Reducing Waves in Electric Screens (Maybe Pull-ups too)  

That makes sense. What you are trying to do is add "tension". The only problem that I see is that you are only applying vertical tension and not horizontal. "Waves" are a fact of life with non-tensioned screens. Even "tensioned" screens can exhibit some waves over time unless you go to a higher end approach, such as "tab tension" which applies both vertical and horizontal tension. I had a Da-Lite tensioned pull-down screen, but it only applied vertical tension. I started noticing "waves" within 6 months. So I replaced it with the Stewart motorized tab-tensioned screen and have not seen a hint of a wrinkle or wave in well over a year. Yes, it is expensive, but it is a long term investment.

I have a very low cost solution that has worked for over a year on my manual pull down. I just leave it down about 2 nights per month. After we watch a movie I just leave it there until morning. So far no waves, ripples or anything. I have heard of other people using this method and they all reported good results. 1 year and counting....

Thanks for your input. I have a thread asking how long before noticing waves on tensioned pull-downs. My follow-up question would be, what material screen were you using which exhibited waves after 6-months? By any chance, was it Video Spectra?

Thanks again.

I would agree with the statement above.

This is what I did. After I have scrolled down my screen, I placed a small hook on the wall right below where the pull handle is located. Then I further pull down the screen a little bit (you can feel the tension there) and hook the handle to the hook on the wall.

This way my screen is always tensioned, rather than just "hanging".

Well, I not sure about getting rid of waves but if you want to add more just heat the room with a kerosene heater and watch your screen wrinkle before your eyes. LOL

It was a Da-Lite matte white material 1.0 gain.

Edward,

Good point, I might add a couple of hooks to each side of the pull down bar to even the tensioning.

I was thinking about using the kind of spring clips you use to hold tools or vacuum cleaner pipes. Mount it so I can catch the sides of the bottom pole and snap the screen into place. Anyone tried this?

Especially my screen which seems to respond to every IR remote in the house!!!

Sorry to revive a dead thread but I stumbled onto something that worked for me. Granted, it's a ROYAL pain in the but for an electric, but I have fewer waves now.

I used the bottom stop contro to extend the screen to the point where you can see the attachment point to the main roller. Then I re-rolled the screen several times. When I finaly got the screen back to the right point I had way less waves. There's still a few but it's much better.

I say I stumbled onto this because I was having a hard time figuring out which way the control moved the screen. DOH!!!

I am starting to get alot of "wrinkles" down the middle of the screen. I have a Elite automatic screen its around 100 inches. If i leave it down for a couple of days will it help?

I have a Da-lite screen and I've had it for about 6 months now. I did not take the screen off of the roller. I did cycle the screen up and down about 10 or so times.

I'm not sure why it worked either but there are less waves!

Hi
I have the same problem with some waves in my electric screen and I am very tempted to try replacing the bottom bar with a heavier one to try and minimize the waves but do you think that the electric motor would be okay with the extra weight ?.

Thanks

I made a diy retractable screen, and am also suffering from waves, to a degree.

When I originally made my screen, I used black athletic tape to create the frame, but I noticed the bottom of my screen curled up a bit in the corners because of the tension from the tape. So I added a plastic stiffening rod (from Levolor blinds) that I taped to the back of the screen towards the bottom. That eliminated the curl.

I figure I have a couple of options:

Add rebar to the bottom, but I'm afraid that won't completely eliminate the waves; and/or

Add stiffening spacers at various intervals horizontally across the back fo the screen. This may cause problems with the screen rolling, but it may just be enough to even out the image.

I'll try them and let everyone know the results.

Hello

I have a maunual pull down Elilte 100" screen. I really like it but want to tension it so I wont get waves. I don't care if I can't retract. What is rebar? I like the hooks idea where you pull the screen so it doesn't lock and place a hook to hold it, but what about horizontially tensioning?. What is tab-tensioned? Is it possible to buy a board and glue the screen onto the board?

I went to the local hardware store (Menards here in Chicago) and bought a couple of 8 foot plastic corner protectors (with adhesive), took out a pair of scissors and cut them leaving 4 eight foot long plastic strips, each with an adhesvie strip (about 1/2 inch wide). I then took down my screen unrolled, and adhered these strips (trimming down from 8 feet to fit my screen) to the back of my DIY roll-up screen. They adhered pretty nicely and seriously reduced the waves in my screen. And no problem rolling up either, since the strips are so thin.

Steve what exactly are plastic corner protectors? Who makes them? Got a link?

Although I bought mine at Menards, they do not have a very good website for searching products. So I went to Home Depot's website and found this product, which is similar to what I got--but I bought the 8 foot type:

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS...gmn.0&MID=9876

If this link doesn't work--type in Corner Guard in the search field, and see the "Tuf Pro" corner guards. These are similar to what I got.

THanks Steve! THis is exactly was I was thinking about using. I was going to use dry wall mesh tape but that is too sticky. I don't have problems with my screen during movies but if I look with the lights on I see some "V"s. Just getting ready for that day when I start seeing tht Vs


edit : Wow this is an old thread!!

I was wondering if anyone had tried adding weight to the bottom fo a Greywolf...ours seems to have some wrinkles but they're hardly noticable when the projector is on...however, I would like to make it more flat...thanks for any advice

I have a draper Salara that from almost day one had waves in a V shape. I will try the tricks above- thanks for the advice!