guys are not too friendly and will do anything not to work while others will do whatever you need if they're not busy. Between that and the OC sales rep pointing me to a local place I can purchase the 703 (picked that up today) instead of paying more for it plus shipping, I'm a happy camper.

I attached 1/2" thick plywood furring strips to the walls with drywall screws and a bead of liquid nails; then the 1" panels (two layers of 1/2" plywood glued and brad nailed together) are attached to the furring strips using ball/socket speaker grill connectors (6 per panel for the big ones) - except top and bottom panels are permanently attached using long brad nails.

I definitely don't have the tools or time to create so many fabric panels like you guys have. Most of mine are 4x8 frames of 1x2s, using velcro to attach.

I thought I had the largest fabric frames made with 1X2s attached to the wall with Velcro. Nice job on those big frames.

-T.Wells

Back to work for me finally, got too busy in the real world.

Planning on doing my panels this weekend and I was kind of sizing more for the 703 vs the fabric. Possible mistake avoided. I like the smaller panels but then will have to trim off quite a bit of 703 which seems like a waste. If I did 2x2 squares and framed around those then use all the 703 but then waste fabric. Ok time to take pencil to paper and crank out that magic size. Anyone already figure this out, a good panel size that wastes as little 703 and fabric? Some will get used for top and bottom of course, but in general? 2x4 sheet all in one probably looks good too, less panels to cut:D

Mine are 26" high, which ends up wasting fairly little fabric and insulation. Since the frames are 26" on the outside, with 1.5" width frame borders, that leaves 23" inside the frame, so just shave an inch off 24" insulation board; 26" + 2x1" depth, plus 2x2" extra to wrap and fudge factor = 32", so two panel heights fit into a 65" wide fabric with an extra inch to spare.

Awesome Thread! Does anyone know if there is a source to buy Pre-Beveled strips for Making frames? I dont have to tools to bevel these myself.

Thx
Flan

No but some store have tools u can rent , router and bit wont be that much and its quite easy to do , check a pawnshop for a used router as well , i bought some bit other day saw a decent one for around 10-20$

For $99 you can have this set up from harbor freight. Make your frames first using butt joints then put on the edge. Make sure you don't hit a screw/nail with the spinning blade. If put the edge on the boards first you will have to use mitered joints.

I went with a different plan on frames. I wasn’t looking for a number of frames to make a design I just wanted the acoustic properties, the ability to cover windows but make them accessible and to add some color/texture to the room. So I just ripped down left over poplar and bought some pine boards and made frames to fit around the room. One of the frames is almost 4’ high by 9’ 2” long and was easier to make than I thought it would be. If I didn’t need to have access to the back wall window I would have done one 11’ frame there instead of 3 frames.



The marks you see on the left are just from my hand. The fabric is suede-like so depending on which way the fibers are facing you will get different colors/patterns.

There is no rule that says all panels have to be the same thickness. From Landshark1's project

+1...those panels look great
Edited by tbraden32 - 4/23/13 at 5:03am

thanks guys. yes, I really like it being "different" than most others and give me some extra "uniqueness"

The idea of these fabric frames are to absorb light and sound rather than another surface that might reflect them ?? Creating better PQ and sound quality ? Picture better because of dark color absorbing light. Sound better because of less sound reflection ?

AMIRIGHT?

The primary reason is to provide a way to integrate acoustic treatments into the room in a seamless way (for sound quality)- as opposed to surface mounted absorption / diffusion panels. A secondary reason, related to the first, is just the aesthetic appeal to those of us who choose to use them. As far as picture quality, I guess fabrics will generally be less reflective than even flat paint, but not a major factor assuming they're both dark.