CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[Ridebreck]

So I finally got around to reducing the size of my "trusty steed" screen this weekend. I've been using a sheet of 3/4" painted melamine board ever since I first got my old Marquee up and running. My original screen size was 49" x 91", which was roughly a 1.85:1 ratio. Given our seating distance, my wife and I decided a while back that a 72" wide screen was much more to our liking.

Anyway, my room is upstairs, and although it was 18 months ago, the memory of my wife and I manhandling that heavy bastard up the stairs was still pretty fresh in my head so I kept putting off the inevitable and have been viewing the smaller image on the larger screen for about 9 months now. My parents were coming down on Saturday to see the kids and all that good stuff, so I decided that the time was right.

My stepdad and I lugged the beastie down to the garage and the manly use of powertools ensued. A little tape and pencil action combined with a skilsaw and aluminum straight edge, and she was cut to size in no time. Given that we mostly watch HDTV, I decided to go with a 16x9 ratio this time - final screen dimensions were 72" x 40.5", though the melamine was cut 2-3/8" larger on each side to accomodate the 1x3 border that I would be applying.

Of course, that bastard Murphy had to sprinkle some of his damned Law onto the effort and I quickly realized that about 2 inches of the french cleat that was attached to the back of the screen was now extending beyond the edge. I had used a 1 x 1 steel angle (typically used for bracing garage door openers) as a backer material to ensure that the cleat didn't split under the weight of the screen. So out came the hacksaw to remove the offending piece of cleat. This was more of an annoyance than a lesson, but still....

Now is was time to cut the 1x3 border to size. I had already bought some black velveteen from JoAnn's Fabric to wrap the 1x3, so I made sure to cut the pieces just a hair short to provide a slight gap where the angles met in the corners. I then fired up the compressor in anticipation of rockin' and rollin' with the pneumatic stapler and met lesson #1 - make sure you have the correct size fasteners. It turns out that all I had on-hand for the pneumatic were 1" crown staples - not the best match for 3/4" material. Luckily I had a backup in my manual stapler and plenty of appropriately-sized staples. Since it was the soft "whiteboard" that I was stapling into, the manual stapler had plenty of power to get the job done.

Things were moving along quite well and much brad nailing and stapling had taken place. I had found my rythm and was just turning the corner to staple the last remaining side of fabric when I lowered my guard and gave lesson #2 a chance to rear it's head - watch where you put that stapler. I didn't eve realized what I had done until it was too late. There was a piece of fabric that kept draping in my way and it was beginning to annoy me, so instead of grabbing the scissors and cutting it off, I unthinkingly grabbed it, pushed it to the back of the screen and fired. It was when a stood up to shift positions that I saw the result of my laziness - a 3/4" diameter chuck of screen missing with the end of a crown staple resting comfortably in the middle. Talk about taking the wind out of your sails. I was pissed at myself for being such an idiot and learned lesson #3 - DON'T get in a hurry! Had I just stopped for a minute and grabbed the scissors, things would be just fine.

After I took a minute to mourn my idiocy, I finished stapling the last side (making sure to staple into the boarder) and we hauled the screen back upstairs. The silver lining to this is that the damage is in the upper left corner of the screen, so I can live with it until I get around to patching the hole. I plan on filling it with joint compound and carefully painting the area. Hopefully when I'm done, the spot will be indistiguishable from the seating areas. I must say though that overall I'm much happier with the smaller size and the velveteen border. I had to drain a couple of beers and watch some scenes from my new copy of 300 to compensate for the hit to my manhood, but I think all is well now. Just thought some of you might get a chuckle out of my DIY blunder. I'll be sure to post a few pics to lend a visual to my blunder.

[Z-Photo]

Lesson Learned - addon

Do not use a "stretch screen" that is placed 3-5 feet from the AC wall vent. for some reason I get air waves on the screen.

[ecrabb]

Another for the "lessons learned" archives:

When you've built your walls with double drywall, over Integrity Gasket with a layer of Green Glue between, be careful about how tight you get the lag screws that you hold the French cleat for the screen... lest you have screw heads popping up all around the French cleat - above and below. Luckily, the screen wall is black and had a couple of coats of black paint on it so the screw heads didn't break through. Backed off the lag screws a little, hung up the screen, and all is well. Could have been bad, but turned out fine.

Love my WilsonArt screen, though!

SC

[Ridebreck]

I put a pic of the offending damage in my photo album.

[tommo2]

A bit off topic but hey:

Did you move your pj closer to the screen to allow for the smaller size. If not you are now using a smaller area of phosphor to display the image, leading to a lesser pq. Try increasing horizontal size to about 90% and then move the pj closer until it fills your screen. Do fine tuning once you have it secured.

Just thought you might have forgot about this.

[Stonefool]

The one and only number: call the nearest "Macgyver." (The result will be better and it will be cheaper in the long run.)

[WanMan]

[Ridebreck]