Dorm Room Mods: INGU Door Control and Projector Theatre
by origamic12 in Workshop > Home Improvement
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Dorm Room Mods: INGU Door Control and Projector Theatre
Hello Instructables!
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This is my entry for the Improve Your Room Youth Design Challenge. If you enjoy this Instructable, please vote for me!
Everything except the projector in the model was created from scratch, including the desks, bed, cabinet, command hooks, etc. This model is a 1:1 replica of my actual room.
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I'm a maker , modder, and tweaker at heart, so it wasn't really a surprise that the first thought that entered my mind when I first walked into my tiny, empty dorm room was
"Wow, I definitely need to improve this place"
Since I've moved in, my roommate and I have come up with and thrown around many different ideas on how to improve our room. Two of the modifications we're most proud of are the INGU door control system and our "projection theater". Our INGU, or " I'm Not Getting Up", door control setup uses a series of 3m command hooks and parachute cord to unlock, open, and close our door without having to ever leave our beds or desks (yes, we are probably the laziest college students around considering the door is less than 5 steps away at all times). Our projection theater project has not been completed yet because we're missing some resources (and by resources I mean money), but basically the idea behind that project is to use command hooks around the room to support a small makeshift projection screen that can be removed when not in use as well as a small projector on the other side of the room.
*********************************************************************************************************************
This is my entry for the Improve Your Room Youth Design Challenge. If you enjoy this Instructable, please vote for me!
Everything except the projector in the model was created from scratch, including the desks, bed, cabinet, command hooks, etc. This model is a 1:1 replica of my actual room.
*********************************************************************************************************************
I'm a maker , modder, and tweaker at heart, so it wasn't really a surprise that the first thought that entered my mind when I first walked into my tiny, empty dorm room was
"Wow, I definitely need to improve this place"
Since I've moved in, my roommate and I have come up with and thrown around many different ideas on how to improve our room. Two of the modifications we're most proud of are the INGU door control system and our "projection theater". Our INGU, or " I'm Not Getting Up", door control setup uses a series of 3m command hooks and parachute cord to unlock, open, and close our door without having to ever leave our beds or desks (yes, we are probably the laziest college students around considering the door is less than 5 steps away at all times). Our projection theater project has not been completed yet because we're missing some resources (and by resources I mean money), but basically the idea behind that project is to use command hooks around the room to support a small makeshift projection screen that can be removed when not in use as well as a small projector on the other side of the room.
Downloads
Original Layout and Challanges
This is what the room originally looked like. Fairly simple: bed, desk, drawers, and dressers.
There were a few challenges to modifying our dorm room, mainly making sure our mods followed fire safety codes as well as general dorm rules. Some of these rules included that nothing on a wall could be hung closer than a foot and a half to the ceiling and that we cannot damage our room walls in any way. Other challenges included working with a small room. From the beginning, my roommate and I wanted to get a projector and use it to watch movies, t.v. shows, and the upcoming Dr.Who 50th anniversary episode. However, we ran into a few problems. We didn't have a large enough flat surface to point our projector at anywhere in the room. The few surfaces that might have been large enough to project onto were hard to view without putting ourselves at awkward angles while trying to watch.
There were a few challenges to modifying our dorm room, mainly making sure our mods followed fire safety codes as well as general dorm rules. Some of these rules included that nothing on a wall could be hung closer than a foot and a half to the ceiling and that we cannot damage our room walls in any way. Other challenges included working with a small room. From the beginning, my roommate and I wanted to get a projector and use it to watch movies, t.v. shows, and the upcoming Dr.Who 50th anniversary episode. However, we ran into a few problems. We didn't have a large enough flat surface to point our projector at anywhere in the room. The few surfaces that might have been large enough to project onto were hard to view without putting ourselves at awkward angles while trying to watch.
INGU Door Control Setup
INGU was born out of the sheer laziness of my roommate and I. We had people over fairly often, and got annoyed that we would often get up, open the door, close it, and open it two seconds later when someone else walked over. Thus, INGU was born
If you take a quick look at it, this set up is actually fairly simple. Paracord is attached to the handle and the top of the door, then hung over 3M command hooks around the room to where the beds are. When you pull on the right cord, it pulls the door knob handle upwards, disengaging the door and unlocking it at the same time as well as swinging it open. Pulling on the chord on the other side of the room pulls the door closed. The two videos attached can show the mechanism in action.
If you take a quick look at it, this set up is actually fairly simple. Paracord is attached to the handle and the top of the door, then hung over 3M command hooks around the room to where the beds are. When you pull on the right cord, it pulls the door knob handle upwards, disengaging the door and unlocking it at the same time as well as swinging it open. Pulling on the chord on the other side of the room pulls the door closed. The two videos attached can show the mechanism in action.
Projector and Screen
The idea here was to use command hooks and parachute chord to hold up a projector on one side of the room and a screen on the other. Both are removable when not in use. I still haven't quite worked out the kinks of how I'm going to support the projector yet, but those will be worked out as the project comes closer to realization.