![]() ![]() The easiest way of choosing the color of your screen is to follow this general guideline: Projection surface paint is currently available in white and various shades of gray. There's also an added benefit in case the screen ever needs to be taken down, that the frame is easy to first remove so you don't need to lift the screen by the more flimsy trim.Standard projection screens usually come in gray, white, white with a silver coating, and the latest innovation, diamond black. The advantage of the velcro mounting is that the trim can be added while the screen is hanging (no need to screw it in from the back). The frame was attached with L-brackets on the side of the screen and front-facing velcro strips. ![]() The frame was sized so the inside opening was right at 96" by 54" (remember that gives me 3/4" overlap all around between the trim and the screen). The pieces were miter cut, sprayed with flat black paint (a few coats), and assembled with L-brackets and 1/2" screws on the back side. I chose to make the frame out of a style of door molding that very closely matches the frames of some art we have in the room. With the dark border the relative brightness of the screen's picture really seems to pop. Ideally, you want this frame to be black, completely non-reflective, and at least a couple inches wide. The final step was to attach a nice frame of some sort around the screen. My sheet 'expanded' and loosened during the painting step and I actually had to go around and unstaple, repull, and restaple - not fun! Pull the heck out of it first time! You really want to pull it tight as you go. Work your way down two sides, from the side's center, toward the corner. After the four centers are secured, focus on one corner at a time. The sheet was pulled down over the edge and stapled into the wood strips on the back side. To fasten the sheet I started by stapling the center of each side. I left the size long to be trimmed later (you'll appreciate having the extra material to grab when stretching it). I gave the sheet a wash, spread it across the batting, and ironed it thoroughly. I picked up a neutral colored, 850 thread count, king size for about $40 from a clearance rack. Even more importantly, make sure the sheet doesn't have any decorative stitching or textured patterns to it. ![]() A high thread count is important, so it pays to shop around for a bargain on a top-notch sheet. ![]() Even though you'll be putting several coats of paint, you want the smoothest surface you can get. That brings us to the most important step, the projection surface itself. Not only that, but the trim around the frame will add about 5" to the width, leaving me with just a couple of inches of width left on each side in my space. That's still 110" diag for a 16:9 screen so it's plenty large. Given the building material factors I sized down from an initial 100" wide to 96" wide. Lumber and paneling is easiest to get in 8' lengths and king size sheets are only good for about 100" wide. What I will point out is that you want to consider your building materials as you pick a screen size. There's a bunch of great web pages on choosing a screen size, so I won't go into all that. Then you need to consider the aspect ratio of the screen (4:3, 16:9, 2.35:1). You should also consider your seating distance, and how that impacts viewing angle and pixel visibility. This of course is a factor of where your projector is located, its zoom range, your room layout and so on. If you're looking at making a screen, you're already under a certain set of constraints like the size of picture your projector can throw. While not really part of the building process, I thought I'd start here since it can take a fair amount of thought and can greatly influence the building materials you use. ![]()
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