Wrapping Black Velvet on Trim...... with Mitered or Butt joined ends. - Page 2

It can take a bit of practice. One of the reasons I always use staples and not adhesive is that staples can be pulled out. I also do not trim the excess until I know I have a good wrap going.

Mitered joints are the absolute best looking...but as in many things, the best ain't always the easiest. But joints wrap easier, but you have to have the lengths matched up exactly or you might have a hanging edge at one end.

Is you project a "Done Deal" or can it be adjusted?


Quite a bit. But another thing many do not consider is how there can be a shadow cast across the edge of the screen by a Trim Piece that is too tall. This usually comes from there being some light coming from the side though. But depending upon how / where your PJ is mounted, the same thing can happen in the dark, leading you to think that your image isn't squared or sized correctly within the frame.

To me, using anything that is taller than what is absolutely necessary to allow for the wrapping procedure is redundant. I love that MDF base. Nothing works easier, accepts staples better, and the lower profile always fots together easier.

The 3 -1/4" Base with a simple curve on one side works great "as is". Putting the "Curve" on the inside of the Miter cut makes the edge go down to almost nothing against the Screen, and the mitered corners blend wonderfully. Wrapping is no issue either.

Myself, I can see how wrapping a "tall" mitered edge would be more difficult, but recently most have "MDF'd" it so that possibility got over looked.

Did you glue or staple?

Well then...your Golden.

Use a very small Screw Driver to lift up / pull out the staples.

Tedious work...but you won't have to re-do the tearing / cutting of the velvet.

Try that 3 -1/4" base. It's sooooo cool. And that inwardly receding curve that goes down into the screen's surface adds a real classy touch. And Trim Shadows? Fergittabowdum.

I used to rip that curve off using a Rip Fence on my itty bitty Ryobi 5-1/2" Cordless Saw, but ONLY if I needed trim less than 3-1/4" wide. With bigger screens over 96" x 54", that just isn't an issue. In fact, given the choice, many would like the wider Trim better...I'm a thinnen'

Your welcome. Try to be absolutely dead-on as far as your PJ's positioning. Get it level, and plumb (straight...not angled at all...) to the Screen wall, and keep the projected angle towards the screen as small as possible so you'll have as little chance of having the light beam hit the forward "Top/Bottom/Side edges of the trim. Get it right, and you will be able to "crawl" your image's outside boundaries up the inside edges of your trim for a perfectly framed picture. With no shadows. But you will get a shadow anytime there is light coming from the sides...no matter what.

Pine "will" warp, especially when any degree of strain is placed on it, such as what happens when you stretch and staple BO cloth. Select Kiln Dried Pine will be better, but the Clear Poplar is the next best thing to Oak.

Your mixed up. The frame you stretch the BO Cloth on will not be what you Wrap your Velvet on.

I'd listen to your Wife. Paint the wall. It can always be painted over if you have to. And trimming that with a Velvet surround is a breeze. The same Trim can always be "Moved" Best of all, size becomes no object. (...and for you, the "man"...it'll be cheaper as well.) I can't see painting the Wall being any less an option, and really to my (...and your Wife's ) way of thinking, it just the easiest and best way for you AND her to get what you both want. Always listen to the Wife if she's on your side as far as having a Home Theater where "Bigger" is better.

She sure sounds like my kinda Girl.

But really, a Theater needs to be set up correctly from the Get Go. Rare indeed is the room where you can just up and swap the Front Sound/Screen around, or just up and relocate the PJ on a whim If you get serious about the design, it becomes easier and less expensive to go forth because you won't go down any dead ends or make do with Ho Hum performance.

I'd paint the wall no matter where you decide to place your screen because quite frankly, it will be more likely to provide the best possible results for a Noob. Easier, less expensive.....always changable.

So how big would your Wife like one to be?


A SCREEN...you Cretins!

1/4" Staples are best, assuring that the "Bar" of the staple sinks as firmly and as deep into the Velvet as possible, and thereby minimizing the amount of Tapping needed on Staple heads that still protrude above surface of the Velvet.

Generally speaking, I still take a hammer and tap a little bit on everything, with special attention to any point where I have two layers of velvet overlapping each other.

Posting the SyFabric Link is Ok. After all, they use Velvet for making Clothing, Drapes and Curtains. Now if they advertised it as being especially made for Wrapping Trim for Projector Screens, that would be different, and much the same as if someone posted a link for where to pick up the bulk Screen material that a DaLite or Stewart Screen uses.

Why, that almost happened with the 4'x8' + 5' x 10' Sheets of Parkland Polywall because after the info got out on AVS about the stuff, the rush for it caused the Mfg. to jack up the price and actually advertise it in the Parkland Plastics Site as being a "Front Projection Screen". (...the "Jack up" in price caused a backlash of unpopularity and as a result, Parkland dropped the panel altogether.) It still rankles the nerves that they did that......

It's a fine line at times that separates some products from being "Over the Line", but one that is easy to balance on if one simply remembers that the rules "effectively" state;

This DIY Forum is intended to provide help and advice toward the making of DIY Projection Screens using materials not originally designed and/or intended for use as components for such "Screens".

As for everything else, it's fortunate that it was determined awhile back that to exclude the posting of Links to available and applicable materials on a DIY Forum would be tantamount to shutting down the effectiveness of such a Forum to help others find such things and progress accordingly. The temptation always exists to fudge a bit, and anybody who wants to fudge for his Screen building convenience should be able to do so. By simply remembering that a "Screens Forum" exists and that such actual "Specially intended for Screens" products are highlighted on that Forum, there is and always will remain an outlet/source for such things for the "less than adroit" DIY'er who wants to make one or more aspects of his "DIY" project be a little easier and provide more assurance of success than he might be able to provide himself.

In such cases, saving money is not as important as getting the results one hopes for.

True DIY is all about getting the absolute MOST "Bang for the LEAST Buck", and then pointing at your work and saying "See how great it is....and it didn't cost much at all!"

MDF "Trim" is exactly that....Trim. It does not have sufficient rigidity to serve as a "Frame" fro a Cloth screen that will have to be "stretched" a bit in the least.

Building a perimeter frame of 1x4's and then placing a Board across the span is a good idea, and if you paint that board "Black" using a good, Flat Black/Charcoal Grey paint, any over/under lap areas behind the screen should remain invisible. Use the Velvet Wrapped MDF as a overlaid Trim on top of the 1x4s

At Home Depot, Primed White MDF "Base" 3.25" wide x 5/16" thick Trim comes in 16' lengths, which you can take down and cut to size "In Store' and pay by the foot. (approx $0.80 ) That's easily less than 1/2 the cost per linear foot than Kiln-Dried Poplar. And you won't find Poplar in 16' lengths

Unless your "Trim" is really a "Frame" to secure whatever substrate your using to a Wall, the use of 3/4" Poplar is IMLE excessively expensive, heavy, and less than cooperative when fabricating. Add to that the 3/4" height raising the possibility of casting a shadow along the Top or sides of the edge of the image (...dependent upon the PJ's beam's angle of incident...) and Poplar should be used for Trim/Frames where structural rigidity is of paramount importance, or where the screen itself is large enought to compensate for the undue height.

I blame the Screen Industry, and their need to use 2" x 2" Aluminum Channels for most all "Snap on Fixed Screen" designs for making such a thing a "Standard". Me? I always buck the System.