R100H1 (Av Science) - Elite Screens TE100HC2 Product Manual

INTRO:
Normally I concentrate on projectors for my "reviews". However, I am always open to checking out
other exciting products. Enter the Elite EzFrame fixed frame screen. I was contacted by them a short
bit ago and asked if I would take a look at a couple of their screens. "Sure", I replied. This is the first
of the two I will be looking at (the other is their Cinetension Electric). Both of these screens are part of
the new higher end line from Elite. They are designed to meet the needs of the more demanding consumer, while still
maintaining a lower price point for the budget conscious.
I received the box from UPS. The unit they sent was an EzFrame 45"x80" HC White (retail is $619). The box the
screen came in was surprisingly small. I have done my fair-share of screens and never seen such a thin box. It mea-
sured about 3.5"x10"x84" or so. Weight was decent; more than one would expect looking at the size of the box. Despite
the size, it was very well packed. Once I opened it up, I found 2 cardboard wrapped "square tubes" along each side, and
a round, plastic tube down the middle (PVC believe it or not!). The 2 cardboard squares held the frame pieces...1 with the
top and bottom, and 1 with the sides. All were wrapped in a padded foam material to protect them. When looking at
these, I realized how they made the box so small. The majority of manufacturers ship the screens with the corner brack-
ets installed in each end of the top and bottom. Elite doesn't do this. Rather there is a final small accessory box that they
ship in (along with the bolts needed to lock it together). Because of this, the frame pieces are extremely small and the
outer box doesn't need to be made to fit the corner pieces, thus saving on shipping. I should also mention the round tube
that holds the fabric was quite small. They roll it on a small 3/4" PVC tube and there are no snaps to add thickness (more
on that later).
I took everything out and laid it out on the floor. This frame is a
nice 2.5" wide, with a beveled edge towards the screen surface (this
helps off angle viewing and "shadowboxing". In addition, the frame is
covered in a velvet type material, just like the higher end companies
offer. This was a very nice surprise considering the price point on
these. The frame is a relatively heavy duty machined extruded alumi-
num so plenty strong enough to support the material and its own weight.
Assembly was easy. You simply took the corner braces (which slide into
the middle of the frame) and put them onto the top and bottom pieces.
Then slide in the sides and you are assembled. There are 2 screws per
corner to hold the unit together. One thing that is slick is they screw
holes are slotted. This means when one is assembling the unit, they can slide the brackets in and out slightly on each of
the joining corners, in order to make sure they line up perfectly. One thing I found strange was that the hangers for wall
mounting were on the sides. There was 1 on each side, centered vertically. Though this is plenty strong to hold it, most
companies have a top and bottom bracket so it was not something I was used to.
You will notice that there are no snaps. Elite uses a rod tensioning system to secure the fabric. If you look
closely, you will see a thin rod on each side of the frame in a grove, and then little "clips" along the frame. To match up to
this, the fabric comes with a loop sewn along each side instead of snaps. To assemble, the thin rods are removed and slid
through the loops on all 4 sides. I started with one of the sides of the frame, and tucked the rod/material loop into the
channel, and then simply rotated the clips to secure. Though the clips are only plastic, all the strength of this system is in
the channel, and the clips merely keep the rod from coming out of the channel. Moving on. I then pulled the material on
the opposite side. Man this was tricky. The problem is that they make it tight as to make sure there are no
wrinkles/waves. The hard part was getting a good grip on the fabric as it is thin. I found I had to start at one end of the
fabric rod, and lock it in. Then it made it easier to move along to the other side. After I had the opposing sides done, I did
the top and bottom. This was a bit easier since the majority of the stretching was done already. You may be asking "what
are the pros/cons of the rod system vs. the snap system". Well the snaps are easier for the installation, and generally
since the companies that use them sew a thicker border on, they tend to be very strong, especially if the screen is
removed and reinstalled frequently.
The drawback to snaps is that they are hard to get perfect, so sometimes one will find 2 subsequent screws are, say, 1/16"
off, and thus a small gapping of the fabric occurs. Most situations like this require a new screen to be sent out. The
advantage to the rod system is that it is less expensive to make, and less difficult to have mistakes. In addition, since the
fabric is effectively "attached" infinitely along the entire side, there is little chance for gapping.
Product Review
ezFrame
www.elitescreens.com
www.elitescreens.com
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