Pictures of my curved screen setup

[Sean Nixon]

Sorry, I don't understand what you are saying. What does 370x300 mean? You said you were 300mm short, but 300mm short where? 300mm is not a lot and you should still be ok.

Sean

[Sean Nixon]

Oh, do you mean your room is 370cm x 300cm? So you are 300mm short in both directions?

That shouldn't matter too much, 300cm depth will be enough, my 330mm includes space to add the jump seats later.

370cm width will make the screen radius a little tighter, but not by much.

Sean

[OmniAtlas]

Hey Sean, any luck putting up your tutorial yet? I'll be looking forward to reading it, thanks.

Ben

[Sean Nixon]

Hi Ben, no I haven't, but saying as you ask, I'll post some details here, but it won't be until the weekend I'm afraid.

Sean

[OmniAtlas]

Hi Sean, thanks! patiently awaiting

[HondaCop]

Sean, this thread is awesome!! I have also contacted Joe today from Carls Place and will probably place the order later today. My screen will be 21.6ft long by 5ft tall for a 225 degree view. The radius is 5.5 feet.

The screen will have grommets every 6 inches. Since the screen will be cylindrical, will the screen material remain crease/wrinkle free due to the curve?

[Sean Nixon]

Hi Efrain

Absolutely no problems with creases or wrinkles. There will be a few at first due to shipping, but 99% of those disappear as soon as you start to pull the screen tight. I had a couple of more stubborn creases that I had planned to take care of later with an iron (carefully), but after hanging for a few weeks, they've dropped out of their own accord and the screen is perfect.

I dont know how your planning to hang the screen, or what size your projected image is likely to be, but I would recommend oversizing the screen. Mine goes from floor to ceiling (rather than just the height of the image) and extends as far back behind the windows as I could go. Better to have too much than not enough. But the main reason was that for me, it was easier to construct the frame close to the ceiling and floor, indeed, that's where it's at it's strongest, so I tied the screen at those points. It has the added benefit of hiding everything from my forward an side vision. Also allows for future expansion if projectors ever improve.

@ OmniAtlas. I shall try and put up a summary this weekend, sorry. Feel free to ask if you have any specific questions.

Sean

[HondaCop]

Hi Efrain

Absolutely no problems with creases or wrinkles. There will be a few at first due to shipping, but 99% of those disappear as soon as you start to pull the screen tight. I had a couple of more stubborn creases that I had planned to take care of later with an iron (carefully), but after hanging for a few weeks, they've dropped out of their own accord and the screen is perfect.

I dont know how your planning to hang the screen, or what size your projected image is likely to be, but I would recommend oversizing the screen. Mine goes from floor to ceiling (rather than just the height of the image) and extends as far back behind the windows as I could go. Better to have too much than not enough. But the main reason was that for me, it was easier to construct the frame close to the ceiling and floor, indeed, that's where it's at it's strongest, so I tied the screen at those points. It has the added benefit of hiding everything from my forward an side vision. Also allows for future expansion if projectors ever improve.

@ OmniAtlas. I shall try and put up a summary this weekend, sorry. Feel free to ask if you have any specific questions.

Sean

Thanks for the reply, Sean... As for hanging up the screen, I'm planning on building it as follows. My ceiling is 8ft tall so I plan on purchasing sixteen 2"x3"x8' studs and placing them 16" apart from one another along the line I will draw outlining the curve I need. The screen is 21.6' long, so the studs at 16" will be perfect. I will secure them to the floor and ceiling.

I will then use 3/4" PVC tubing for the actual frame and secure it to the studs by using metal brackets at every stud.This will give the PVC frame the curve and it will be very sturdy. Then of course, I will bungee the screen to the PVC frame.

What you think?

[Sean Nixon]

That's pretty much how I did mine. For the benefit of others, here's what I did:

Find centre point of screen radius and mark on ceiling

Drop a string line from this mark and mark centre point of screen radius on floor

I was fortunate enough to have some Hilti channel lying around...

de03082.jpg

... so I cut a length just over my screen radius. My radius is 2 metre, so I made the length of channel 2050mm. As luck would have it, the pre-drilled holes are every 50mm, so I secured one end of the channel to the centre point on the floor, then placing a pencil in the 2000mm hole, I drew the arc on the floor. Repeat for the ceiling (I found a helping hand was beneficial for all work above head level). Of course, a similar result could be gained with a pencil and piece of string, but be sure to get the pencil arc as accurate as you can.

At pre-determined intervals around the curve, fix vertical studs from floor to ceiling. Use the commonly found timber studs used for internal wall construction (look for straight ones when buying). Efrain is using 16" centres, I used 600mm (24"). The front edge of the stud wants to be on and behind the lines marked on the floor and ceiling. Tip when cutting studs. Cut them ever so slightly longer than perfect, no more than a couple of millimetres. This will enable the studs to be jammed in place, making alignment and fixing MUCH simpler. If the stud is too short, it'll fall over as soon as you let go making the whole process much harder. I used a cheap laser level...

Quigo_1___91469_zoom.jpg

...and using a hammer, tap the stud until it's exactly where you want it and vertical in both planes, then fix it to the floor and ceiling. I used this type of fixing...

!BffSfL!BWk~$(KGrHqEOKj8Er)dq4lPyBLBd!TQu4!~~_35.JPG

I considered mounting the conduit brackets to the studs, as Efrain plans to do, but wanted more flexibility, so decided to fix an MDF fixing strip to the studs. I bought an 8' x 4' sheet of 9mm thick MDF and got the place where I bought it to cut it (free service) into 8' x 5" strips. I think I ended up with 10 strips. Then I screwed these strips to the studs at floor level and ceiling level and up both ends, forming a complete rectangle. This would enable me to fix as many conduit brackets as necessary, without being tied to the stud positions. It also gave me a 5" tolerance all the way round the screen perimeter, should the screen bungees require adjustment.

I then painted the entire framework, including the floor and ceiling, black.

DSCN0115.jpg

As I said in a previous post, rather than getting a screen size which matched the projected image size, I decided to maximise screen real estate. I ordered a screen that would go from floor to ceiling and would wrap past the rear windows. My main reason for this was to act as a curtain to eliminate distractions behind the image (i.e. the studs). It also has the added benefit in that if future projectors enable a larger image, I already have the screen to be able to take advantage of that. Also, the screen material Carl uses comes in 9" widths, so I guessed the difference in cost between an 8ft screen and a 6ft screen would be minimal, as the cut off is scrap so I'd probably be paying for it anyway. That's just a hunch though.

Next comes fitting the screen support framework. I used 20mm black PVC conduit used for electrical wiring. Very cheap, strong and incredibly easy to work with. Rather than use matching PVC saddles that would normally be used with PVC conduit, I opted to go for the steel counterpart, for added strength...

m363.jpg

I fitted these along the top MDF only at approx 12" intervals. I used proprietary 90 degree angles at the corners...

prodimg11786.jpg

Then I hung the screen, using the bungees provided. I then pulled the screen taught at the bottom centre and left/right edges to determine the best distance to fix the bottom conduit saddles from the top ones. Once the bottom conduit was fitted, I attached the screen bungees and this is when you get the first proper glimpse of the finished screen unfolding.

Repeat the process for the left and right sides...

IMG_5440.jpg

I hope that all makes sense, but as usual, ask away if anything's unclear.

Sean

[HondaCop]

Awesome quick guide, Sean! I like the conduits you used to secure the PVC to the studs/MDF. I will look for those today when I go to Lowes shopping for the materials. Thanks!