This is the only bit of the project that requires real DIY. As you can see in the image the left the pipe joiner has a ridge running round the inside. This is to stop you accidently pushing the pipe you are joining all the way though and ruining the joint. Unfortunatly we want to push the pole all the way though so that ridge is going to have to go.

Grab your trusty half round file and go to work on it. It shouldn't take more than five minutes per joiner and you should have something that looks like the picture on the right when you have finished.

The pipe joiner is produced by injection molding which produces a ridge along the join in the mold. Normally this ridge isn't a problem but we want this joiner to rotate freely in the clip so it also has to go. The best way of getting rid of this is with a pice of 400 grit wet-and-dry paper. Again this shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes.

I slipped the joiner in to the clip and noticed that it was a little bit tight and didn't go round as easily as I wanted. The solution was to remove the small ridges on two of the clips. Again this was easily done with a half round file and smoothed off with 400 grit wet-and-dry. The end result was a joiner that went round in the clip smoothly but was also held quite firmly. As an experiment I put a couple of drops of 3-in-1 oil on the joiner to see if that would significatly lower the friction. The result was a very low friction mechanism. If you find you need a smoother running system it's certainly worth a try.

Attaching it to the Wall

What can I say really. Screw the two clips to the wall. Don't forget to use raw plugs you don't want the thing falling down in the middle of a film. The most important thing is to make sure you get it level. This is best done with two people but at a push you could do it yourself. Attach one clip to the wall. Rest the pole in the clip and go to the other end. Measure how far along you need the other clip (screen width + 2 x joiner width + 10cm) and then place a spirit level on the pole. Get the pole level by the spirit level then ask your buddy to check by eye that it looks level. This is important because you may have a wonky ceiling which will make your screen appear to be wonky even if it is perfectly level.

Iron the Screen

Now it's time to iron your new screen. Take you time and use a cool iron (one dot). I started off using two dots but it seemed to burn the material slightly which I thought was odd considering it's cotton. Asking someone who knows a lot more about material than I do it turns out that they sometimes "dress" material for sale which means it is sprayed to keep it looking good and it is probably that which has burnt. A wash should, apparently, remove the mark but will cause about a centemeters shrinkage per-meter the first time if left to drip dry. If you iron it dry straight out of the wash you can avoid the shrinkage.

Hanging the Screen

This is the moment of truth. Slide the pole and bar into the screen and attach the joiners to the pole. You will need two people to put up the screen or you run the risk of breaking a clip (after using the screen for a while I have found that I can lift the screen on and off myself). Simply lift it up and clip it on. As the material is fairly smooth it needs to be connected to the pole somehow or the pole will simply rotate inside the material pocket. If you have a heavy duty stapler you can staple the material to the pole failing that, and this is the solution I used, buy a £1.30 pack of white topped drawing pins and run a row along the top of the bar. You can't see them and they lie flat against the material so they won't cause dents. The only thing to watch out for is making sure that the screen hangs straight down while you are tacking it to the pole or you will have to remove the tacks and try again.

If you look closely at the picture above you will probably see waves in the screen where it is pulling unevenly. These will go after a couple of weeks. If you want them gone sooner hold a wallpaper steamer to the screen for a couple of seconds. It will cause the fibers to relax and take on their new role :o)

If you have a hacksaw handy you can saw off the excess iron bar. Alternativly you can put additionaly clips at the top to hold the bar while the screen is up.