Sim room 2020 - Time to get serious

[abirdie4me]

I started building out my Sim room about 4 years ago, but work/family/money got in the way of me ever finishing it. It was functional, but not attractive. My kids are now getting old enough to show interest in golf, so I decided to tear it down and start from scratch. Here is the original room:



A couple of notes:

• The studs on the left and right walls don't line up, so I nailed up some 2x4's so I could hang the screen flat. I thought I would be building a box around them to cover the tarp clips, but eventually realized this approach wasn't going to work. So I left it looking like this for 4 years (LOL).
• The CCE mat has taken a beating and I've never really had elbow or wrist issues that some mention. Still dumping it and upgrading to something else.
• We built the house 6 years ago and had this space above the garage intentionally designed for a golf room. We had them put in the cheapest carpet they had because I thought I would be ripping it up as soon as we moved in...whoops.
• The mat slides all over the place, hence the 2x4's on the ground.
• Note the black marks in the middle of the screen. Rookie mistake, I hung a black backing directly behind the screen and it stained the screen over time. Sigh.
• The GC2 has been awesome, too bad Foresight software is so horrible. I only use FSX range, TGC1 and TGC 2019 for SIM play

[JayJo13]

Looks incredible. Thanks a great looking space. Your sim is going to be fantastic. Great work!

[abirdie4me]

Thanks! I plan to post as much as I can along the way, hopefully some of it will help others in the future.

[abirdie4me]

I had a painter come and patch all the drywall and paint the walls and ceiling that were damaged when I removed the crown molding.



I finished the hitting area and got all the hooks hung, ready to hang my screen (when it arrives). I placed hooks every 6 inches, but plan to only hang bungees every foot for the main screen. The ‘in-between’ hooks will be used for a backing screen if I determine it is needed.

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I’ll probably hang the old screen as a test until my new SQ screen arrives from Par2Pro. That way I can unbox the projector and start figuring out where to mount it.

[abirdie4me]

I found a company that can move that sprinkler head out of the hitting area, so that is a big relief. They won’t be able to come for another couple weeks, so that means I can’t put the padding on the ceiling for a while. I’ll probably tack something up temporarily so that I can hit a few shots, I’ll need to test the bounce back on the screen before I start working on the subfloor.

[abirdie4me]

Test fit with the old screen. This will at least be good enough to start working on getting the projector image dialed in.

[abirdie4me]

Holy cow, this projector is enormous!




Gonna be an amazing picture, but getting it on the ceiling is going to be a chore. Not sure the mount I bought will hold it.

[Will]

To focus this lens, open a webpage with text in the center of the screen, and press the "focus" button on the remote and use the left/right arrows to clarify the text. Then, press the focus button again, you will be ready to correct the distortion in the lower corners. I had to move the distortion 80% to the right before the clock came into decent focus. Hit escape and hopefully your screen looks crisp from 10'.

[abirdie4me]

Thanks, I’ll be sure to do that once I get it mounted. That won’t happen until Monday, I need help mounting this beast and that’s the first available time for my friend to come over. I might start working on the subfloor in the meantime, want to keep momentum going while I can.

[abirdie4me]

What mount did you use for yours?

[Will]

Audio general hooked me up with a Chief RPA-351 and a piece that surface mounts and spans between two ceiling joists. (My ceiling joists are perpendicular to the screen.) You can then slide the projector parallel with the screen to move it to a more centered position.

These two items were on the invoice.
7612-1795 Chief RPA-351 Custom Projector Ceiling Mount
7611-0401 1.5"L, 1.5" NPT black pipe fully threaded

[abirdie4me]

Thanks, I’ll see if I can find something similar in time for Monday. I ordered Skyrail, but it won’t be in until sometime in May/June.

[abirdie4me]

It’s going to be hard to wait a few more weeks to get this simulator back up and running, this new projector is going to be awesome! I haven’t done anything to dial it in yet, just straight out of the box. Not even sure if it is running 4K, but sure looks good!

[wbond]

It looks like the projector needs to be somewhat mounted in the middle of the picture. What will happen when you mount it to the ceiling? Does it have the option for image shifting? If not it looks like it could be an issue.

[abirdie4me]

It has massive lens shift available, so shouldn't be a problem. I had it up on a ladder last night and could get half the image on the floor or half on the ceiling using lens shift. The problem will be lifting it, it weighs 42 pounds!

[wbond]

That is great, gives you a lot of room to mount it then. But damn, that thing is heavy.

[gene438]

You are going to have a room to enjoy and be proud of for many years. Congrats

Not sure of your plans on the sub-floor but consider a trough at the bottom of the screen to collect golf balls. I have a 12 inch trough across the width of my screen and it really helps keep the room clear of balls, etc.

Again, congrats on what looks like a great build.

[abirdie4me]

Thanks Gene. I've watched your videos and looked at the pictures of your trough for a couple years, and I do plan to steal your idea! I'm waiting for my new screen to come in from Par2Pro, once that and the projector are in place I'll start building out the subfloor. Haven't decided how deep to make the trough yet, I don't think 12 inches will be enough for the bounce back I'm expecting from the new screen. I'm leaning toward a 24" trough, but will make decision after a few test shots on the new screen.

[Dax]

Two thumbs up on the choice of projector mount. Chief makes a very high quality mount and I think you will find it to be sufficient for a projector of this size!

[abirdie4me]

I haven't been able to find a Chief mount that can get to me in the next 10 days or so due to the lock-down. I've got a mount that is rated for 70 pounds, I guess I'll give that a shot since I have it on hand. I ordered a Skyrail a while back, but it won't be here until May at the earliest. Will have to make due with what I have for now, might switch it out later if I don't feel confident in its ability to hold the projector long-term.

[GoldenSim]

This looks like an awesome upgrade from the original! Great work! I'm not sure if Par2Pro have shipped your screen, but if not, you may want to ask them about a projector mount. I ordered my projector from them (as well as GC2, screen etc) and they had a great projector mount which has worked very well for me.

[GoldenSim]

Your jury duty is going ahead regardless of isolation requirements? I thought that would be an excuse to stay home and get the sim fixed. Does the judge not know the priorities in life? lol

[abirdie4me]

I guess we still have to throw people in jail, this is America after all!

[GoldenSim]

haha - that's not fair - don't try and get a Canadian to comment on that To be honest, I think that's still happening everywhere. Good luck

[abirdie4me]

Props to Par2Pro, new SQ screen was scheduled for Monday delivery, It came in this morning! Already took down the old screen and put up the new one, I can already tell it is way better than the old HQ screen. It seems to be 3 times thicker, but doesn’t really weigh much more, it has almost a foam-like feel to it.

It’s hanging alone, no backing or net. I threw down some 3’ exercise mats and hit a few test shots, all shots with driver and 7 iron fell straight down onto mats with minimal bounce back. No way to test noise reduction yet, I have all hard surfaces at the moment and it sounds like a shotgun going off. Will start tweaking the bungees to get it a bit tighter. I’m hoping the wrinkles fall out quickly, I’ll throw the projector image up on it later today to test image quality.

[abirdie4me]

Well, the SQ screen projects a nice image as well as being a good impact screen. Very happy with this purchase, can’t wait until next Tuesday when I’ll get the projector mounted on ceiling.

[bbasse]

Looks fire.

[Dax]

Looks great and nice summary of the screen!

[abirdie4me]

Projector is up! This is a big piece, now I can work on the bungee covers and then the subfloor. Slow progress is better than no progress. I have someone coming later this week to move the sprinkler head, that is the last remaining task keeping me from finishing out the hitting area.



I ended up putting bungee cords every 6 inches. It's probably overkill, but makes adjustments easier and gives me a bit of backup in case one or two of the bungee cords break or a tarp clip comes off...this has happened occasionally with my old screen.