Laminate Showcase

[mechman]

This thread will be for people to show off pictures of their laminate screens. Please keep the pics size within forum rules - 800 pixels wide by 1200 pixels high.

For those of you who don't know laminates yet, I'll give a brief synopsis (most of which is from wbassett):

Laminates are a material used for kitchen countertops, shelves, cabinets, etc. There are numerous laminate manufacturers, currently Wilsonart is the primary manufacturer that is being tested and used. There are some that are using Pionite as well as Formica. It comes rolled up from wherever you purchase it, usually in a box - something like 12"X12"X63". It will fit in most any car.


Thickness and Weight

General Purpose (HGS) Type 107
Thickness 0.048” ± 0.005” (1.22mm ± 0.13mm)
Weight per square foot- .322 lbs
10.3 pounds for a 4x8 sheet

Vertical Surface (VGP) Type 335
Thickness 0.028” + 0.001 - 0.004” (0.7mm + 0.03 - 0.10mm)
Weight per square foot- .186 lbs
5.95 pounds for a 4x8 sheet

Postforming (HGP) Type 350
Thickness 0.039” ± 0.005” (0.99mm ± 0.13mm)
Weight per square foot- .260 lbs
8.32 pounds for a 4x8 sheet

There were two main laminate colors that were used elsewhere.
Designer White D354-60
Fashion Grey D381-60

The -60 refers to the finish (matte). You want the matte finish due to it's low glossometer readings and little to no hot spotting.

For further information there will be a laminate discussion thread in the near future which will probably have more information than you'll know what to do with. Let's try to keep the pictures here and the discussion there. Thank you!

Please include your type of Laminate, your size screen, your type of projector, and any other pertinent info in your post. Thanks again!

mech

[mechman]

I'll start this off...
100" Fashion Grey Laminate with 2 coats of Behr Clear Matte Polyurethane
Projector is a Mitsubishi HC3000 in low mode and iris closed
2 - 18 foot rope lights mounted on the backside of the screen

First the finished screen:



Some straight on and off axis shots:







"Does a gray screen do whites?" You betcha!



And a couple eye candy shots:





total darkness:



with a flash:



and one more for the road:



mechman

Awesome pics and nice work on the setup! Im going to HD and Lowes and one other vendor today. I hope I can find the FG that you are using. BTW, if you did most of your viewing in low lamp mode, would you still need to coat the FG with poly?
Also, I'd like to thank you, Wbassett and all the others who have contributed to these great findings!

Wells.

[mechman]

welldun wrote:

Awesome pics and nice work on the setup! Im going to HD and Lowes and one other vendor today. I hope I can find the FG that you are using. BTW, if you did most of your viewing in low lamp mode, would you still need to coat the FG with poly?
Also, I'd like to thank you, Wbassett and all the others who have contributed to these great findings!

Wells.

If you have no ambient light issues, I'd go with Designer White. It is the standard and requires no poly coat. Fashion Grey may or may not need a poly coat depending on your setup. Try it without it and see how it looks...

mech

Here are a couple of my 91" Fashion Gray wilsonArt screen.
*note: the room is under construction so the mounting of the screen and Epson TW700 projector are temporary. Once I finish painting and setting up the room, I will test things out once more. If I get any hints of hotspotting while watching movies or programs, I will follow in Mech's footsteps and put a coating or two of poly.







sorry the blurriness

[wbassett]

Well done welldun
Very nice

I know you said you are redoing the room, have you decided on what color walls you're going with? When it's totally done (I envision some framed movie poster and things like that! ) I bet it is going to look really nice. Make sure you let us know and even better, show some pictures of your finished Home Theater room!

Bill

[wbassett]

The following is another example of a very nice Home Theater setup using Designer White for the screen. DIY isn't just about saving money, many people could have purchased any screen they wanted but decided to use a Wilsonart Laminate screen.

The following pictures are reposted with permission of the owner- thanks puck, I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy seeing the work you did.

puck16 wrote:

Was finally able to have the wife take some pictures of our theater. We finished the project about a month ago and went with the DW screen after reading this thread. As I mentioned in my previous posts, I mounted the laminate to a frame I built and hung it on the wall, overlapping the cut edge of the velvet on the wall.

Looking into theater from wine room.

Entering theater.




Love our Coater Studios from Serge at HTAuthority! (looking back from screen)


DW laminate 110" screen mounted on frame and hung on wall (overlapping black velvet)


Theater with some of our mood lighting on.

[eugovector]

Puck's theater is one of my favorites that I've seen in a long time. Practical, attainable, easily multipurposed, and in Hawkeye colors.

I've saved it to my Home Theater ideas folder for when I can actually afford a house.

[wbassett]

I really liked it too, it's functional as well as having a very nice look aesthetically.

This is exactly what I was trying to say in the General Discussion thread about Are Magazine's out of Touch?

There are many Home Theater setups that don't require a Bill Gates size income and these are just a small sampling of what people have done. If more people saw examples like these and if the magazine's would actually showcase realistic real life setups then more people would seriously consider projectors as an option. Right now though for those only exposed to the HT mags, all this seems like a luxury of the rich to them, and it really can be done on a budget!

[Scuba Diver]

Nice setups. I can hardly wait to have mine completed.

where do you get the wilsonart laminate? and how much does it cost?

[basementjack]

You can get Wilsonart from most home improvement stores (Home depot for example)
Most people are paying between $60-120 for the sheet, depending on size and where you get it - home depot tends to be a bit higer...

Tiddler asked me to post this here. Had no idea this site was even around. I guess I'll have to frequent here, HomeTheaterSpot and AVSForum now. I recently built a Laminate screen using Designer White. I've posted an article on my blog that details what I did to build the screen. The article can be found here.

Once I get the projector up later this month, I'll come back and let everyone know how well it worked out.

As for the rest of my theater, it can be found here: Kressilac's Home Theater

Hope you enjoy the articles.

[cynical2]

Kressilac wrote:

Tiddler asked me to post this here. Had no idea this site was even around. I guess I'll have to frequent here, HomeTheaterSpot and AVSForum now. I recently built a Laminate screen using Designer White. I've posted an article on my blog that details what I did to build the screen. The article can be found here.

Once I get the projector up later this month, I'll come back and let everyone know how well it worked out.

As for the rest of my theater, it can be found here: Kressilac's Home Theater

Hope you enjoy the articles.

Kressilac, Welcome to the Shack!

Looks very nice! I read a bit of your documentation, and will read through the rest over the next week or so...

Please feel free to stick around and exchange ideas with us in this forum or in any of the other audio/video forums!

Jim

I am somewhat happy with how the masking came out. It a bit wavy in places and I am going to wait to see how it performs before I commit to redoing it and updating the article. We'll see.

[basementjack]

Pricing update: In the western Chicago Suburbs, I priced out Wilson Laminate (11-16-2007) from Home Depot for $2.87 (Or was it 2.78) per sq foot. I've also priced it from two Wilson distributors who stock it one was $2.42 per sq foot, one was $2.83 per sql foot.

[paints]

I've looked around a bit and may have just missed it. Has anyone done a comparison of Parkland to Wilsonart?

[mechman]

Yep. I had a sheet of Parkland originally. But I only compared it to Fashion Grey. Designer White would blow Parkland out of the water! Parkland is cheap, that's it's only plus. I think I even have spectro readings of it in the master list.

What do you want me to look up for ya?

mech

[paints]

Heh....no,no,no,no. I'll keep looking. But you already answered my question as to the quality of Parkland compared to Wilson.

Can't belive I'm this close to the finish line and still am up in the air on PJ and Screen. Truth be told if I have my way. It'll be the Panny A200X and either the DW or FG. Plan B is the Benq W500 and definetly DW.

I just need winter to get over quick. I'm in the concrete biz and low hours have the wife wanting me to go the budget route. However I go...I'll be happy. It'll be nice to one up my pals with those puny 42 inch plasmas for a change. Not to mention at the price PJ's are at now. I'm getting a moo baby moo picture compared to all you guys who spent literally thousands 5-7 years ago when digital PJ's was in it's early stages.

[mechman]

Might I recommend Platinum over FG? It is more neutral...

mech

[bidzer]

mechman wrote:

Yep. I had a sheet of Parkland originally. But I only compared it to Fashion Grey. Designer White would blow Parkland out of the water! Parkland is cheap, that's it's only plus. I think I even have spectro readings of it in the master list.

What do you want me to look up for ya?

mech

I have a polywall painted with Silverscreen. I just picked up an Infocus SP-7210 and I don't think the Silverscreen is helping me out at all. I know I can get a better picture. Would the Designer White work well? I've been looking at the Black Widow PFG.

Thanks

[paints]

mechman wrote:

Might I recommend Platinum over FG? It is more neutral...

mech

Uh-oh! Would I be the Guinea on that one? I've kept up with the FG and DW threads. Platinum is a new one for me.

[mechman]

paints wrote:

Uh-oh! Would I be the Guinea on that one? I've kept up with the FG and DW threads. Platinum is a new one for me.

I know of no one using it yet. And if no one muddies the water, nothing gets done! Do you want carrots with that?

mech

[mechman]

bidzer wrote:

I have a polywall painted with Silverscreen. I just picked up an Infocus SP-7210 and I don't think the Silverscreen is helping me out at all. I know I can get a better picture. Would the Designer White work well? I've been looking at the Black Widow PFG.

Thanks

Start a new thread and post your particulars - size of screen/room, ambient light, etc.

mech

[bidzer]

mechman wrote:

Start a new thread and post your particulars - size of screen/room, ambient light, etc.

mech

Will Do, Thanks