JJ's Year 12: First Year of the New HT in a New House

[bguzman]

Originally Posted by JJ

OH, I spent a whole afternoon/evening there reading up on paint colors, trim, etc to help me decide on my journey, Ben!!

I already decided on how to build it using plywood, MDF, velvet, and what paint color.

What formula and application method did you decide on?

[JJ]

Originally Posted by bguzman

What formula and application method did you decide on?

Sherwin Williams "Soothing White" (a light gray) in flat, probably going to spray-gun it onto the MDF.

[Badas]

Originally Posted by JJ

After thinking about it yesterday, I think I'll do just that! Considering my shock of my DIY screen vs. the legit fabric screen yesterday, that's my best route. Maybe there's a more absorbent material than flat-painted plywood out there,

Say, how does velour/velvet adhere to plywood?

There is a product that is blackout velvet with adhesive on the backing. Used for lining the inside tube of telescopes. Called black star I think. Don't quote me on that. Sold in long rolls so you could cut to length.

That would work really well. It is the most light absorbing fabric available as well.

[v_squared123]

Originally Posted by JJ

Not going to spend the same price as a 65ZT60 on a screen, bud, lol. I'm building this one. I'll post the details next week when I do it. It'll be awesome.

HAHA

Would've been awesome if you did. Never seen one in person but I read a review from sound&vision where the reviewer said the black levels were on par with a kuro

Best of luck with your DIY man!

[JJ]

Originally Posted by v_squared123

HAHA

Would've been awesome if you did. Never seen one in person but I read a review from sound&vision where the reviewer said the black levels were on par with a kuro

Best of luck with your DIY man!

I mean, I'm already on my 3rd screen in two weeks with this one, when I have a dedicated room, I can invest in a serious screen.

Originally Posted by Badas

There is a product that is blackout velvet with adhesive on the backing. Used for lining the inside tube of telescopes. Called black star I think. Don't quote me on that. Sold in long rolls so you could cut to length.

That would work really well. It is the most light absorbing fabric available as well.

HEY! That's a brilliant idea. I found just the stuff online on Amazon, Black Felt Tape, that's actually velvet that a lot of DIYers used for screen borders. Thanks for the suggestion, I'm ordering some right now so it gets here in time!

I'm not taking any DSLR caliber pics until everything is 100% complete.

[Badas]

^

Glad to help. Just get it on straight when you do it.

The pics look great.

That Epson is a good looking projector. I always liked the looks of that model. Reminds me of a storm trooper for some reason.

[JJ]

Anyway, so this weekend I went ahead to build my new DIY screen with the aid of a good friend of mine. I decided on MDF construction, with plywood supports for screwing to the mount, thin velvet taped trim, and the screen to be a flat paint finish.

It's a 92" screen with the 1.5" trim, around 4'x7' in size, ended up at around 90 lbs in weight, so similar to a TV, just more unwieldy. I'll outline the basic tenets of the construction as follows.


The material I selected for my screen was MDF, a rigid, smooth-finish material that would be sturdy enough to not flex when in use, but smooth enough to paint beautifully without any mottling or textures as you would get with plywood.


Since I have no wall to mount on or repaint for a screen, I had to create a screen that I could mount on my existing TV mount using screws. Plywood became the structural support solution here, as MDF rips apart when screwed to my experience. We then cut the plywood, Gorilla glued, clamped and dried for a bit, then using a nail gun, connected the plywood to the MDF for a sturdy support.


Next, using 2" black velvet taped, we wrapped the trim pieces (simple 1.5"x0.25" lattice pine) to act as the framing of the screen. I chose a thinner border so it more resembled a TV than an actual frame, and gave it more aesthetically pleasing proportions. Also, I was able to create the largest possible screen out of the standard 4x8 piece of MDF.


Then, using the compressor + siphon feed spray gun my friend got for Christmas, we painted the screen.

I selected a 10% gray, Sherwin Williams SW6579 Soothing White (RGB values in the 220s) to give me slightly better contrast without the screen being a blatant gray, which I didn't want to do either. I was getting very good blacks using flat extra white on the test screen I first built a month ago, so a little boost was welcome. Also, given my reflective ambience and lighting conditions, I chose FLAT paint instead of matte or satin for the least amount of light reflections possible.



The white lights we used to spray our paint also turned out to be insect deterrents, as in this Florida winter we had lots of little leafhoppers around. They all went to the lights and let the screen dry perfectly. I had planned on rolling the paint, but my friend put forth the idea that the spraying would create a much finer finish - I'm glad I listened, as the end product was smooth and beautiful. One quart of paint gave us 3 coats or so.

Now, here is the COOLEST feature we designed. For films with a 2.35, 2.39, 2.40 aspect ratio, we wanted to minimalize the appearance of the black bars. So, by creating matting panels of the proper dimensions (since on a 92" screen, the difference in visible image height between those 3 image ratios is only around 1/8"), we could mask the top and bottom of the screen completely.

These we built out of a wood trim & plywood frame, using the nail gun and glue, then with spray-on adhesive, wrapped in black velvet. On the edges, we put L-brackets, which would clip onto the finished screen using 1/2" neodymium magnets on the sides. of the MDF. The 1.5" trim overhangs off the MDF by around 1/8" on all sides, so it hides the magnets and lets the panels slide on perfectly.

The magnets are still curing to the MDF using gorilla glue so I have no finished photographs of the panels in action yet. But testing with spare pieces revealed it will hold the weight and stay aligned and steady during films.











Note here how the trim overhangs off the MDF by that 1/8" to hide the magnets from front view, and how the mount brackets connect to the TV stand from the plywood supports.



Here's some up-close shots to see the finish texture of the paint and just the amazing quality we were able to pull off using the spray gun + MDF.





Finished!

[talstarone]

All I can say is the projector and screen top off one of the finest systems on the forum.Great Job indeed.

[JJ]

Originally Posted by talstarone

All I can say is the projector and screen top off one of the finest systems on the forum.Great Job indeed.

Thanks, Todd! I'm extra proud of it for being DIY!

[hometheatergeek]

As always JJ you never cease to amaze. Excellent work.

[captaincarl]

Quality work JJ.

Looks damn impressive and the layout is simple and elegant.

Can't wait to move in this direction for my set up as well but I am afraid I cannot follow in your DIY style....I lack the confidence to pull of a job like you have done.

Cheers & Happy New Years!!
CC-

[JJ]

Originally Posted by hometheatergeek

As always JJ you never cease to amaze. Excellent work.

Just gotta get the Christmas trees out of the way for the formal shots later this weekend...thanks!!

Originally Posted by captaincarl

Quality work JJ.

Looks damn impressive and the layout is simple and elegant.

Can't wait to move in this direction for my set up as well but I am afraid I cannot follow in your DIY style....I lack the confidence to pull of a job like you have done.

Cheers & Happy New Years!!
CC-

Pleasure to meet you CC. I always go for simple and geometric in my designs. Confidence, nothing! If you have the tools, this is simple and straightforward. Although it did cost me $200 to build that screen.

Couple of quick shots.

[JJ]

You guys probably haven't seen the sectional I upgraded to a few months back either and the room rearrangement for seating. In any case, here it is:

[Spurrier Sucks]

That is nice JJ!

[Aerodude73]

Amazing DIY job, with Fantastic results.

Thx for the DIY-build pics as you went along.

[JJ]

Thanks fellas! I'll probably have to take a full new set of pictures, but tomorrow once I take the Christmas tree down and can set up the matting panels and take a full set of new photographs for the gallery and for future referencing.

[Flatnate]

Looks good, I too went down the Sherwin Williams paint route. I didn't use MDF, I just applied it on to un-textured drywall, but for me it is only a temporary solution. I just stuck to the satin extra white that Projector Central pointed me at. I didn't have access to a sprayer and renting and cleaning seemed daunting so I just rolled it out, but instead I used a grey foam roller with a ultra low nap. That worked pretty well for controlling texture versus any regular rollers a person may choose. My only application issues happened in areas where earlier I had adhesion issues with the painters tape masking up at the top edge. In those areas you can make out a texture difference up there when full white is projected.

Digging that sectional, that thing is something. I'd do that over most of the puffy home theater seating guys have on the site any day.

[JJ]

Got my magnetic panels to work perfectly. Click on for 2.34:1 to 2.44 content, click off for 1.33, 1.78, 1.85.

They make a huge difference in perceived contrast, black levels, and immersion; considering my white walled and white floored room. Black bars blacker than my Kuro and former ZT60 now!

As they're manual, their only foes are variable aspect ratio films.

Quick shot:



More later.

[ShockWave]

Awesome man! Looks great! What happened to the ZT?

[JJ]

Originally Posted by ShockWave

Awesome man! Looks great! What happened to the ZT?

Screen got "diseased", couldn't be replaced or repaired, so I got a refund from Panasonic.






(Some displayed memorabilia, prop replicas of Darth Vader's lightsaber and Mal Reynolds' pistol)