Motorized Ultra Short Throw Projector Shelf - DIY under $200 

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Wow, I'll probably never complete a project of that complexity on my own but I've learned so much from this video (and the previous one)! Amazing work!

That Venn diagram preamble alone deserves a Like.

OMG, this is gold Soo much apreciation por sharing all the tools, coding and all in all, the everything it needs to complete this project

I don’t understand most of what you talk about. But I enjoy the way you show how things are done and the extra work you put into your videos.

Hey Rob, this is gonna be my project for the beginning of 2024! i just bought a Hisense PX1-Pro and will install it on the ceiling. I´m adapting your idea to a hanging shelf! let´s see what i achieve. Thanks for inspiring people Rob, keep it up!

This is a very good video just the way I like them, to the point, very instructive and inspiring! I might just venture into steps motors now that I have an idea how to set it up thanks to you. Thanks again and keep up the good work!

OMG, it's really cool, but is more cool to watch an American man uses metric units. My jaws was dropped :D

I really enjoy this type of video, even though I don't think I'll ever build it (or probably anything like it) -- much like I enjoyed watching The New Yankee Workshop even though I've never done woodworking. I am mechanically challenged. Watching videos like this gives me a little background that I hope I will be able to use some day. And they give me a little more confidence that the mechanical part of a project might not be as daunting as I fear. Some day I'd like to do a project involving a microcontroller and mechanical stuff (stepper, servo, etc.), even if only as a fun learning experiment.

Nice video! I think this is defiantly something a tinkerer can tackle! You have laid out all the parts of the project(and actual parts) very well. IThanks!

I completely appreciate that all of your measurements are in metric.

Thanks again for doing all the hard stuff and making it easy for us!

Thanks for doing DIY videos, always some of your finest work. 👍

Thanks a lot Rob! I really missed this kind of videos!

great video gives me ideas for many other class scenarios with the stepper.

I just made one for mine from scratch recently, with similar pull out functionality only it's manual and projector is on top.

i love these videos, even when I don't need the function or application.

Thanks for the video. I made the shelf, instead of the stepper motor I used a Aqara blind controller.

Very good content thanks - I built a TV turner a few years back with an ESP8266 connected to smart things using a linear actuator on pivots behind a 75” TV to turn it to face different viewing angles in the room. I might redo it with a D1 Mini and tasmoto for a bit more future flexibility after watching this video

I built and got it all working, pretty sweet. The only issue i have is that no matter what I do the power going to the WiFi unit requires it to get additional power from a USB. I'm not sure if it is an underpowered power supply or the resister is not needed, I even installed separate resisters for each line and same issue.

man... this video is scratching all my itches... love projects like this

Yada yada yada bare foot power tool usage yada yada... Perfect timing on the sponsor. I'm giving that a try for keeping an eye on the new shed. Thanks!

Thanks for the Video! I hope I'll get the programming part done. I will only use the motor components and mounted directly to the shelf from the furniture(with a few changes). Somehow I didn't see how you give the opening and closing command.

I want something like this for my sound bar shelf been racking my brains for 4 weeks and nothing yet. Soft close slides are too long and no one seems to make anything that will do exactly this for a 46L X 9D shelf. I wish you sold this made to fit way to complicated to do on my own. But cool and exactly what I've been searching for.👍

That is an impressive compact and simple design!

more of these type of videos please.

Nice run-through on tasmota stepper configuration. I didn't realize it did that!

As a woodworking American, but also a scientist, I'm proud you have the courage to use metric. I'm still imperial in my shop :(

Lol you basically took one side of my 440x440mm 3d printer... That is honestly ingenious

Great video!! Already set my stepper motor and I'm going to make the shelf!! Thank you a lot!!!

Great video, very hands-on. But our NECTUNT retractable TV stand looks good, is pure metal, and retails for less than $300.

Nice! Thanks Rob.

This seems like a good solve to get a UST installed without a wildly wide media bench. I just wonder how close to the edge of the table top above it the projected image fires. Conventional wisdom for a center speaker (well, wisdom, period) is to have its front edge at the edge of the shelf it sits on. That might be too close for the projected image to sneak past, at least I assume as much. Don't have a UST yet, guess I'll buy one and then figure this out. The easy solve is center inside the furniture but that does get uncomfortably low, to the point where it will affect the sound experience as well.

Very cool! If I ever get one I will build it!

That's absolutely great, on quick question, you mounted the plywood inside the drawer but you could easily modify the design so that it goes over the "side pillars" this way creating a more aesthetic design, would that work ?

Love this. Do yo have service providers that can do this for the DIY challenged in SouthFla? Would love to get this done.

This is awesome. I wish some companies would sell shelf attachment like this or sell a decent console with a sliding or roll top.

Oh no! Once again, you've set my brain on fire! I don't have a projector, but now I want to say, "Alexa/ok Google, open the silverware drawer!" 😆 Thank you for all the great, brain exploding videos!!!

I plan on making notorized cover for my new VAVA

Clever! And usefull as always thanks for video.

Yay for metric units!

Awesome DYI how-to... Did you make some kind of case for the D1 mini setup?

did you use metric units? The world says, THANK YOU! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

@The Hook Up Nice video and channel. What do you think about trend in local storage Doorbells (both NVR & SD-Card only)? I'm talking about the likes of Eufy Doorbell, Unifi G4, Amcrest, Hikvision PoE Doorbell, Vivint, etc.? What are the best locally-recording doorbells (both HW and SW including packages detection, etc.)? I'm willing to pay for a video with this topic, since doorbells are usually the first intro to home camera surveillance for most people I know, and I'm also on the fence on this topic with my new upcoming home.

I have the same projector xgimi aura 4k. Wish i can make the same custom cabinet like u did cos mine is sitting on the floor lol.

Hi, thanks for that impressive video! I am thinking into building the same but to lift a speaker of 5kg (9 pounds). Do you think, this stepped motor can do it? otherwise how much torque should I need? thank you

I think having the list written in description would be helpful. In your Amazon list you wrote M3×4mm screw. But in the video you mentioned M3×5mm. The lead screw is meant to be 500mm but in your list it was 100mm.

this is what I specifically typed into youtube, thanks for the video

Ok. Now I’m inches 😂 going to try this to extend my sonos arc further than my shelf

Would it be possible to run this setup with a TMC driver? Is tasmota capable of this or is there another alternative? I'm making a bootleg version of this and would prefer it to be as quiet and fast as possible and I think I can find a middle ground with a TMC driver. The DRV8825 at 16th is definitely slower and louder than I would like. Would prefer an almost silent motion as the drawer comes out.. Any help from anyone would be great.

Yey Metric! and good for the future when we need to change projector.

I'm planning on using this build to create a somewhat smaller shelf that I will use to mount a traditional project behind my wall in an attic cavity. Here's to hoping it works! My main question for this community is how to build a "trap door" that is opened by the action of this shelf and then closes automatically when shelf is withdrawn. Any ideas here?

Thank you - I used your design to hide and reveal my projector in a floating cabinet that sits just below my screen. I automated it using Home Assistant so it operates when my Denon Receiver is powered on / off and - super pleased with it. While I have no intention of moving house I know its unlikely that the next owners are not going to want to have maintain a Home Automation server to use the projector, so I am wondering if there is a way of adding a on / off button to the ESP8266 or the DRV8825 boards to simulate the MQTT message and activate the stepper motor? thanks!

Very nice project, I managed to build one, thank you very much. I do have a question though, I'd like to modify the tasmota setup to get the signal from a usb connected to the projector such that when I switch on the projector the drawer comes out. I have taken a usb from the projector and put a voltage divider such that I get 3.3V. I haven't though figured out how to hook this to D1 mini and make a rule such that when the 3.3 is detected the motor moves X times and when the 3.3 is gone (projector switched off) then it should return back.. any help appreciated thanks George

Could you somehow use the screen trigger on the projector to send a signal to the motorized shelf?! LOVE THIS CHANNEL!!!

So I think I'm going to design a motorised shelf to lower a projector out of a ceiling void. We have about 400mm of ceiling void, and the projector is only about 200mm high. My plan is to get a pair of drawer sliders, each one has two fixing points for the front of the drawer, and so I'll mount them either side of the plywood shelf that will drop down, halfway down each side. Trying to decide if I should use two stepper motors near the drawer sliders, and go without any aluminium extrusions, as the stepper motor spindles will be mounted so close to the drawer sliders therefore shouldn't suffer from any side forces that may cause too much friction. OR if I just use the extrusions to create a stronger frame and potentially use a single stepper motor and spindle. Unlike the shelf design here, I can't just place the spindle in the middle of the plywood shelf as there will be a projector on it :) So I could mount it behind the projector, but then there would be a lot of shear force on the spindle, hence thinking about using two either side. So if centre of balance is vaguely in the centre then it will be fine. Any thoughts on this plan?

Do you guys know how I could wire a manual button to open and close this shelf? And what configuration I would need to do?

Hi Rob, I see you have got 380mm of extension, can this be changed to extend further or do you think the UST will be too heavy?

@TheHookUp also I there a way to update it to work with tasmota edge in smartthings?

I’m going to need to place this on top of my furniture…any idea how much weight this setup can easily move back and forth?

Hi, This is an interesting project. Thanks for sharing. I plan to build something similar that is based on your design. One question though. Why do you power everything form a power adapter instead of plugging wemos d1 mini to usb port and then powering the rest from its outputs?

Great project, can’t wait to give it a try! Do you happen to have a parts list with quantities included? I haven’t seen any quantities listed on the AZ parts list. Or did I miss it?

@TheHookUp is there a way to add a USB trigger?

Is it possible to do this to an existing shelf? I want to do this with the IKEA BESTA hack, but I can't afford the 2 inches that the rails in your video require. The width of the shelf is only 23(5/8) in. Not really experienced in this area at all. :/

Do you sell these? In market for UST projector but to maximize the size, not realistic to have media center 1-2 feet away from the wall. So this is a nice solution to move it away from the screen just when you are ready to watch TV.

I see on the Amazon list when I click on on the link some of the items aren’t the measurements you have listed. I can’t tell what the actual measurement is because it gets cut out of the preview picture. Do you have the parts listed completely somewhere else so I’m sure I’m getting the correct measurements?

Love this!! Two questions…how can you adjust the speed of the motor so it can open faster? And related, is the opening speed at the top speed of this motor or would you need a bigger motor? I want to use this for a drawer that’s 60 inches wide so would like to size stepper motor properly. Thank you in advance for you insights.

You think this would work with under mounted drawer slides?

Great video as usual! Just curious as to why you went down the route of a dummy switch, vs something like "Shutters and Blinds" in tasmota, or the "Cover Component" in EspHome. This would naturally allow you to use end-stops, which would certainly be of benefit after a power-cut, as to avoid the motor stalling after a power-recovery I guess one consideration there would be that homeassistant would by default show/expose it as a blind, as opposed to a simple togglable entity. And it's not like having it half open would be helpful. That being said, I do stand-by the thought of endstops!

Cool video, keep it up, thanks :)

There are some Tuya window opener that could be more easy to use.

I am using the Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS300 Projector. Is it possible for the shelf to automatically move out when the projector is turned on and go back when the projector is turned off?

This video inspired me to finally get an ust projector and set it up just like you did. I'm following along with this shelf build, but I used your esphome yaml. I got it running on my bench but I'm wondering, what happens when a kid or my wife inevitably pushes the shelf closed? Or if the motor skips some steps when opening or closing. Seems like the build needs a homing switch to reset the position if something like this happened. Any idea on how to add a home switch to this build? Or do you have a better way to handle that?

I'm happy with my Vividstorm screen on the floor. With my floor being carpet, should there be a concern with placing my AWOL projector on it as well, or should I place it atop something?

Only thing I don’t like about this is screwing directly into the edge of plywood to hold the shelf up. Especially given that it’s holding up several thousand dollars of projector. My experience with plywood is that it’ll work for a while, but eventually the plywood will delaminate from the forces involved and the screws will either pull out or the plywood will tear out. Either way, “suddenly crashing down” is the result. I think it would be a simple modification to add some tiny steel L brackets that allow you to face screw the plywood and then bolt to the rails.

Can I use the motor with a switch ?

can i use ESP32 instead of D1 Mini?

This is so cool. Does the drawer slides have a sag when extended considering that the projector is heavy? If so, do you know how much sag it has?

Do you know what is the speed of this engine in rpm?

Some ideas Air purifier, Air quality montor, blue iris on google TV, matrix switchers, and custom source on the matrix

Awesome video! Any way to design it so the excursion is more than 11 inches? The Epson LS500B needs to be much further away from the screen to achieve a 120" picture 😬

I followed your guide but instead of DRV8825 i used A4988 driver. The motor keeps running in one direction the moment I turn ON. When I press reset button in D1 mini board the motor turns on opposite direction. The tasmota console commands like motormove 20 is not working . Also D1 mini is shown in the router's list of wireless connected devices when I plug USB between D1 & PC. When I unplug the USB from D1, the d1 mini will not shows in list of wireless devices. any suggestions ?

I have a problem with the command. After typing motormove 3000 the silver box would move forward. But typing motormove -300 the silver box still moved forward. What other command would make the motor move in reverse?

Now I have joined

Great Project Rob. I am currently working on it, but MQT cannot connect to the host. What i am doing wrong? I am trying this Germany and I keep getting this : Connect failed to 192.168........, rc -2. Retry in 100 sec

Hey, cool project! but how does that system handle following situation: when moving the self the power goes out, lets say ~halfway on fully in or out. when i think it rebooting i can't think that it remembers the stepper location to return it to "home" or fully open state? correct me if i'm wrong i there's something in the code handling that. (or would this require limit switch to the end(s)? or in this kind of case do you just manually push/pull the shelf to its extreme position by hand?

Would this work to make a screen that lowers down? Is the motor strong enough to hold the weight do you think?

Should add a light senor so the projector turn on then it will extend the drawer by itself

So no thumbs up if i just came because why not, you expand my home tech knowledge? I'm nowhere on that ven diagram!

Excellent Video!!!!!! I got the motor and components working up to the point of Alexa being able to discover it. It wont show up. Any thoughts? Thanks again!!!

How would you go about wiring a backup momentary switch?

Try the best projectors at the 150$-300$ price range

What do you have the screen sitting on?

This is awesome. I wonder what happens if you lose power in the middle of opening/closing. E.g. how it is handled when you are stuck at 400 steps into the 900 to extend. Does that esp32 or the motor controller know if you try to over-extend or over-close? I am somehow missing a limit screw from the device. In fact, I am about to (for the last 6 months, but no time) do the same, but will rely on limit switches and a simple DC motor...... but now I am thinking that steppers is the way to go :O as I have a ton of them in my drawer I never actually used. +1: I had no idea Tasmota did the Belkin emulation. This is awesome, I am trying this out right after work today ... kind of tiring to put everything into Node RED :O .... my Phillips emulation page is 5 meters long

What about hiding the lateral rails with some wood?

I am interested in this as i need to use a servo to throw a lightsaber to a floating ship over some sand and possible a giant monster in the ground. Do you think MQTT will work in a deep desert on a planet with two suns?

How much weight does this shelf hold?

Very nice Project! As improvement i would reccoment to use a servo instead of a stepper since its faster and less "stepp-ish". And maybe add at least one End-Switch?! ;)

This is great, but using a stepper motor for this is overkill, you will never need to open this drawer half way for the projector. You can achieve the same result easier and cheaper with a DC Motor, an H-Bridge (DC Motor driver) and 2 switches for the limits.

Lmao I'm too dumb to program the motors. . Just gonna build the slide out and pull it out manually.... 🤣🤣🤣