Help/Advice With BW Screen!

[Harpmaker]

Are you thinning the Kilz Premium before spraying it? I would assume you wouldn't have to with the airless sprayer.

Is the BW totally dry? I think part of the problem may be that it isn't and the primer is actually dissolving some of the BW into itself. AAA (fine) is a VERY powerful pigment, it doesn't take much to darken a paint.

If you are only putting on very thin coats of primer, it may take a fair number to totally cover a darker color when spraying since you don't get a contiguous layer like when rolling. I always put on at least another two coats after I can't see the color I'm painting over.

I usually only spray horizontally, but if I think I might be getting horizontal strips I try to do a coat or two diagonally. I don't know if you have room to do that though.

My normal spraying technique is to start at the top-right of the screen and spray to the left, drop down so the next strip goes from left to right with about 50% overlap then drop down and go right to left with another 50% overlap, and so on until the whole screen has been covered. Usually, one coat like this does NOT give me enough paint on the screen and I do the same thing over again, and sometimes again, until I think that any more paint will start to run. ALWAYS stop spraying if the paint looks like there is even a chance it will run.

If I think that I'm starting to get horizontal striping. I alternate starting at the top-right and then starting at the top-left for the next coat. If I still think I'm seeing striping, then I try the diagonal trick.

I have not used an airless sprayer, but just from the written specifications (1 quart a minute) I can tell you that your gun puts out way more paint than mine.

Unfortunately, this is where experience with the gun comes into play. After you use a gun for awhile you get a feeling for how it puts down paint. I can't tell you that.

When I prime and when I paint I use about 1 ounce of paint per square foot of screen. The thinner the paint is (I must thin latex paint to go through my sprayer) the more coats I have to put on to use that paint. Since you are using a high-pressure gun you will probably have to use more paint to get the same coverage as I do because of the greater overspray and bounce-back (paint hitting the wall and bouncing off instead of sticking).

[staindrocks]

I've been thinning the paint, about 20% water. I remember reading that estimate somewhere throughout the hundreds of pages i've been reading through the last few days. Yes, the BW mix was completely dry before i started priming over it. I've been waiting about 25-30 minutes between primer coats. By that time, most of it is dry, with maybe a spot here and there still a little wet.

Update: I just went and sprayed my 4th coat of Kilz Premium Primer, and it's laying beautifully. I added some more of the Kilz to my material bucket so i could thicken it up a little bit, and it covered much better. I think maybe i had a little too much water mixed in with it before, which wasn't really hurting anything, except that it was taking more coats to cover the BW mix underneath. I'm going to do like you said you do...when i get to the point where it looks like it's done, i'm going to do two more coats. After that point, do you think i should wait until tomorrow morning before i start the BW mix?

[Harpmaker]

staindrocks wrote:

I've been thinning the paint, about 20% water. I remember reading that estimate somewhere throughout the hundreds of pages i've been reading through the last few days. Yes, the BW mix was completely dry before i started priming over it. I've been waiting about 25-30 minutes between primer coats. By that time, most of it is dry, with maybe a spot here and there still a little wet.

Then I assume you were seeing the BW through a thin layer of primer, or perhaps, if the sprayed coat was light enough, even seeing some areas of BW that didn't have primer on them yet.

Sprayed paint hits the screen/wall as millions of tiny droplets of paint (think extremely small horizontal rain drops). If enough paint is put down before the paint starts to dry these droplets can join together to form almost the same type of "sheet" as when rolling, but I rarely put that much paint on - most of the time it's just a punch of small dots close together. Your airless sprayer may be behaving differently.

I don't think you have to thin the latex paint with the airless sprayer, but read the instructions. I'm sorry I can't help more, but I've never used an airless sprayer.

I must thin latex paint for it to got through my HVLP gun without spattering in big drops. My HVLP gun only uses about 30 PSI of air. Your airless gun is shooting with 2800 PSI (pounds per square inch) of pressure unless there is a control on it and it is turned down.

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I, personally, would wait 24 hours for the primer to dry, and cure a bit, before putting the BW on. I would absolutely wait 12 hours at least. If possible, wait the 24 hours.

[staindrocks]

Harpmaker, Mechman, & all other Shacksters:

Thanks so much for all the help!!! I thought i'd give you guys an update on the HT project, since i wouldn't have ever got to this point without all of your help. I'm sorry that it's taken so long, but the truth is that i'm still so blown away by the finished product, that i've been completely immersed into viewing the fruits of my labor!

Thanks to all the guys who devoted so much of their own time to develop the Black Widow mix, and then share it so freely with all of us.

Thank you, Harpmaker and Mechman, for helping me through the spraying process! I wouldn't have made it without you guys.

It's a beautiful screen by itself(with no video being projected), but the magic really reveals itself when coupled with my Benq w5000 to show off a picture that FAR exceeds my expectations! I can even turn my light on in the room(table top lamp w/lampshade 12ft. from screen), and still have a very good picture. I also have to add that i haven't fully calibrated the w5000 yet, so it's hard to believe that it could get even better.

I'm not sure how to go about getting the calibration done, although i know i'm not going to pay someone to do it. There are numerous user menu, isf menu, and factory menu settings available, so i'd think that you can get this thing pretty much dialed in. What equipment would i have to buy in order to calibrate it properly? Can a novice even do this with proper equipment and instructions/help online? Any advice?

So, as you can see, i still have some work to do. But to the extent that it is finished, i couldn't be happier. Here's a few pic's, so you guys can see what you helped create:

16x9 WIDESCREEN Front Row:


16x9 WIDESCREEN Back Row:


2.40 CINESCOPE Front Row:


2.40 CINESCOPE Back Row:

[staindrocks]

My camera's battery died on me, so as soon as it's recharged, i'll add a few with the w5000 in action.

[Quantum]

Good job!

You might want to paint those side walls with a flatter-than-flat paint though, or put up dark velvet curtains.

[staindrocks]

Thanks. Yeah, that's the first i heard of "flatter-than-flat" paint(i did flat black). If i would have known that, i would have used it because i was always concerned with how close the side walls were going to be to my screen. And my fears were realized, because i do get some glare/reflection on the side walls. So i think i'm going to go with black velvet side walls(not curtains), where i actually adhere velvet material directly to the walls. That should pretty much take care of that issue.

[Harpmaker]

Yep, looking good! , but if those side walls light up like that using the PJ that glare should be knocked down a bit. Paint can only get you so far. Velvet could work, but you might want to check out black fleece fabric, it might work too and is less expensive.

[robert_1967]

Great work staindrocks I love your mini-Theater idea, truly unique and successful !

[staindrocks]

Thanks for the compliments. Harpmaker, does black fleece fabric absorb light better than velvet. I don't know much about fabric, so i'm not sure what's the best for this type of application. Are there different kinds of black fleece fabric, with different light absorbing qualities. Same question for black velvet, too. I definitely need to do the side walls at some point, since the 120" screen only leaves 3.5" on each side to the walls.

[Harpmaker]

There are different types of fleece just as there are different types of velvet. My advice would be to go to a fabric store that carries both and look for yourself. I'm not trying to be evasive, it's just that there are differences between brands of materials.

For screen framing, I think velvet would probably work better (cause less reflection), but on a side wall the cheaper fleece may do fine. The fleece would also probably be lighter and easier to handle and apply to the wall.

[staindrocks]

I get what you're saying. At least i now know that not all fleece/velvet is the same, so i'll just have to do some looking around. Thanks again!