The Ceiling Projector Project
The projector onto the floor project is a success.
Note: the projector had to be set to 16:9 display option to produce a uniform size hexagon, and setting the zoom of my software (map on my laptop) needed to be 24% to produce a 2.5 inch hex pattern.
However, as expected, the distance from projector lens to floor creates a total screen size on the floor of only 58 x 36 inches.
Projecting an artwork laid out for 4x4 map, I must draw part of it on (whatever fabric, vinyl), then move the artwork on laptop screen to show the rest of the map, adjusting the floor art to match, then continue drawing the roads/rivers.
Here's the concept:
Get 4x4 ft sheets of hex grid fabric printed, green background, sand, winter, whatever
Put fabric on game table platform which is on floor
Put projector in ceiling and hook up to laptop, project onto fabric and paint roads/rivers (or more if desired).
Once drawing is done, hook up motorized lift and lift platform up off floor to height of table.
Roll table underneath platform, lower platform onto table, release cables
Now, you could say well just draw the roads/rivers on the fabric on the floor then when the fabric is done, pick it off floor and put on game table then put rest of terrain on table.
Ok sure, but fact is the capability should exist where you can set up the entire table on the floor then raise it up to player level, e.g. you can project a map with ALL the terrain in place, forest, buildings, bridges, hills etc.
Ok so remember, you can do this idea for anything, not just miniature war games; you could do this to produce a boardgame map, say of the entire field of Sharpsburg. But, if that was the case and you’ve got the artwork already, just get the artwork printed on fabric, which is what we’ve been doing all along (Excalibur game board for example).
The only caveat to having fabric printed of a map is cost. A 4x4 bedsheet is still $60. In the grand scheme of things that’s totally do able, but the point is if you don’t start a project with the intent of saving money you will go broke feeding the hobby/venture or whatever it is. And as some of us are married… well you get the idea.
ALL of this development projector, brackets, cables in ceiling etc. was only made possible because of a cash bonus I got from a work partner in UK. I got the projector, cables, brackets, all the stuff needed to make this concept work without spending any of "our" money.
So you see, when a thing is a success, “the she” in our lives doesn’t know about it. It is only when the thing fails AND shows up in the accounting department that comments would be forthcoming. So what Im saying here is see, CIA peeps and so on cannot get credit for the great things they do because no one can know about them. Can you imagine? Can you imagine doing a thing, not letting anyone know, going home to your family then coming back the next day and doing it all again, for ZERO outside recognition/reward ALL THE TIME???. My god.
So what was the effort in the ceiling? Ok so the drop ceiling in the basement is drywall. I had to carefully determine where the struts are that Don put in, by analyzing the layout by peering into the tiny gap inside the, beyond the wall, into the crawl space rest of the basement area. Get on ladder, use flashlight to see struts going along the ceiling as much as possible, determine where cross struts are located that builders use to attach hardware mountings for ceiling smoke detectors, and then match all this with where the projector would like to be in the ceiling throwing down the image onto the floor.
LUCKILY, Don constructed the ceiling struts going lengthways of the ceiling, though there ARE of course cross struts, BUT it JUST so happens a cross strut was VERY CLOSE to where I wanted to mount the projector in the ceiling.
So, probing with a thin screw driver into the ceiling revealed that where I was going to cut was NOT going to run into any cross strut. So I used the screw driver to layout the shape of the small projector as holes, then poked enough dry wall away to then use the Milwaukee to cut away the drywall shape. Once done, I then assembled the brackets onto the projector that would go into the anchors in the dry wall. BUT much care had to be taken to ensure when I drilled the holes for screws, that the depth of the holes into the plastic body did not contact the motherboard or any other internal components of the projector. Luckily, having drilled the holes with a tiny drill bit first, I used a paper clip to probe how deep I could actually go with a screw to make sure I got the right length screws.
All was well: the plastic body is thick enough that the small screw/brackets assembly came out fine, did not contact anything in the projector.
Now I was ready to put the projector into the hole of the ceiling dry wall.
BUT wait. There's more.
Power cable and VGA cable for projector.
As I said, it is a good but cheap projector, very quiet, good reviews on Amazon. BUT, its not a business quality thing for doing slide shows that is, it is not HDMI from a laptop. It is only HDMI from a dvd player. Ok only VGA can be used for live image.
Now, having peered in the gap between dry wall ceiling and actual basement ceiling, I determined I could weezel in a long piece of wood toward the hole I can now see because the light is coming in from the basement. As Don just finished the new molding, there was a ten foot remnant thin enough to make it in the gap, and long enough to reach the hole. I inserted it and after a few times getting stuck on various things managed to get it to the hole. I went to the hole and saw the wood strip.
At this point, I taped the CORRECT end of an extension cord and the VGA cable I just got from Amazon (25 footer) to this strip of molding in the ceiling hole, then, going back to the other part of the basement got up the ladder to the gap and pulled the molding snake out. Thankfully, the snake did not get stuck and sure enough, after withdrawing the strip here comes the extension cord plug and vga plug.
I plugged in the extension cord and reached around the open pocket door with the VGA cable and plugged it into the laptop. Obviously, the other end of the power cable and the vga cable were plugged into the projector.
So now it has power and it's ready to go. I finished the holes for the dry wall anchors, put the projector in place and screwed it down CAREFULLY because sometimes these drywall anchor Fkr's spin in the hole you just made for them. Useless. OR, as your pounding them into the drywall, they collapse. Anyway, slow careful hole size, light slow tapping of the hammer on the plastic anchor and all was well.
The projector is secured in place projecting on the floor and the only thing next was to find the right magnification on the computer to show a 2.5 inch hex on the floor (though hexagons wont be part of the drawing because I am going to get as I said, just sheets of 4x4 hexagon grid with a background already).
So, after all this and your patience reading this, the project is a success and the lesson learned is: DO NOT BUY A HOUSE WITH NORMAL HEIGHT BASEMENT CEILINGS. AND/OR, DO NOT PUT IN DRY WALL DROP CEILINGS.