In the home of the future, everything is automated. Some of us are already there, in dwellings fully tricked-out with IoT and smart home devices. But they don’t somehow look as futuristic as a home in which everything is motorized. We don’t know whether this was the intention, but we certainly get a futuristic vibe from [Sam Baker]’s home cinema projector mount. It’s no mere bracket, instead on command the projector descends from concealment in the ceiling on a custom scissor lift mechanism.
A scissor lift is a simple enough mechanism, but since he was 3D printing one that had to withstand the weight of the projector, it took him a while to get it right. Even the lead screw which drives it is also printed, turned by a stepper motor. As the brains of the unit needn’t be particularly accomplished, an Arduino Nano does the job well enough.
It’s fair to say that his projector isn’t the heaviest of models, but the result glides smoothly down from the ceiling for a perfect home cinema experience. We like it.
Even with my high rooms of 3,3m the postion of the bemer about 20cm below the ceiling is perfect for viewing. I never missed any lift. The beamer is of course mounted upside down so it projects the image downwards. But most beamers can be operated that way.
They are mounted upside down because the optics are set up for a conference table/teachers desk where they would be at the bottom of the screen. They also have a setting for (rear or mirrored) projection.
That said; depending on the quality of your screen or the optics (EG digital adjustment of the squareness) you may find the screen less in focus top and bottom the farther away you get.
I like running the content in pixel for pixel mode, but you may not even get that option or the projector will enforce a scaling mode.
If you haven’t got the lumens or the controlled environment you might not even notice. And with TVs getting to 70″ anyway many houses aren’t going to have room for much bigger at comfortable viewing distances anyway. I had to sit out in the entry hallway or against the back wall when I put a 120″ in my mom’s living room.
I haven’t looked lately at the state of hobbyist projectors, I wonder if there are 2K phone screens you can use to make an LCD projector.
the projector is a lot smaller than i was imagining from the first photos i saw so maybe this won’t bite him as severely as i thought it would…but i still think this is dramatic over-use of 3d printed parts.
personally, i mostly print brackets. the bulk of my objects is usually wood or metal or whatever. it just takes so looonnng to put 100 meters of filament on the bed. and the result isn’t very stiff, and since i use PLA it will sag or become brittle under chronic mechanical stress. plus, the long iteration time hampers prototyping and encourages reuse of “not quite right” components that would naturally go in the rubbish bin if they hadn’t taken 40 hours to print.
but that’s just me i guess.
I agree that the printer is a hammer looking for a nail many times.
I often wonder with these “lets print a flat thing with some holes” mentality hacks whether they have a hardware store or junk store with inexpensive flat aluminum stock. Print a drilling jig and maybe the base, or some brackets.
I often just browse the Dollar store looking for things that are made of flat easy to cut materials. I found a doll bed that could easily be cut and function as a rain hood for an IR reflector for example.
I appreciate the hack, but agree large flat areas take forever to print. The box could probably be replaced with a wooden drawer salvaged from the garbage, 3D print the bearing runners if you like.
And yes I’ve played too much Lego and see the world through Lego goggles.
3D print a solution for all those cables? Art display and cables together on the wall. A big problem for ceiling mounts, long HDMI cables aren’t cheap. Cat-5 is. Holeywood made us have to use their crap. Much better to have only one cable to have to run up and over if above is prefered.