Home Theater Screens

[shockF6]

I used a sheet of melamine for my screen 

......what is melamine??

melamine is a plastic coated wood. see pic

[mickq]

Yes, 6mm MDF works fine. Any thicker and it starts to get too heavy. Any thinner and its not very strong and is too flexible.

Here is a bunch of info on how I did it. It was quite an experience, but ended in excellent results.

Im not sure what pigment type was in my paint, but after a ton of studying sites that have tried everything, I came up with the following - which works well, although next time I might do some more experimenting again.

Here is the way I did it. Certainly works well. I had to translate the paints from US style paints to Aussie available ones - not always easy.

A few basics:

a) never use glossy paints. You end up with lots of hot spots which is where you are effectively seeing your projectors light shine back at you...crap picture.

b) Your final layers should not be plain white. It will produce too high brightness, and terrible blacks. For that reason - and there are a ton of alternatives - most good screens are not white but a grey or similar blend. Light grey finishes are good as they give good reflectivity (brightness), good colour (dont over-emphasise certain colours) and excellent blacks.

c) Latex based paints work very well. I am not familiar with pigment types, so no idea about the ceramic pigment types mentioned here.

d) PAINT THE BACK AND THE SIDES WITH 1 layer of UNDERCOAT AS WELL. I cant stress this enough. Many paints, including latex ones, shrink slightly when they dry. I painted the sides (so it looked better) but should have followed the advice I got to paint the back as well - or you will find the screen bows slightly in the future when it dries and shrinks slightly.

e) Check the MDF closely. Measure out what size you need by playing your projector as normal onto the wall. Measure it accurately, and add in some room on each side (say 5cm on each side) just in case. Be sure the test picture you use is full size - perhaps just the projector without a signal. (Mine shows a bright blue full size background when it has no picture being sent to it). Also check that there are no bits coming off on the sides - as often happens when its dragged, poorly cut etc. You need at least the front side to be perfect.

f) Lots of very light layers of paint, not fewer thick ones! The first ones of a particular colour should be patchy and not uniform - if they are uniform you are probably putting too much on. Watch that things (hairs etc...gets very annoying) dont drop on the paint each layer. If they do, get rid of them, and then re-do that area with the roller to make it uniform again. you will probably become and expert at that by the end! I also painted with the MDF flat not vertical - prevents any movement of the paint which may resuly with thicker paint at the bottom of the screen - also suited my work area better

g) If all this is too hard and you want a cheap 1-can solution, do lots of very thin layers of a paint colour called Misty Evening. They can make 1 litre up for you after they look it up on their computer. Mine was based on British paints In Colour Interior Acrylic Low Sheen. It started off white, had som blue and black added, and ends up a light grey. Works fine for a 1-can solution (I did a test screen) so long as you turn the blue down on your projector a bit, but doesnt work nearly as good as what I did below.

Now how I did it (dont forget my hints above!):

I bought some drop sheets, put them down on the lounge floor, then grabbed a ton of VHS tapes, laid them out flat, and it was on these that I laid the screen.

1) With your 6mm MDF, the screen side is the shiny side.

2) Along the top of the back I nailed (tacks that I shortened a bit actually) and with some glue, a thin strip of wood. This effectively increased the thickness of those points to about 15mm, which allowed me to later put some little picture type hooks that were about 12mm deep and quite strong into the back, to hold the screen up without the hooks sticking through the front of the screen. On the bottom (middle and corners) I put 1cm thick rubber stops you can buy at a HW store - the kind of thing you might put under table legs or a TV to stop it scraping a table or floor.

3) Now, The undercoat. I used Latex flat white undercoat - in particular a 1 liter tin of Bristish paints inColour All in One Sealer/Primer/Undercoat (653-87751). To this I had them add a tiny bit of black pigment, and they wrote on the top: M-10 DX Tint. You dont have to add the tint - but it came in handly in later layers as you will see.

This produced a *very* light grey.

I used a foam roller. They are the best rollers to use. I would much prefer to use a spray gun but didnt have one....foam rollers are the next best thing. BUY AN EXTENSION HANDLE AND A SPARE ROLLER FOAM BIT. Trust me!

[At this stage I would recommend putting a layer of undercoat on the back and sides].

I did a layer. Waitied for it to dry, a second layer. Let the second layer dry. You will notice a bunch of "hairs" (ie fibres) get raised up as the paint dries. When its dry, lightly sand it back with very fine sand paper to remove them and make the surface very flat. Once done, be sure to use a towel or similar to get rid of all the dust.

The undercoats are a good way to practice your roller strokes. When you dip the roller in the tray, you should then run the roller up and down the flat part of the tray many times to give a uniform and *very* light layer of paint on the foam roller. You will notice your first undercoat is blotchy and not uniform - you will still easily see the MDF in many parts. that's good. By later layers it will be 100% uniform.

After my 3rd undercoat dried, I again lightly sanded it back. This produced a very uniform and very flat surface that was 100% the colour of the undercoat - no MDF visible. You could easily use a plain white undercoat, but the light grey paint was also being used in my final layers.

4) I then bought a small 250ml sample pot of Dulux Metallic Effects for interior use (690-84895). In hindsight I should have bought 2 or maybe a 1 litre can. This is a VERY metallic paint. Its job is to sit under the final paint, and increase reflectivity - ie brightness. Its very thick paint that's choccas with metal. I did 2 layers (sanded the first one lightly after it dried)....but started to run of paint out near the end so only just got the 2 layers done. Wouldnt have minded adding a 3rd or 4th layer. That paint doesnt go as far as other paints due to its thickness.

5) Let that paint dry very well.

6) Now its final coat time. What you should have is a very metallic silver looking, even, flat screen at this stage. Be sure its uniform. Dont let any dried bits of the metallic paint fall off the brush onto the paint - sand it back if that happens as they will stick up through the final layer.

7) Final layer. This is the tricky bit and there are a ton of different combinations to use.

I made an aussie variation of a very widely used paint mix in the US.

The following was very well mixed in my roller tray:

It consisted of:

a) 1.5 x 100ml sample pots of British paints In Ceiling (638-87435) water based ceiling paint. Its pure white in colour.

b) 0.5 x 250ml Dulux Deep Base (also looks white). (620-04914)

c) 0.7 x 250ml Dulux Pearlustre Effects for interiors. (690-84894). This is a sparkly, highly reflective paint that's a chalky, bone tpe colour with sparkly bits. (Similar to the Goo paint mentioned above).

d) From memory I added some of the light grey paint I used as the undercoat (see above).

mix it all up well, then start applying VERY light layers. It will take a few before the silver starts to fade away. After the 2nd layer do a very light sand. What you ideally want at the end is a uniform very light grey (almost white but not when you look closer) screen, and if you get really close to it you should be able to see that underneath the whitish layer you can just see the metallic layer. The job of the final layers is to give a perfectly uniform almost white layer to give good colours (as its nearly white) and good blacks due to the very light grey tint....and the best bit is that the metallic layer that is barely covered by the final layers will give you excellent brightness for a more vivid picture. If you look really close, the metallic layer should be just visible underneath. If you can see it, then the light from the projector can also be reflected by it.

I then hung it up using strong picture wire on 2 x 20kg picture hooks to a picture rail in my HT room. I havent yet made a border - in fact I dont know if I will bother as it works fine and the pic is raised from the wall so it already clearly marks out the screen. Im relcutant to risk dropping it or doing something dumb.

The picture is excellent. Very vivid and colourful. There is no over-stressing of colours. There are no hotspots whatsoever. The blacks are totally black, not grey. The whites are 100% pure white. Overall its a very balanced picture.

If you are handy at a spray gun, use that instead as you can get the lightest, most uniform layers with a spray gun, and HT screens are all about light and uniform layers rather than fewer thick ones. If you arent - your first HT screen probably isnt the best place to start learning to use you spray gun!

PS, if you have lots of cash, instead of MDF, buy an acrylic mirror - a sort of flexble (can roll it up) plastic sheet with a mirror surface. You stick that to the wall, and then jump straight to Step 7 above - the final layers. It gives you an incredible vivid picture that knocks people's socks off - problem is its pretty expensive. One my size would have cost me roughly $490...more than I wanted to spend on my first attempt.

prep coat is $80 for 18 litres

paint about $50 for 4 litres

you can apply these straight onto your existing wall and get your self a top quality screen.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

jetute,

Just a few questions for you! If I build a portable screen out of something like thin MDF, can this "prep coat" and "screen paint" go on the wood?? Might be a bit heavy?

What are the actual product names for the "prep coat" and "screen paint" because those prices are very good?

If they are really that cheap then I might just paint them straight on the wall. Here in WA internal walls are brick so they are plastered and are very smooth. So I might be able to get away with a sand down to get rid of any imperfections, couple of coats of undercoat another quick sand and then the "screen paint"?

Cheers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[mickq]

Attached are some pics of the process in a zip file.

As you can see, at each stage first layers look crap, final layers look very uniform.

Hopefully the pic names are self explanatory. I also included a pic of a mini test screen (made fom an offcut from my MDF) done with misty evening.

Note that these pics have been squashed to about 10% of their original quality as their original file size was very big. Its caused a bunch of dithering and other artifacts that are not present on the real pics.

HT_Screen_Pics.zip

[jetute]

good information there mickq

gone to a lot of trouble there with your post

[HellionXR6T]

I agree, good stuff mate.

[bugster70]

Yup, another from me Mick, great post and info, thanks mate!!

[F6 UTE]

I made my own. Cost me well under $100, and I had enough screen material left to make another.

DON'T use malemine, the shiny paint will cause hot spots.

Try not to flush Gyprock ( Plasterboard ) beacuse you will have edges unless you are as good as me.. J/K, nah, I did all my Ceilings as it was my trade.. Check out that light trough eh!! Seriously though, you won't get a good enough finish.

The 'special' paint is good stuff, Screen Goo is sold by a few companies, But even the guy who sold me all my gear said how good my screen was and I didn't use any.

Mine is Block out Cloth used for curtains, held taut by a flyscreen frame. Around it is Felt covered MDF skirting. Attached to the wall with big clips like what hold cupboard doors closed.

105" in total.

Here is my HT thread..

http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/index.ph...topic=17248&hl=

If you bring over some beers one night, I'll even show u it...

[FPV TRANNY]

I elected to buy a 100" herma fixed screen as im a hopless tradesman.Retailed at $2000 but I got it for $700. the rest is similar to F6 UTE but I used Canton speakers and 12" sub.

F6 UTE your room looks great.

[XtRmn8]

This is great stuff guys!!

Cheers for all the info and input.

F6 UTE, where did you buy the blockout fabrick from? ....Spotlight?

If I can get it big enough I am going to use it, othervise I am going to go the paint option as mickq has done.

[Flukey]

I made my own. Cost me well under $100, and I had enough screen material left to make another.

DON'T use malemine, the shiny paint will cause hot spots.

Try not to flush Gyprock ( Plasterboard ) beacuse you will have edges unless you are as good as me..  J/K, nah, I did all my Ceilings as it was my trade.. Check out that light trough eh!! Seriously though, you won't get a good enough finish.

The 'special' paint is good stuff, Screen Goo is sold by a few companies, But even the guy who sold me all my gear said how good my screen was and I didn't use any.

Mine is Block out Cloth used for curtains, held taut by a flyscreen frame. Around it is Felt covered MDF skirting. Attached to the wall with big clips like what hold cupboard doors closed. 

105" in total.

<div class='bbimg'>

</div>

Here is my HT thread..

http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/index.ph...topic=17248&hl=

If you bring over some beers one night, I'll even show u it...

Sexy

I'll sling you some beers in 10 months when the new place is finished.