A DIY scissor lift for home theater projectors

A DIY scissor lift for home theater projectors

Arduino Team — March 30, 2023

Although their popularity seems to be declining as LCD and OLED TVs increase in size and decrease in price, projectors can still be a good choice for home theaters. They can give you a bigger screen than any TV on the consumer market and at a lower price than large TVs. But if you're buying a projector for your home theater, you'll need a way to mount it. To keep his home theater projector out of the way when not in use, Sam Baker built this scissor lift mounting system.

A scissor lift was a good choice for this application, as it can be made very compact and still quite rigid. A winch-style cable mechanism would have been a little more compact and simpler, but wouldn't have stopped the projector from swinging, which would surely ruin the cinematic experience. A scissor lift like this uses the power of parallel linkages to translate a short, high-torque stroke into a long actuation. It keeps the projector close to the ceiling most of the time, but then allows it to drop down to the right height when it's time to watch a movie.

The mechanical parts of the scissor lift (including the lead screw) and the housing were all 3D printed. A stepper motor turns the lead screw of the scissor lift and an Arduino Nano Every board controls this motor through a small driver board. A limit switch at each end prevents the motor from over-turning the lead screw. An infrared receiver connects to the Arduino, allowing it to look for a specific code from an infrared remote. When it sees this code, the Arduino sets the projector up so Baker can start a movie.