I have a media room with an oak ceiling and a center beam 5 inches wide and 10 high. I believe this beam is hollow and constructed of ~1" thick hardwood. I want to ceiling mount an InFocus X10 (Costco) projector, but its lens would be 4.6 inches too far left if I fasten the ceiling bracket to the center of the beam. No lens shift on X10, so I think the distortion would be bad at 15 feet. So my original plan was to fasten a length of 2x4 to the side of the beam (using a piece of 1x4, "sawed" end of both pieces facing down), and screw the ceiling mount into the edge of the 2x4 4.6 inches to the right of the beam center, so the lens will be dead center.
But it would be a lot less work to put a rear shelf in the back of the room supported by a stud. But is it OK to just lay a projector on its topside? The picture of the X10 shows no controls or ventilation holes on its top side. Perhaps with some strategic felt circles or laying on some foam? The shelf could be made very secure because there's a drop ceiling in the back of the room.
