Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Crafted Workshop: How To Build A DIY Projector Screen”.
What’S going on everybody, i’m johnny brooke from crafted workshop back with another video for the make magazine youtube channel in today’s video, i’m going to show you how to build this diy home, theater, projector, screen and building. One of these is really simple and can save a ton of money over a store-bought option, so the other nice thing is, you can kind of customize it to fit your space. Add some nice trim and make it look really really built-in and custom so very inexpensive. Very easy to build. You only need a couple tools.
Really you could do this whole project with a circular saw and drill, and you end up with a beautiful result. So let’s go ahead and get started so here’s the materials you’ll need for this build. So first you’ll need some one by fours to use for the frame and the exact amount of wood you’ll need will depend on the size of your screen. Next, an optional addition to the frame are corner braces. Another optional component is backband trim and you’ll also need some black paint for the trim. If you go with this next is the screen material. I got my material from carl’s place, which is a website that specializes in diy projector, screen material and i’ll have a link in the video description to the exact item i used last you’ll need some felt tape, which i also got from carl’s place. So once i had all my materials on hand, i started cutting my one by fours to size, so my screen ended up at 82 inches wide, which is the maximum that would fit in my space and for a 16 by 9 ratio, which is the standard for Most tv shows and youtube videos you’ll need to divide your width by 16 and then multiply it by 9 to get your height also make sure to factor in the felt tape when making these calculations – and this is something i forgot to do – and this caused the Final aspect: ratio of my screen to be slightly off once i had my pieces cut to length, i drilled pocket holes on both ends of these short frame pieces and i used pocket screws to assemble this frame and they’re a simple and strong method of assembling butt Joints a pocket hole jig can be purchased for as little as something like 20 bucks and is a really handy tool to have on hand so to assemble the frame.
I clamped the pieces together making sure they were nice and flush and then added inch and a quarter pocket screws, and there are three short pieces on my frame, one on each end and one in the center for extra support. After assembling the frame, i added corner brackets to the four outside corners of the frame and again these aren’t strictly necessary, but they really help to add rigidity, since the last thing you want is your frame flexing and causing wrinkles on your screen. Next i started cutting the backband trim to size and i started by cutting a 45 degree miter on one end of the trim and then clamped it onto the frame and marked where i needed to cut. I then went back to the miter, saw and made the cut, leaving it a little long on the first cut and when cutting trim, it’s really best to sneak up on the fit by making multiple cuts like this. I just continued doing this working my way around. The frame until i had all the trim fit once the pieces were cut to length.
I applied a few coats of black spray paint and this trim came already primed. So that saved me quite a bit of work when painting to mount the frame to the wall. I used a french cleat and this is a really simple mounting bracket and can be cut from a piece of scrap wood so to create the fringe cleat. I ripped a piece of scrap wood down the center at a 45 degree angle, and i used my table saw, but you could do this with a circular saw and straight edge. If you don’t have a table saw next. I mounted one half of the cleat to the back of the frame using a few inch and a quarter screws, and you can see how the cleat forms a hook which will grab onto the matching piece that will be mounted to the wall when using a french Cleat, you also need to add a spacer to the bottom edge of whatever you’re mounting so that it’s spaced evenly from the wall all the way around to mount the cleat to the wall.
I used a few four inch screws making sure to drive them into a stud and also making sure the cleat was level so next it was time for the most nerve-wracking part of this build, and that was installing the screen material. So the key here is to really just take your time and follow the pattern outlined on the carl’s place website. You basically want to attach the screen using a stapler moving in a star pattern going from the center of the frame out towards the edges. Just take your time and make sure any wrinkles are removed along the way.
I unfortunately rushed this a little bit and ended up with a few wrinkles, but nothing major and nothing. You can really notice with the projector on after attaching the screen, i trimmed away any excess with a utility knife, and i purposely got one size larger than i needed so that i could trim the screen to fit next, i installed the felt tape. I cut a 45 degree miter on each corner, using a speed square and applied the tape making sure not to pull too hard on the tape, as this will create wrinkles. I just worked my way around the frame taking my time and making sure i didn’t go over the edge of the frame and the trim will cover any overhanging screen material around the edges. After installing the felt tape, i installed the trim using a brad nailer an inch and a quarter brad nails.
Finally, i installed the screen using the french cleat and it fit perfectly one. Other nice thing about the french cleat system is that i can easily remove the screen if i need to access the area behind the screen at any time. The last thing i needed to do was install my projector, a benq hd 3050, and i thought, since i have a drop ceiling – and this is a bit of a unique install i’d show this since i had to get a little creative with the mounting.
I just created a bracket using some scraps that mounted to the floor, joists above the drop ceiling so to install the projector. I just used the two bolts that were included with the mount and i’ll have a link to the exact mount i used in the video description and after installing the mount i secured, the projector into place, adjusted the position and then fired it up with that. The projector screen project was done all right. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this one.
This project was really simple, but i am super happy with the final result, and this is a massive upgrade for me. I was running a 42-inch plasma screen prior to this, so this is pretty amazing. I feel like i’m really at the movies, and you could go a lot bigger with this, the the projector i’m using, which is the bin q ht3050. It’S a fairly budget friendly, projector it’ll go up to 180 inches diagonally. So if you have the wall space, you could build this thing as big as you want using the same techniques. So hopefully you guys enjoyed this one. If you don’t already check out my youtube channel, i have tons more woodworking projects over there. I put out new project videos every week, i’ll have a button for you to click to go over there and thanks again to the guys at make magazine for having me on their channel alright guys until next time.
Happy building you .