"Floating" BOC Screen

Finally got a chance to put up my screen over the weekend.

Basically a simple 85"x48" BOC screen with a frame made of 1x3's.



The real fun was mounting it to the wall with some hardware that I found at Lowes so that it "floats" about 4" out from the wall.



The mounting hardware for each bracket is made up of two pieces which slide together bolted along a slider in the middle. this allows for the screen to be adjusted by about 2" forward or backward at any of the corners by simply loosening the bolt, adjusting the screen and then re-tightening the bolt thus no need to take down the screen to make minor adjustments to "true" up the screen to the projector.

Best part is, the entire cost of the screen materials + mounting hardware was about $38.

I'm waiting on delivery of the projector so that was one of the reasons I am glad that the screen can be adjusted. Hopefully I won't need to to but at least the option is there now.

The screen can be adjusted by about 2" on a side using the sliding hardware which does give some leeway for compensating for the position of the projector.

I'll try to take some pictures of the hardware tomorrow but since I don't have any extra pieces I may have to take the screen down in order to get the pictures. (I should have thought about taking them before I put it up, doh!)

OK, I took a few pictures of the hardware I used while the screen was still up on the wall.

Here is a shot of it from the side, brackets mostly closed:



And here is the same piece at about maximum extension (although not secured):



Finally here is an image from the top looking down:



These are inexpensive brackets made for mounting blinds.

As you can see, the brackets have channels molded into them and long narrow openings running down their length which make them ideal for this type of application.

The mount is made up of two of the exact same bracket. One is bolted to the wall and the other to the screen. Once all eight pieces have been secured to the correct positions on both the screen and the wall, the screen should simply slide forward onto the wall brackets.

Once it is up, you adjust the screen to the desired position and run a simple bolt and wing nut through the holes to lock it in place.

These are made of steel and fairly strong. I could have easily just used one to hold up the screen but of course needed at least four to keep it level and to make it adjustable.

I also made certain that I anchored them in the wall studs with 3" wood screws.

While I understand that MDF is heavy stuff, depending upon the weight of the screen in question you could simply add more sets (4, 6, 8, Etc.) as needed to guarantee stability.

Of course how feasible that is depends entirely on the size, weight and thickness of the board that you wish to use.

There is actually enough space around the brackets to allow for the staples to secure the fabric.



Right now the image fills the screen except for roughly one inch on each side due to where the projector has to be placed at the moment.

Once I get around to relocating the projector, the added throw distance should allow me to fill the screen completely, hopefully without much in the way of light spill.

I basically used the same stapling pattern as the one shown in the link above.