Project Description
My project aimed to design and build a portable pop-up projector screen system that mounts to the rear of a pickup truck, creating a mobile outdoor viewing setup. The system focuses on quick set up, stability, and compact storage. The main idea is that you could sit in the truck bed and watch the screen while the projector shines on it from a tripod set up outside of the truck.
I began the project by creating hand sketches to explore different concepts for how the screen could deploy from the truck bed while remaining stable and easy to use. These initial sketches helped me visualize the overall structure, compare multiple design approaches, and identify key challenges such as support, mounting, and portability. By iterating on these ideas early, I was able to narrow down to a practical design direction before moving into prototyping and fabrication.
Construction
I built this contraption using 2x4 wooden planks for the base, where it is able to attach onto the truck bed, and PVC pipes for the screen poles. The wooden planks worked really well as an easy material to cut however I needed and they conveniently fit in the gap between my truck bed and the tailgate when it is in the open position. This allowed me to make a section of the base go down into this gap to make leverage and hold the screen in place.
Notice how we have the wooden blocks where the PVCs attach to the base that are cut at an angle so that the screen polls end up angled outward. This allows the screen to be fully taught whenever the screen is in its unfolded position with the correct proportions. Based on the width of my truck bed I opted for a 60" 4:3 screen which allowed me to only have to design the screen to protrude a small amount past the width of my truck. This was important so I wouldn't have to complicate how the screen folds up for storage.
I originally added eye hooks in hopes that I would be able to lock the PVCs in place with carabiners. However in practice the way the hooks moved when folding and unfolding the screen allowed the carabiners to slide in such a way that did not restrict the folding motion. My quick and easy solution to this was to just use zip ties to hold the projector screen up instead.
Overall I am pretty happy with the final product of my project, I think that it functioned exactly how I had imagined it! I believe there is room for improvement but I was able to build something that I was happy with and served its purpose well.
But What Was This All For?
For my project, I had a deeper motivation than just to be able to watch any video in the back of my truck...
This is Adrianna.
At the beginning of this project, she had been my girlfriend for about 6 years! We had been doing long distance ever since we graduated high school and went off to different colleges, I came here to Elon and she is currently going to College of Charleston.
She is the love of my life and that leads to my true intention for this project. I wanted to create a meaningful and memorable way to propose to her and ask her to marry me!
I made the following video showing a highlight reel of the last 6 years with her that I could display on the pop up projector screen and watch with her, where at the very end I would ask her to spend the rest of our lives together.
So, I took here out to Kiawah Island to put the plan to action, and long story short it went exactly to plan! We enjoyed what the island had to offer during the day, I took her out to our last dinner as boyfriend and girlfriend and, as it got dark, finally took her out to the part of the island I planned to set up. I had her blindfold herself while I unfolded the projector screen and got the video loaded onto the screen. I hit record and asked her to come watch. Below is the moment I asked her to stand and dance to the song before finally popping the question. Spoiler: She Said Yes!
She was so excited, surprised, and happy with all I did for her to make this moment happen. I too am so grateful for how this moment came to be. We invited our parents to meet us and celebrate and ended the weekend as Fiancés looking forward to the rest of our lives together!
Once again, I would like to thank the maker hub for all the help with this project and making this big moment in my life a reality! In closing if I continued to reiterate on this project I think I would want to make the system spring loaded such that it could be set up more easily and it would be able to hold itself upright. I think a similar addition that would help would be to add locking mechanisms so that it would be less likely to fall due to wind and other elements. These were elements present in my original designs but I never quite got to tackle at the end of my process. Either way this has been a great project that means so much more to me and what it has brought into my life!
- Student: Preston Burnside, Computer and Mechanical Engineer - Senior
- Kickbox Host: Dan Reis, Director of Creative Learning Technologies
- Sponsor: Kyle Altmann, Associate Professor of Physics
Huge Thanks To Dan Reis, Dr. Altman, and The Maker Hub Staff For Their Help On This Project!