This headphone amp project was pretty easy. I was able to obtain all the necessary parts from Radio Shack. While it is no audiophile grade amp by any means, it puts out clean power for your iPod or portable CD player and will drive a high impedence headphone with ease. Read more...



If you've spent thousands of dollars on your projector but are hesitant to spend any more money on a screen, make one yourself! It will cost about $30 worth of parts from your local hardware store.

Parts:
• 5'x8' Parkland Plastics brand white wall-board
• Four (4) pieces of 2 1/4" wood window molding or baseboards
• 2 yards of black felt or velveteen fabric
• Staples and a staple gun, LOTS of staples
• L-brackets and screws

This is probably the cheapest way to make a projector screen, but as you can see from my screen shots it does a fantastic job.

1) Measure and cut the Parkland Plastics wall-board by using a straight edge and box cutting knife. Determine your screen size before doing this. If your screen size is 96" diagonal like mine, leave about 1 inch leftover all around.

2) Cut your baseboards or window molding at a 45 degree angle to your preferred screen width and length. Keep in mind that the inner side of the window molding should measure to your exact visible picture dimensions.

3) Cover your frame pieces with black felt or velveteen by tacking them with staples on the back side of the boards. Make sure they are stretched really tight.

4) Assemble the frame together by using L-brackets. Make sure your screws are not too long or they will go through the felt on the other side.

5) Staple the hardboard firmly onto the frame. I know this sounds really tacky, but it really does work. Make sure that you stretch the plastic as tight as possible to avoid bending of the screen material. If you don't pay attention to this, you'll have huge tube convergence issues with your projector if one area protrudes outward more than the other areas.

6) Position the screen onto the wall. Pound nails into the upper frame and into the wall studs. The screen is so light that only 3 or 4 nails should be sufficient to keep the screen secured.