[bud16415]

First off I'm not sure what forum to post this into so being as it's a DIY idea I'm going to post it into the DIY screen forum even though its not a screen but people who make screens make other things. Then I'm also going to post it into the under $3000 projector forum even though its not a projector I read a lot of people looking for ways of ceiling mounting a projector over there. Hope that's ok with the mods and if not please merge the threads in the best location.


Over the years reading tips and tricks on locating and mounting a projector into an existing ceiling there have been several recurring issues people have. The first being how do I exactly locate the projector and mount. The second thing that comes up a lot is can I secure the mount just to the drywall ceiling and then the debate goes into all types of anchors and or opening up the ceiling and adding bracing etc. I hope I have come up with something that will help in both cases and I'm sure it's been done before but I haven't seen any posts suggesting this method so I thought I would start a thread or two.


There are numerous types of mounts both DIY and commercial and most cover the adjustment up and down somehow. The cover tilt and level and most allow some swivel. What I found with my first attempt at DIY was that I covered those bases pretty well and with my projectors lens being off center I did a lot of figuring and stretching strings ets and figured out what I had to do to get the lens on center. Then when or if I was off a little I would give it a smidgen of swivel and said good enough. I always had a bit of bow to the bottom (very slight) and was never really 100% sure everything was good as it could or should be.


Below is a picture of my first mount.




I came into the possession of a Chief mount a while back a friend gave me that he no longer needed and I was looking at it and liked the fine adjustment it had for tilt in both direction and swivel and height was taken care of thru adding a drop tube or spacers between the two halves. It just happened in my case with my low ceilings the drop height was perfect without a spacer. But I still had the issue of where to mount it and what if there wasn't anything solid there to go into.


So I made a simple prototype tee slot slide from some scraps of plywood I had. Keep in mind this could be done a lot more eye pleasing from hard woods or metal and could be all rounded over and finished. This is just concept here and fine for my man cave basement room.


I fit the tee slot to the chief mounts flange and added 4 rubber .25 thick furniture leg pads to the mount to make it a nice snug sliding fit inside the tee slot. It wouldn't be necessary to use this chief mount in doing this even a sliding piece of wood in a tee slot could then be bolted to any type mount.


The point of the post is now I have adjustment right and left with my projector and the length of this slotted thing I made is long enough to span two ceiling joists. It can now be attached with long drywall screws that will go thru the drywall and into solid joists. For people living in apartments all that would have to be repaired when taking it down would be 4 tiny screw holes into the ceiling. Spackling would make them disappear.


Below is a picture of the new prototype setup.




I think my explanation is fairly clear but if not ask any questions and I'll try and make it clearer.


As a side note that slight bow in my image went away after a 10 minute adjustment of the projector. The image is a perfect fit to the screen now with no slivers all 4 sides.

 

[MAZMAN808]

nice mount, but why do you need it to slide left to right? did i miss something in your post?

Its seems like a good idea for the anamorphic lens people use, i might just use something very similar for the lens i will be buying, so it does give me a good nice idea

Painting it teh same colour as teh ceilings would maybe make it less obviouse as well

 

[bud16415]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MAZMAN808 /forum/post/0


nice mount, but why do you need it to slide left to right? did i miss something in your post?

Its seems like a good idea for the anamorphic lens people use, i might just use something very similar for the lens i will be buying, so it does give me a good nice idea

Painting it teh same colour as teh ceilings would maybe make it less obviouse as well

MAZMAN808


The reason I need right to left movement is because my projector offers no image shift right to left. So in my case with a fixed right to left mount I have a couple ways to do it. First being completely accurate in the location of my mount relative to the centerline of the lens and screen. the second method would be to shift the screen side to side. Or design or buy a mount that allows for moving the lens side to side a little thru some other means in the mount. Or the least desirable method and one many people use and that's rotating the projector slightly.


The other benefit and the main reason I did this was to show a way for people not wanting to cut into the ceilings to find a solid joist to mount to, or trust the strength of their drywall job to anchor the projector into.


This setup can be made long enough to span 2 joists in the USA that is16 on center. So conceivably a 18 to 24 slider would always allow you a position that would both find two joists and also put the projector on the centerline of the screen. the idea was to show a very secure way of connecting the projector to the ceiling with only a minimal amount of damage done to the ceiling and the person doing it would only require minimal skills.


Another couple of nice side benefits are you can unplug the projector and slip it out easily for cleaning or moving it to another location and when you put it back up it comes right back. Another nice plus is when working alone doing this the only piece you have to handle when attaching it to the ceiling is the light slide part. The projector slides in last and little chance of dropping it.


What you mentioned would work if someone wanted a track mounted projector in and out for doing a CHI setup with using the zoom and needed to reposition the projector closer to the screen. just turn the slide 90 degrees.


I know a lot could be done to make what I built look better. Like I said it was just a prototype. I may end up machining one from aluminum and doing a black anodize finish on it to match the chief mount parts. I wanted to show it in its most simplistic form because that's what the average DIYer could easily do. If someone has more advanced woodworking skills or metalworking skills I'm sure they can adapt the idea into something much better looking.


Thanks for the comments and reading. And if you do the slide post some pictures. I remember seeing something like that a long time ago on here.

 

[bud16415]

I had almost forgot this thread until today someone else wanted to span two ceiling joists when doing an install.


There was also some discussion on how to do the rest of the install with minimal destruction to the walls and ceiling and something simple a DIYer or apartment dweller could do to make a clean job but only have a few pin holes to repair when moving. I didn’t do this so I have no photos to link but I did a search and found a few links on surface wire mounts.


Doing something like the slide mount I show above and the surface wire mounting could be done with a minimal of tools and experience in building.


http://www.hubbell-wiring.com/Raceway.asp

http://cableorganizer.com/cable-raceway/

http://www.wiremold.com/www/consumer...dex.asp?bhcp=1


(similar idea without the slide)

http://samoht.com/wiki/wiki.pl?Ceili..._The_Projector