[acpowell]

Projector Slide mount (now completed)

Not sure if this is the right spot but here goes.

Currently I have a 108x60 screen but with the mounting options I can't quite fill the whole thing because I cannot move my projector back. So last night while watching a movie I came up with an idea that I wanted share to get some opinions on whether it would be a good idea or not.

So my projector is mounted upside down on a homemade mount fixed to the rafters in my basement. I cannot move it back anymore because there is no more celling as the stairs are there. My thought was this: if I could mount the current mount on some slides like from a server rack or a keyboard drawer, I could have the projector pushed out of the way with not in use but then push it back when I wanted to fill the whole screen.

Right now when you jump on the floor above there is no movement on the projector, my worry is that if I make this slide mount that I will get movement when people walk upstairs.

Has anyone done this or know someone or even seen anything like this done?

Any suggestions or comments would be awesome and appreciated.

 

[acpowell]

Well, I managed to procure some server rack slides. Now I need to figure out how to mount them to the celing and then to the projector.

 

[Starmaster]

Well, I managed to procure some server rack slides. Now I need to figure out how to mount them to the celing and then to the projector.

Good luck with that and hope you can get it the way you like as i never done something like that before and would not be of much help..:huh:..on it, let us know how you make out on it.

Edit: Take a look at this wall mount here http://www.htmarket.com/pwa.html and see what you think of it, now if this link is not allowed i apologize in advance. :innocent:

 

[acpowell]

I managed to do it!
I took a set of server rack slides and mounted them side by side (turned them 1/4 turn toward the center) and screwed them into the celling (rafters) then took the board my projector mounts to and screw that onto the free end of the rails. It all worked perfectly although I miss calculated the distance so I am redoing it tonight. I will post photos as soon as it is completed. I believe this is going to work nicely!

 

[acpowell]

And it would seem that this was an overelaborate way of finding out that it wasn't going to quite do what I accomplished. Although I technically did get a larger screen, it was a lot of work and only resulted in like a total of 6 inches (3 per side) which in retro spect is not very much.

Then there was the fact that I needed to point it more toward the celling because it is a upward throwing projector, so I had to mount a piece of 2x4 between the rail and the celling, so now I have this fear that it is going to inadvertently move. Plus now that it is not screwed directly to the rafters there is the possibility that when walking down the steps it will shake slightly not to mention that since it slides out over the steps that you literally can't be larger than an average teenager to get by or you will have to crawl under or slide the projector back in. Oh and the minor thing of me using the wrong screw hole and trying to figure out for 30 minutes why one rail was longer than the other when I knew for a fact they measured the same.

Clearly I should have really thought long and hard about this 3 day project. Oh well. Photos to come tonight I hope.

 

[acpowell]

Re: Projector Slide mount (photos)

Here are the photos I took last night.

In the closed position:

Screen Size while in the closed position
(Yellow border is viewable image/Red Border is actual screen size)

In the half open, then fully open position

Screen while in the fully open position
(Yellow border is viewable image/Red Border is actual screen size)

 

[Starmaster]

Nice to see acpowell that you got it all together now..and now you can enjoy the movies, games etc..nice job on it. :T

 

[ManCave]

I mounted my PJ to a pneumatic cylinder that brings it out of the ceiling and then back up. Think about something like that when you go to finish your ceiling!

 

[acpowell]

rental... but yed that is what I plan on doing when I own a home.

 

[NBPk402]

Slick idea! In my last house we cut a hole in the wall and mounted the projector from the closet ceiling projecting through the hole into the Master bedroom. It was really nice to watch a 120" in the MB.