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.