Being on a budget, we got two things for our business: the smallest conference room we could reasonably get away with, and the cheapest decent projector we could find.
This means that the projector is pretty big, and takes up an entire end of the conference table. I needed a way to mount it to the ceiling, but projector mounts run between $100-$200. They typically come in two types: Spidery-Articulated-Aluminum-Dealie and Pole-With-A-Mounting-Plate. One of the Pole-With-A-Mounting-Plate products I found on the net claimed, “mates with any 1½ inch pipe” in its description. That sent me to Home Depot, and I came up with this rig for about $40.
Read on for a rough how-to.
That's cool. I had the same delima $200 for a mount was just more than I wanted to pay. If you visit eBay and search you will find pretty nice mounts for $30-50. They are made with standard and easy to find speaker mounts that have a ball joint and some alluminium plates. So I found a 5 pc speaker mount kit at Wal-Mart for $15 or $20 I can't remember and picked up a two foot aluminium flat rod and something to extend the mount to meet my needs with the projector. It has worked great and best of all it is adjustable so you can level it out and move it around a bit after installation.
If I had a blog or something I would post them.
That's great! Thanks for the laughs! (I promise I won't tell your boss that you're hanging his projector with toilet plumbing parts.)
The only thing I'd do differently is drill about a 1" hole in the top and bottom fitting to run the cables through. Or maybe just at the bottom if you could manage to route the cables through a hole in the ceiling at the spot covered by the top flange.
You really need to submit this one to LifeHacker or Make. Too cool!
I promise I won’t tell your boss that you’re hanging his projector with toilet plumbing parts.
We have a boss? Joe, did you know about this?
You have a boss - I have seen her! but I am sure she approved, and maybe even helped...
The only thing I’d do differently is drill about a 1” hole in the top and bottom fitting to run the cables through. Or maybe just at the bottom if you could manage to route the cables through a hole in the ceiling at the spot covered by the top flange.
I thought about this, actually, but I didn't want to worry about painting the inside of the pipe. Since this is mounted right near a fairly bright light, and against a dark ceiling, it's not terribly visible, so I left it. That would definitely be a good mod, though.
We have a boss? Joe, did you know about this?
Get back to work you two.
Maybe I'm a paranoid, but the idea of suspending anything overhead using PVC seems like a bad, bad idea. As much fun as it is to build these sorts of things, I know I wouldn't go anywhere near underneath something like this. I don't think steel pipe is that much more expensive, and would be much safer.
Well, the projector is under 10 pounds, so I think a steel pipe would be huge overkill (the pipe itself would weigh at least twice as much as the projector).
PVC at this thickness is pretty tough, and we hung our projector over a table, so noone can walk into and bend the pipe (you'd have to be pretty tall anyway).
The bolts at the joints instead of PVC glue I think are fairly key, though. I would be leery of something like this just held together with pipe cement.
When I built this, I was really worried about the projector falling down and injuring me where it hurts: my equipment budget. As it is, though, I'm pretty confident that this thing is over-engineered.
Maybe I’m a paranoid, but the idea of suspending anything overhead using PVC seems like a bad, bad idea.
You have to see it. It's stable as hell.
How to built a projector,& how to connect with a CPU or a DVD player
You know what nasayers... phptttttt....
This is a great idea!
Obviously lots of people have never tried to unseat properly cemented PVC pipes. Clean the joint, use a primer, and glue it. Give it a few hours, and I DARE you to try and pull them apart!!
This guide is mentioned at the Repair4Laptop Building Do-it-Yourself Projector Mounts section.
Just had to comment on this, extremely brilliant idea. I recently purchased a projector and was browsing for a mount to purchase when i came across this idea, i already had all the materials beeing a master plumber oh and by the way the funnel piece is a 4x2 pvc reducer just like you said, just to clarify, anyways i followed your instructions and within minutes i had my new mount, simply genius. Its very strong and sturdy and the trick is all in how creative you could get with the finish. Anyone looking for a good mount challenge yourself with this task. Interms of strength you need not to worry, the real worry is how decorative can you get? Thanks alot ! wicked idea.
I made a cheap projector mount for less than $50. Using stainless steal marine grade cable, with 4 wing screw hooks into the ceiling and four stainless steel crimping ends.
The four hooks are mounted to the ceiling, there are two cables cut to craddle the projector, the crimping ends make loops to hold the projector in place. Very easy to make and very easy to remove the projector (easy to get stolen as well). Hooks can be mounted in different places around the house and the one projector can be moved around the house.
Cable rated at 50 kg, hooks I think can each take a few kilos, more than enough to hold a projector.
Here in Australia all things can be purchased from Bunnings.
