Projector Project: Phase one: Rigging

When I moved into my new place, I decided to make the leap from a TV to a video projector. I had been toying with the idea for some time, and now seemed like the perfect opportunity. My room is the converted dining room of this 1883 Victorian. (Note: the original owner, who commissioned the building, was a Colonel in the Civil War and died somewhere in the house.)

As you might well guess, the formal dining room in a place such as this is rather large and it has 11 feet ceilings. It also features a fireplace at one end with a wall above it that is just perfect for projecting. So, I configured my room for optimum viewing and began researching projectors. I choose the Sony VPLEX5. Sony makes quality hardware, and I wanted to be able to depend on my projector for years. While waiting for the projector to arrive, I began trouble shooting the installation. This process was complicated by not being able anchor anything to the ceilings or the walls in a effort to maintain the integrity of this wonderful old house. Thankfully, my landlord, North, is one hell of a resource. He helped me devise a plan and provided some of the needed materials. Then, last weekend my friends Mike and Sarah, who are quite skilled in matters such as this, came over to help me execute the plan. Here is the end results:



The cross member is 3 pieces of "U" shaped aluminum that are bolted together in a interlocking fashion. The cross member has 20 inch outrigger feet (also of aluminum) bolted to it, which are resting on the picture molding. The stabilizing factor of the outrigger feet was critical. Next, we calculated the placement of the projector lens to be exactly centered horizontally on the project wall, and adjusted the vertical bracket (2 pieces of aluminum bolted together) to get the image centered vertically on the projection wall. The resulting image is 5.5 x 4 feet. The projector itself is mounted upside down to utilizing the female threads built in for a commercially available ceiling mounting bracket. However, we created our own with a piece of plywood and a shelving bracket. The 3 machine screws used to attach the projector are held out from flush with bolts to allow for spinning them out by hand. This allows for a quick release system were with the removal of 3 cables and 3 screws the projector is detached in less than 60 seconds, but leaving the rigging armature in place.

Remaining elements for the completion of the entire set up:

• a 50 foot VGA cable;
• a 50 foot power cable;
• a 50 foot S Video cable;
• a 50 foot cable for sound;
• a receiver to run everything through;
• speakers;
• and a screen.
  

I hope to have all of the elements procured and installed with in the month.

Anyone want my old TV?