If you happen to have a projector at home, you most certainly have the problem of having to look for a good place to put it in order to use it. This Instructable will show you how to make a tripod mount for your projector, so you can place it wherever you want using a regular camera tripod. It is also easy with a tripod to adapt the orientation of the projector on the go with the handle.

For this Instructable, you will need:

a projector,
a Tripod. You can find some starting around 10$ on Ebay,
a metal plate. You can for example cut the side panel of a recycled computer (It’s free).
1x ¼” bolt (depending on your tripod),
Screws to make your projector hold to the plate. Mine needed 3 screws. The number depends on your projector.

Step 1: The Plate

You basically need a metal plate where you can make the holes to hold everything in place. A good and cheap way is to use the side panel of an old computer and cut it to fit your projector’s dimensions. I found one at my University where they usually throw old computers. I am sure you will find a way to find yours. In the worst case, you can always buy one.

Once you have your plate, you need to cut it a little bit bigger than the size of your projector (~2cm on each side), so you have borders that you can fold. These borders will prevent your projector from falling in case something happen. Take the dimensions and start making a schematics of the plate you are going to make. Here is a Solidworks example below adapted to my projector. The datasheet of my projector (InFocus IN1503, see second picture) helped me to find the dimension between the fixation holes.

Step 2: The Holes

Make the holes according to your drawing. If you are not sure if the dimensions are precise enough, you can always make grooves instead of holes to give you more flexibility when placing your projector. Always keep in mind that the bigger your groove is, the weaker the mount will be. To know what hole size you need for the size of your screws, a table is shown above that gives the dimensions of the holes for various screw size.

Fit everything in place to see if it fits. I personally had to cut the screws so that it fits the holes correctly.

Additionally, you can add a layer of painting to the plate in order to make it nicer.

Step 3: Final Result

Here is the final result. You can now put your projector anywhere in the room and enjoy your movies.

I have put an additional image with an iPad on top. With such configuration, everything needed to watch movies is available to carry anywhere. Pretty compact if you want to project something temporarily on the wall of small rooms!