These excellent DIY screen building instructions have been provided by
forum member acrawley (Andrew Crawley). Additional information on how to paint
the screen to increase the gain slightly have been provided by Kal the
webmaster.
Most home theater enthusiasts agree that for optimal performance, the screen
used with a CRT projector should have a gain of no higher than 1.3. Below are
instructions for building your own screen that should end up somewhere between
1.2-1.3 gain and cost you under $75US - considerably less than commercial
screens.
Parts you'll need:
Four 8' 2x3's: ~$8 (You could use 2x4's, but I decided they were too
heavy)
Four corner brackets: ~$2 (Buy at:
Amazon.com)
Large piece of blackout drapery, 105" wide: ~$40 (Buy at:
Amazon.com)
Gaffer's tape (If you want a border): ~$15 (Buy at:
Amazon.com)
Tools you'll need:
Mitre box (Buy at:
Amazon.com)
Screwdrivers (Buy at:
Amazon.com)
Staple gun (Buy at:
Amazon.com)
Staple gun staples - any size leg (Buy at:
Amazon.com)
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you. We thank you!)
Steps:
First thing I had to do was cut the boards according to the following
diagram:
For this, I broke out my trusty
mitre-box. Those of you lucky
enough to have power tools at your disposal would probably be better off using
them, but I figured my apartment complex (and my neighbours) wouldn't really
appreciate the extra noise.
Once all the boards were cut to length, I assembled the 8' and
6' sections into a frame. I basically laid the boards out on the floor, then
attached the
brackets to the inside corners to hold them in place. Once all the
brackets were screwed down, I drove large screws through both pieces of wood
from the outside corners. (Excuse the mess, I was building this screen shortly
after moving in.)
Next, I took the four 1' pieces and attached them in the corners
for stability:
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