Hey all. Soon I’ll be installing a projector that doesn’t have horizontal lens shift. I’d like to use a ceiling mount that has the ability to shift the projector an inch or two laterally.

The only one I can find is an adapter from Chief that you add in to one of their mounts.

[Link: legrandav.com]

There must be others and I’m just not finding them.

Does anyone here have a favourite that they can recommend?

Thanks.

Craig

Does the surface you're mounting to prevent you from centering the bracket to the screen?

No. And I’m confident I can get it just about perfect. But I’d like to have the ability to move it 1/4” or 1/2” if needed.

That said I’ll be using a universal mount so as long as the holes are positioned so, I suppose I’ll be able to move the projector a little if needed.


I don’t do a lot of projectors and up to now the ones that I’ve done all had horizontal lens shift.

With no lens shift; make sure when you find the center of the screen on the ceiling, that you align the center of the lens and not necessarily the center of the projector. If the lens in center mounted in the projector, then it is one & the same. But if it is offset.... I've seen installers make that mistake more than a few times.

Also make sure you get your drop calculated well, so the projector lens is vertically aligned also. If you can use a pole extension with a lot of very small incremental adjustments, that is ideal when dealing with projectors like that.


Product I like:
[Link: docs.peerless-av.com]

With this pole adjustment:
[Link: docs.peerless-av.com]

And a top plate, depending on your installation.

Thanks for the reply.

The lens is off to the side and I thought about that. Thankfully this projector has vertical lens shift adjustment so I only need to nail the horizontal placement.

Craig

I have to be an Ernie and to ask the brand and model number of the projector?

It's been quite a while since I've seen a projector without some sort of lens adjustment.

There might be an easier fix here.

Optoma UHD50x.

[Link: optoma.com]

Has vertical lens shift but not horizontal.

Craig.

The question he asked is a quite competent* question, so, no. That is, nothing about the variations from one projector model to another would affect what you do with one model.

Me, too. Perhaps projectors without lateral shift depend on keystone adjustment. (To look into this, get us the brand and model of the projector!)


There is. Well, maybe not easier... and the entire following term paper has nothing to do with projector height. It's all envisioned as though in only two dimensions. (I first used this procedure with a Sony G90. The physical floor mockup showed us that the installation manual, which showed distance from screen to lens, actually gave distance from screen to mount. If we had followed the manual we would have wasted hundreds of dollars building a second mount. For a 240 pound projector.)

So:
Check to be sure the screen wall is plumb. Yes, really. Decide what to do about it if it's not.

Slap tape up on the screen wall exactly along the edges of your planned image. You'll have to place it lower than the eventual image position.

Flip the projector upside down and position it such that the image edges line up with the tape. You probably won't be able to get the entire image on the wall, but be sure you get enough of it to KNOW that the edges are the right distance apart, and parallel, and plumb. This puts the lens exactly where it will be, both laterally and distance-wise from the wall.

Use a plum bob to mark the spot on the ceiling that is directly above the front center of the lens. This position is a reference from here on out.

Measure the front to back distance from the front center of the lens to the front and to the rear bracket mounting holes.

Use a laser to create two lines on the ceiling, both of which will be parallel to the screen wall. One line will be positioned at the distance from the lens position to the front bracket mounting holes. The other line will be positioned at the distance from the lens position to the rear bracket holes.

This is where you can easily go wrong, because you need to get those mounting holes dead parallel to the screen wall.

Use your above measurements to pin down where those holes are along the lines you made with the laser.

Do a test hang.
What are you doing to guarantee that all, or for that matter ANY, mount holes will be in wood? Maybe mount a piece of 3/4" ply to joists, then mount the projector to that?

Maybe do the test hang with a piece of plywood that allows you to microadjust the projector position, then transfer your correct hole positions to another piece of plywood.






*as opposed to incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial... I've watched too much Perry Mason lately!

Just guessing but if you really need a bracket with the ability to move left and right you’re than likely going to have go custom and build it.
Unistrut or t-track (rockler) Added to the mount of your choice and you should be able to do exactly what you want.

The mount they recommend for this projector appears to have 2.76" of horizontal shift.

[Link: optoma.com]

Posts 9 and 10 were written while I was editing Post 8.

Actually, pulling an Ernie here brought us to the correct answer.  Having the model number brought us to the product page, the bottom of the spec's on the product page gave us the model number of their mount, which does in fact have horizontal shift.

Thanks guys.

Ernie your description of how to find the lens position on the ceiling is pretty much exactly what I had planned.

He’s using a motorized drop down screen in a bulkhead so at least I don’t have to worry about the wall being plumb.

I’ll seek out the Optoma recommended mount. Actually I feel a little sheepish not seeing that in my own searching. Thank you.

Craig.

Jeez, I didn't feel pulled on at all.


Great minds think alike. Or, as MAD magazine once wrote, small minds run in the same gutter.


No, but you may have to worry about being parallel to a non-level ceiling.

I once did an installation where we had to run wire laterally along an indoor concrete-finished block wall. We used plastic ducting, ran it PERFECTLY level, then backed up and looked at it... only to find the ceiling was not level and it all looked wrong!

Everything doesn't occur to everyone. Not every time, anyway.