3 Tips For When You Want To Balance Your Projector On Stacks Of Books

While a large and expensive plasma TV is certainly capable of giving you a great movie experience, there's nothing quite like sitting down with your friends to enjoy a classic movie with a projector. One problem, however, with using projectors is that it can be hard to find a table of the right size and height for allowing the lens to shine light over an entire screen. When you want to supplement a table by balancing your projector on stacks of books, read these three tips.

Wipe All Sides Of Your Books With A Dust Cloth

Since many projectors have their dust filters on their undersides, it's important to minimize the risk of any dust from the books getting into the machine and mucking up the internal lenses. You can do this by wiping all the sides of your books with a quality dust cloth.

It's also prudent to open some of the books that will be the closest to your projector and shake out all of the dust you can. Remove all the book jackets and inspect them separately for dust.

Build The Stack That Will Be Closest To The Lens First

Since small changes in the position and angle of the lens can make a dramatic difference in your ability to line up a movie projection with a screen, it's a good idea to pay the most attention to the stack of books that will be nearest the lens. If you work on this stack first, you can use up all the books you own that are particularly ideal for creating a straight and sturdy stack.

Whether these particularly ideal books are very new hardcovers or simply paperbacks that have an almost perfectly square shape, always test out the stack you create with a level if you have one on hand.

Bind The Books Together With Tape

Once you've made all your book stacks, circle around what you've created and apply duct tape to particularly vulnerable points between covers. This way, instead of shifting around at the slightest force coming their way, the individual books will support one another and create a much stronger whole.

Wherever possible, avoid taping corners and focus on shoring up book spines. Putting a long piece of tape on the corners of a bunch of different types of books will just push them all away from you, dramatically increasing the risk of a stack topple. By contrast, because you can line them up with a ruler or straightedge much more easily, it's perfectly practical to hit a series of book spines at once with a single tape strand, thus heading off excessive movement.