P3D Re: Has anyone Joined two 40 inch silver screens? (fwd)

[Tom Deering <tmd@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Grant C. Campos wrote:

>I was just wondering if anyone has successfully spliced together two
>silver screens.  It just seemed like a great way to get a much wider
>screen at a cheep price.

Haven't done it myself. I have a 70x70, and it's a real pain to move.
Won't fit in a regular auto.  Moving an 80 inch screen would be a serious
problem.

>Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to do it?  I've thought of
>buying three 40 inch screens from my local thrift stores, and then using
>a strip from the third one as a splice, with double stick tape to cover
>the 6 to 10 inch space between the two screens.  This should make a
>viewing area of 50 X 80+.

No, 40x80.  Are you thinking of inventing a new format?  :^)

>Would there be a way to make it seem seamless?

If I were to tackle this, I would just stitch them together.  Place the
silver sides together, and tack the four corners.  Put your sewing machine
on the floor with lots of room to the left. Run a nice straight seam along
one side, and Bob's your uncle.  You may have to carefully press the thing
to get it flat, but the seam shouldn't be a big deal.

That's the easy part.  The hard part is making a working rollup case.  Not
impossible, but more difficult.  If you plan to make one wall of your
basement a "theatre", then you could make a frame out of pipe, and use cord
to stretch the screen.  That's how a real theater does it, and it would
solve the problem of keeping it flat.

>The other idea was to just open the opposite ends of the screen cases
>and find a way to siamese the screens together, perhaps using Duct tape
>on the backs of the screens and telescoping the screen carriers together
>slightly?

Good idea for the case, but I doubt the duct tape would last long, and it
leaves a dark sicky residue that will end up on your silver screen.

I like the idea, though.  Hope you have a place to keep a seven foot long
screen.  :^)

Tom



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