Tanner Ridge Cinema Construction Thread - Page 10

Due to the recent data loss, I thought I would repost the progress/pics.....

----->2008-08-04<-----

Well, it's taken months, but I've finally gotten around to dealing with the handrail for the stairs Not really a huge accomplishment, however, it's just one of those 99.9% done items that you never seem to get around to......

I was looking to have something black to fit in with the rest of the room, but didn't feel that painted wood handrail would suit it all too well. So, after some combing around the local hardware stores, I came up with an aluminum powder coat solution:



Deck railing

The trouble was, that the mounting brackets were terrible and I didn't trust them all to well. I found some 'regular ones' in brass that I figured I could adapt to my purposes



Not really a perfect fit, but with some quality time spent with a grinder, it would fit into the channel of the rail. So, with some grinding, some self-tapping sheet metal screws, and about 3 bazillion measurements, at last I have a rail that is to code:



I stuffed the insides with Roxul to reduce the 'clangy' resonance that it might introduce, and it seems to have given it a bit more 'heft' and feels a bit more solid to the hand.

It's amazing, but I guess I'm so used to a railing not being there, I keep forgetting to use it now

So I sat down, looked around, and thought to myself "I'm DONE!". Wept uncontrollably for a little, then thought - "wait.....I can't be done....noooooo........maybe I can upgrade or tweak something further?". I updated the front page pics to at least make myself feel a little better

More to come, no doubt

Cheers,

On a topic that's quasi-related to HT building, I wanted to post about a recent electrical experience I had this week and hopefully encourage forum members to consider their main breaker box as part of their home maintenance routine.

I had gone to my panel to look at some circuits to figure out where I wanted to install some more Insteon dimmers. When I opened the door, I could hear an ever-so-slight buzzing sound! Knowing that generally electricity is a quiet process, I began listening harder and it appeared to be coming from the 100 amp main. I popped off the lower panel portion for the branch circuits to have a looky, but did not see anything overtly wrong. I was hesitant to remove the upper portion that housed the main breaker - having 10 perfectly good reasons at the end of my wrists not to touch it! I called in an electrician friend immediately. What we found was a veritable ticking time bomb:







The wire from the meter base service to the main breaker had been degrading over a long period of time (40 years, actually....) - the insulation was beginning to disintegrate and creep up towards nearly contacting the inside of the panel - you can see the flat spot on the top loop of the wire.....

Needless to say, I had the service cut and the issue dealt with ASAP! But, thinking about it, how often when we are building that we never think of checking up on connections and the condition of the mains? Even in newer homes, if the mains were not torqued properly, this process of arcing or degeneration could occur and none of us would be the wiser until perhaps too late I spent a bit of time looking up info on breakers, boxes and such as I am going to upgrade to 200A service later this fall with a new panel (my panel isn't made anymore, and finding the new breaker was an almost futile event), and I stumbled across a number of articles and sites that deal with an issue over a certain brand of panels and associated failures:

http://www.inspect-ny.com/fpe/fpepanel.htm

I had no idea that this info was 'out there' and would certainly not be able to make an informed choice as a consumer as to what type of equipment would be installed in my home. Before I upgrade, I will now surely spend more time researching what equipment is available.

Bottom line, is that I'm putting this out there to encourage everyone here to think safety and check on your systems periodically!

Cheers,

Hi DevonS,

I opted for the aluminum for a couple of reasons - I've worked with Lexan and other plastics before (projector mount, cabinet doors etc), and to have anything relatively sturdy/less flex, you would likely need 6mm or more....for me, that was too thick, and would not fit well with the trim around the edges of my rack. As well, I think it would be trickier to jigsaw plastics without the risk of chipping or cracking. The .063 aluminum (or a hair thicker) can be shaped and cut with regular woodworking tools and feels a lot more sturdy. Removing tool marks is a lot simpler as well using steel wool. The added plus is that it may help contribute to heat dissipation for the components!

I certainly think plexi might be worth for trying a panel or two, and see if it suits your application! Let us know if you do, and what the results are.

As for my BFD, I leave it on 24/7 as it draws very little, and retains my last selected filter setting (instead of reverting to '1'). I recall there was some discussion about triggering it by connecting it to a switched AVR outlet and such - but what I believe is that you have to power it on before the sub or else suffer the dreaded 130db 'WHOMP' when powering up. Someone might be able to elaborate further on that one? I'll have to check later...

I suppose what a person could do, is use something along the lines of two Insteon Outletlincs, and program them with an ISY (or software and an IRLinc) to take the IR signal and fire up a startup program - the BFD followed by the amp a few seconds later....

I hope that helps!

Cheers,

Glad they fit the bill - I'm still tempted to put those everywhere in my house (but thats' waaaay too much retrofitting for me ). I love the LED look and the efficiency - I'm currently rebuilding my outside deck, and am exploring an inexpensive way to mount 50+ white LEDs under the black aluminum top railing to light up the glass....

boy, this stuff just never ends!

Cheers,

Hi Devon,

My brackets had tabs on both the upper and lower portions:



I think that the bottom tabs are integral in the prevention of any forward tipping. My brackets were from Rona - if You have one nearby, might be worthwhile to have a look at them and see if they'll fit in your rails.



For my components, some shelves were a bit deeper, so I have a mix of 9" and 12" brackets. I used 3/4 in MDF or plywood for the extra weight, and cut the shelves so that they extended to the bracket end as opposed to the depth of the component.

In your situation an idea to perhaps try is to secure the rear of the shelves to one another - you could 'connect' all of the shelves at the rear to increase the integrity - such as running a long threaded rod through the back corners with nuts/washers for spacings (such as what you would see in a DIY Flexy Rack), or connect them all with small wood strips. This would create a structural 'box' that would then just be suspended by the single tabs.

Let me know how you're making out - I'll try and think of some other options in the meantime

Cheers,

Hi djalap,

as Devon stated, the two 'rails' are merely the component for the shelf brackets - there is nothing 'official' there in the way of rackmount gear

I jumped into a Rack thread some time ago, and covered off a lot of the process here as well:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post13046275

Plus, there is a ton of other really fantastic ideas and implementations by other forum members as well - its a great resource to see what has beendone and what might suit your installation!

Cheers,

Hi mn_hokie - I haven't forgotten your post; I've just been 'on the road' for a bit and actually took a break from theater building



I'm actually secretly scoping out the theater setups here to see what ideas I can steal......got a funny look / WAF factor when I suggested theater seats that shoot compressed air and water splashes!!!! I don't think it will fly......

I'll take a few shots for you when I'm back as so you can compare the different aspect ratios. I anguished over the same issue for a bit before deciding on the 16x9 route - for me it was the best of both worlds for the content we usually view.

Devon - Glad to see the ears come off - you're right, it does look way better flush!! The faceplates do take some time, but the end result is definitely worth it! I'll pop into your thread when I get back from dealing with all of the 'ears' down here

Cheers All,

Tom

Well, after some lengthy time away from home, it's now time to go back to HT . Between holidays and work trips overseas, it seems nothing was able to be done around the house this past while!

Alas, not much new on the HT front, other than this new addition



Just need to figure out a place for it to live .

I have been considering taking the BR plunge and have been hanging out in the forums over there. After a lot of research, I think I've settled on waiting for Oppo to release the BDP-83 - I'm very interested in seeing what some of the early adopters have to say about this unit's performance. One the audio side, I've been looking at swapping out the main AVR for something a little newer - I've been looking at some of the Onkyo lineup, as well as Yamaha to replace my older Sony.

Upgrade-itis must be common in the winter months....

Cheers,

Hi claycurtis44,

For cutting the aluminum, I used a jigsaw with a fine blade to perform the rough cuts inside the lines, then switched to a flat file to bring the excess material up to the line I had traced. I used some clamps to help keep the material from sliding around the table, and also used some masking tape over the aluminum to keep the jigsaw feet from scratching the surface (although, you can steel wool out most of the minor marks you might make). It might take a few 'test fits' and more filing, depending on how many thousandths on an inch you want to be within the component

Here is a closer-up shot of it just prior to painting, and you can see the results of the filing and sanding:



There is some of the process earlier in the thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=258

and in there there's a link to the entries in the DIY Rack thread as well.

The first one you do will seem a little daunting; that's okay - I found that each successive one got easier and easier as I went along and got better at the filing technique. It became a cinch to knock one out about every thirty minutes or so (depending on how fast your paint dries ). The nice thing is, that it is quite a bit of work, but the results can really add a good feeling of having done it yourself!

Good luck with your project

Cheers,