EDIT: It’s been about 7-8 months now since the screen was made.  I’ve been using it a lot… we use it at least 2-3 times a week, sometimes more.  I wanted to post here and mention that there has been some warping of the frame (for those who are thinking about building a similar screen) and the lower right corner is coming away from the wall.  Not to worry, though.  Apparently it’s a common issue and, according to answers I got at AVS forum, it can be resolved by attaching the lower left and lower right corners just as I attached the upper left and right.

Another tip I learned in those 8 months – there is pretty much only one way to clean a laminate screen like this that does not leave streaks.  Distilled water, with a tiny drop of dish soap diluted in it.  This “almost-water” can be used to wipe the screen clean and remove any shipping dust/grease/fingerprints.  Using other cleaners will just result in streaks that are noticeable once light is projected onto the laminate.

Now that we are moved in to the new house and things are more or less under control, I was able to complete a “dream project” I’ve had cooking for many years.  Our home theater is (almost) complete!

I had researched quite a few options for buying, painting or making screens for a home theater with a projector and finally resolved to build my own screen from basic materials.  It’s actually cheaper than buying a screen (these suckers are expensive)  and it can have the same or sometimes better performance.  The methods I used have come from various sources including other blogs and the AVS forum (the home theater geek capitol of the internet)

So I built a 120″ diagonal screen.  It turned out to be a bit harder than I expected.  I’m not all that “handy” so for me building a screen might as well have been building a house.  On the other hand, I do tend to have patience and keep trying until I get things right, so I made it through the project.

It’s made out of WilsonArt counter top laminate (for some reason, this works well as a surface for projection according to the DIY research I did) which has been hung on a wooden frame.  The borders are made from MDF base and wrapped with black velvet.  The finished result is a white screen with velvet trim borders.

Here are the materials I used… this is not really a “tutorial” on how to build a screen, as you would still need to get all of your measurements and research the ways you want to attach everything.

Screen

• WilsonArt laminate sheet in Designer White (5′x12′ piece cut to 16:9 ratio.  Lowe’s has this but I found a local Kitchen and Bath distributor who had 25% cheaper prices)
• 3/4″ screws to attach laminate to frame (via pre-drilled holes)

Frame

• 4″ screws
• Poplar 1×4 boards
• L and I brackets
• Hangman 18″ picture hanging system (x2)

Border

• Black velvet (on sale at a scary craft/cloth store)
• MDF base trim with tapered edge from Lowe’s
• Finishing nails

Tools

• Miter box
• Miter saw
• Staple gun
• Hammer
• Power drill/driver
• Measuring tape
• Nail set (to sink finishing nails into velvet)
• Scoring knife (to cut laminate)

I constructed the frame from the poplar boards and screws (using butt joints with 2 screws in each), and used the L and I brackets to further reinforce it on the back of the frame.  I then pre-drilled and screwed the laminate to front of the frame.  Each 45 degree mitered border trim was wrapped with velvet (like canvas if you are a painter) and stapled along the back of each trim piece.  The 4 trim pieces were nailed to the front of the frame, sandwiching the laminate in between the frame and trim.  The nail set was used to sink the nails below the velvet cloth.  The final step was to attach the Hangman cleats to the top of the back of the frame and hang the screen on the wall.

Some photos of the work in progress:

Frame and Unwrapped Trim

Frame and Velvet Wrapped Trim

Detail of Construction and One of the Hangers

I’m projecting on to the screen with a Panasonic AE3000 projector which is an LCD type projector and supports up to 1080p HD resolution.  I use a Playstation 3 for DVD and Blu-ray video.

One more shot:

The Cheap Seats

Next steps are to make a riser so the back seats are raised a bit for a better view, and to touch up and finish paint all around the basement.  Oh, and carefully selected movie posters. ;)

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 7:44 PM and is filed under Other Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.