# Commercial ceiling mount or DIY?



## fusionrx (Aug 19, 2010)

Have a Panny ae2000u unit, that I will be using. Test runs from my table look great but looking to ceiling mount. 

What kind of mount are you using and is it worthwhile to DIY? If so, what did you do? 

Pics and/or other help appreciated!


----------



## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

While some mounts are cheaper, many are quite costly. If you will have a fixed mount anyway, consider diy. 

I used four pieces of pine, with edges that I rounded over, screwed into the overhead trusses at 16" width, then attached my projector to a panel about the width/depth of the projector and screwed the panel into the four pine pieces. I have to lower the projector and move it a hair back, so I'll be re-doing it with long wood dowels to increase the drop distance, I think. This isn't a permanent install as it is using the former space/electrical of a ceiling fan, so it just leaves four small holes in the ceiling, no big deal. It doesn't look good right now, but I think will look good re-done. BTW, my projector is a hefty 12-14lbs.


----------



## fusionrx (Aug 19, 2010)

Looking for other DIY mount ideas. Some others here must have done this?


----------



## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

What? You didn't think my idea was spectacular? (neither do I) 
You might try searching for diy projector mounts as I know I've seen one or two nice ones in the past.


----------



## fusionrx (Aug 19, 2010)

iCPRIA1T03 is a Universal mount available from Cheif. Anyone used one of these before? Will it work with my Panasonic projector??


----------



## Trick McKaha (Oct 7, 2009)

I started with a $19 commercial mount and extended it lower with a threaded bar from Lowes. Total cost was not much more than home made, it saved time, and looked better than what I could have done. Adapting something already made is easy.


----------



## fusionrx (Aug 19, 2010)

I ended up using a high narrow table to hold the Projector for now. Wife has nixed the living room ceiling mount so one does what one can.


----------



## Gary Lightfoot (Aug 2, 2010)

I used a piece of MDF screwed to the projector, then used a cheap speaker mount (about $15 I guess) screwed to that, and then fixed the other half of it to the ceiling. It worked fine. All I had to do (because it only had 2 instead of 3 plane adjustments) was to space the back end from the ceiling using washers for perfect alignment. 

The second type I used were metal and on a pole (new pj was heavier), but I can't seem to find a link for them. Speaker brackets tend to be a lot cheaper and may need some modifying, but worth a look if you don't mind a bit of DIY and want to save some money. I'll see if I can post some links when I get my post count up.

Gary


----------



## Bob in St. Louis (Oct 21, 2006)

I used "All-thread" and aluminum tubing. Total cost was like $25, six or seven years ago.
Works great, but if I crank up the infinite baffle super loud, I get some buzzing between the All-thread and tubing. One of these days (never?) I'll take it apart and put some rubber o-rings up on the All-thread.
I used a few feet of automotive wire harness conduit "sleeve" on the rear leg to hide the wires in.

Here's a couple pics, sorry, but it's all I got. I you need, I can shoot some better ones.

Bob


----------



## nholmes1 (Oct 7, 2010)

Bob, you are losing a little light output by not inverting the unit. All-thread works fine, as does Z-Channel. However for the small cost and guaranteed compatibility I always recommend using a commercial mount. 

Peerless, Chief, Strongmounts and Omnimount all make good universal mounts.


----------



## Bob in St. Louis (Oct 21, 2006)

Really? How come? :scratch:


----------



## nholmes1 (Oct 7, 2010)

After looking again it may not be as much of an issue as I first thought. 

The reason why it would lose some light output is that it is not inverted, thus not using the optimal angle of the light engine. The other factor is how projection screens are designed, they most effectively reflect light at the opposite angle of which the light is projected onto it. This is why ceiling mounts are preferred to floor/table mounting. 

Since you have the projector so low it looks like it is projecting almost dead center on the screen which should be ok and the loss of light should be minimal.


----------



## Bob in St. Louis (Oct 21, 2006)

Oh ok, cool. I didn't know that.
But yea, it's just about dead center vertically. 
Thanks for the information nholmes1 :bigsmile:


----------



## ohiobrits (May 19, 2009)

I made a simple mount from MDF for my Panasonic PT-AE4000. Most expensive part were the screws to mount to the projector. Total cost less than $5 and if you have a simple wood shop you can knock it up in about an hour.

Mount is in 2 pieces, the bottom half mounts to the projector. Use a sheet of paper and a pencil to locate the mounting holes in the projector, mark and drill. Make these slightly oversized to allow some wriggle room to tweak the projector angle if required. Use flat head screws with washers to mount to the projector.

The top half for me was relatively small - I had a substantial block of 2x4s in the ceiling to mount to. You could make yours bigger if required to match stud spacing. Mount this to the ceiling, confirm it is level - adjust if required with a few washers under the corners of the plate.

Slide bottom plate without projector up onto solid block on top plate. Make sure it is level and aligned correctly. Pre drill pilot holes into the central block - have someone help with this whilst you get it set. 

Remove bottom plate and mount projector to plate. Slide up onto top plate as before and put screws in. Have someone help with this step again. Whilst the projector isn't heavy you know what will happen if you drop it....

Painted mine flat black - looks nice. Can't tell it is DIY.


----------



## fusionrx (Aug 19, 2010)

Would love to see some real life pics of it installed. 


It won't be for a while that I install. WAF of making living room into movie room is low....


----------



## ohiobrits (May 19, 2009)

Here are a few photos of the install. 

Looks like I used some 1/4" ply as a shim due to the Panny's case curvature local to the lens (3rd picture). I was in such a hurry to mount the projector, looks like I didn't even bother to paint the shim .


----------



## MikeZas (Feb 27, 2011)

That looks really nice. I might have to imitate you


----------



## IronManMC (Apr 28, 2011)

NHolmes1 writes:
Bob, you are losing a little light output by not inverting the unit.


Is this due to extra heat? Or?

I'm trying to find information on various mounting options (not hardware) for an InFocus SP-4800 projector. Google returned a totally worthless list of stores trying to sell me ceiling mounts, despite me using -ceiling in my search. I want the projector 1. securely mounted, 2. within EASY reach, and 3. to make better use of the projectors image flipping/reversing options. I bought a motorized side view mirror assembly from All Electronics, and want to use it and a lightweight mirror (or???) to adjust image alignment. I've motorized the focus. Does anyone know of a good method to automate this using visual (not distance) measurement?

I'm new here, but I've been on the Internet dating back to ARPAnet, when it was the exclusive domain of Universities, large corporations (research, not marketing), government, and military scientists. Riguer du jour was white lab coats, pocket protectors, and horn rimmed glasses taped at the bridge. Everyone here was a programmer. That was how we got those pathetic yet expen$ive machines to do anything useful to us. Serious computerphiles spent WAYYY more on their computers than their cars (most of which were purchased for >$500). I was an exception. My car was a Testarrossa. I've been told that this was Italian for "redhead", but I'm convinced that it *must* be somehow connected with a certain male hormone.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge.


-Mike


----------



## Bob in St. Louis (Oct 21, 2006)

I don't know Mike, but that's GOT to be the most interesting first post I've ever seen. haha

But it seems NHolmes1 may have backed off his original stance of the PJ being mounted improperly.
Plese see the second post from the top of this page.

Oh...and Welcome to The Shack, Mike.

Bob


----------



## IronManMC (Apr 28, 2011)

Hi Bob;
My first post is always impressive, just in case my dream girl (long legs, blonde hair, colossal cleavage both north and south, desires me for immoral purposes 24-7-365-¼, owns a liquor store, hates my liver as much as I do, and finds nerdy harmonica playing wrinkly old dudes irresistable is lurking under a rock, which is near Iran, which is not right because I walked. After that, my IQ drops to "mineral" or below, and you'll hear nothing but and babble from me. You might say that my brain turns into crabapple, but I'm just a dumbass ******* (Cajun) and could never come up with anything nearly so clever.

Ever have one of those days when you open the fridge and think that's your pic on the milk? That happens to me every day.

I know electronics thoroughly, and build complex devices without a second thought. Much of my ham radio gear is Heathkit, which had a poor reputation because most of the builders did terrible work. The ones I've built are works of art, despite my name being Mike, and work like a charm. 

However, anything I make from wood comes out as an ash tray or fire wood. (Remember wood and metal shops? We had a "hot dog cooker" project - a cheater cord, two nails in a foot olong 2x4. The class genius decided to make his more beautiful, and covered it with aluminum foil.) And so I raid the trash bin in the business park (??? - sectioned off long warehouses for businesses that only need a big garage) next to my friends shop. They frequently gut houses and toss drawers and counters.

I'm building a Leslie type rotating horn. I'm building only the top section, the rotating horn (it's a real Leslie horn assembly). I'll use an electronic Leslie emulator into the PA for low frequencies, and send anything 800 Hz+ via active crossover to a 20 watt amp and the horn. I want it light and luggable, for playing live. The rotating horn doesn't just create Doppler shift. It's directional, and sends the sound 360 degrees to bounce off walls, floors, ceilings, windows, etc., filling the room with sound. This only works for live music. This aspect of the effect doesn't record. I installed a Roland GK-3 hex pickup on my Fender Coronado for my Roland GR33 guitar synthesizer. The Coronado has a pair of Carvin Holdsworth dual coil pickups wired for series-parallel and in/out of phase, and sounds incredible as a guitar, but sometimes it's nice to have other sounds. The piano and organ patches sound great, but the organ always had something missing. Hammond organs aren't that special until you combine them with Leslie speakers. I have an A103. It's sorta like a B3 with built in speakers.

Leslie's are much more useful than just spicing up the Hammond. A well played harmonica thru a Leslie is to die for. So is guitar. Even vocals can be fed thru a Leslie. And so can drums, either sampled (like my Alesis SR-16) or punched into a real drummer who hits on the club owners wife and spills most of his pitcher of beer all over my gear before he gets an attitude adjustment right in his big smart mouth. Then we tie him to the ceiling fan and throw darts at his southerly region when we want him to sound off, which is an oxymoron. If we time it just right, he'll emit a blood curdling shriek that will scare off all the pier rats, make cats run into oncoming traffic for suicidal purposes, and repel stray harmonica players, who don't like the competition scaring cats. Ever notice cats and dogs howl when harmonica is played. It's called, "Accompaniment".

I've heard of different types of projector mounting methods (such as rear shelf mount), but I find no useful information except prices for various ceiling mounts, in which I have no interest at the moment due to gagging as these were repeatedly forced down my throat.. It's official. The Internet has been killed by greedy big business, replaced by bots mindlessly spewing prices and offering free shipping if we order 100 or more nuclear powered hot water heaters in the next ten seconds.


-Mike


----------

