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We had a big bash for my 40th birthday, but also to get some of our North-side pals down to finally see our new new place and enjoy some outdoor activities. We had a fantastic turnout (over 40 folks!), and over my protests of “No one needs to bring gifts”, lots of folks chipped in and got me a fantastic birthday present: An excellent telescope, the SkyQuest XT8 IntelliScope

Michelle insisted I get the projector off of the shelf it was on before we had dozens of people going in and out of the home theater room for my birthday party, so on the night before the party, with the help of my neighbor Leigh, I got the ceiling mount done.

There is a plexiglass plate I cut out in the shape of the projector, and it has three holes drilled in it to match the three mounting holes on the projector. The connecting 5mm bolts are long enough that a wingnut fits above the plexiglass (but below the bolt head) and can be used to raise and lower the projector at that point (See closeup here). With these three adjustment points, I can raise and lower the front, and either side, meaning I can perfectly align the projected image to the screen.

The plexiglass plate is connected to a sheet of plywood using plumbing fixtures: floor flanges and a pipe. The plywood is bolted securely to the ceiling.

You can see that there are still a few finishing touches needed, like routing the cabling through the ceiling, painting the plywood, and maybe painting the metal plumbing, but as of now, the mount is perfectly functional, and the projector is out of danger of being tipped over by a kid bumping into a shelf.

Over the last few weeks we’ve been in the process of building a new “dry lay” patio just off of the back porch. It turned out to be double the expected cost and 10 times the expected physical labor, but since Michelle likes the finished product, it was all worth it. Click here for a construction history photo album.