A Different Psone Projector (cheap, Too), Fluorescent bulbs and a TV projection lens Options

[tgreenwood]

Because I'm a plug-n-play kind of person, I wanted to build the simplest projector that I could.
Also, because I had a wheelchair-confined person in my household I was terrified of the amount of heat created by the lamps used in the standard build. So, to hopefully defeat the heat issue I decided to use compact flourescent bulbs and make them work for me.

I started out with a PSOne LCD screen, and I love it. It has composite video input, easy AG removal, and a simple brightness mod that increases the brightness of the projection three-fold. If the resolution was better, it would be perfect. As-is, with 320 X 240 resolution, it is OK for 65 inch or smaller diagonal projections. I got a six-inch ffc extension from mouser.com so I could put the controller board where I wanted it.

The lens is a TV projection lens from Herbach and Rademan for $15.95. The PSOne LCD fits against it just fine, and there might be enough wiggle room for a little bit of lens shift, but I haven't tried that yet.

Note my high-tech use of cardboard and masking tape.

 LCD_and_lens_back.jpg ( 40.76K ) Number of downloads: 174


 LCD_and_lens_front.jpg ( 38.29K ) Number of downloads: 142


More to come.....

(For those who like to skip to the end of a story, you can find a listing of all the parts you need here ..... A recap and some tips - post 242 .
To see screenshots with the right color temperature bulbs go here........Good Screenshots - post 99
To see how it looks with a light on in the room......Screenshots in Living room - post 110)

This post has been edited by tgreenwood: Jun 15 2007, 02:41 AM

[illusionistpro]

looks good, cant wait for more pics

[sakha]

Looks great. Can you possibly post some more pictures, especially the florescent bulbs how it is placed etc.
Also some picture of the actual projected image would be neat.
I have a very dumb noob question, do all PSOne systems come with an LCD screen? I might bid on one on ebay, if this looks interesting.
Thx
-Sachin

[jdmlight]

I'm building a PSOne projector (link in my signature) and am wondering: What's the "simple brightness mod that increases the brightness three-fold"?

I'm using the same lens, too. The only difference is that I am using a bulb from a slide projector (same as an OHP bulb). I would rather use fluorescents because they are easier to get and, like you said, cooler.

BTW, the PSOne screen has RGB in, so you can mod it to have VGA and/or component. Instructions in mydiazclan's PDF, link below to my Comcast page that has the PDF. Please donate to him (read why in his posts).

edit: Forgot the link. Here it is:psone.pdf

This post has been edited by jdmlight: Jan 3 2007, 10:59 PM

[tgreenwood]

Next comes my Fluorescent bulb light box. I originally went to Walmart and got two "reading light" fluorescent bulbs. They were the highest lumen output ones that I could find on the rack and cost $8.00 each. The entire bulb is about eight inches long, with the actual Fluorescent tube part about five inches long. I wish now that I had kept the original packaging so that I could give more specific information on them. I'll go back to the store and get the info if anyone wants it. (I ended up adding two more bulbs I had lying around the house because I wanted it brighter.)

Using my high-tech cardboard cutting skills I made a tapering box with the big end large enough to cut mounting holes for the light bulbs, with the holes the same size as the ballast base. I mounted them this way because I only wanted the actual light producing part of the bulb inside the box. They are hot-glued into place. The opening of the narrow end of the box I made to the same dimensions as the LCD. (It turned out a little bit small, oops, so one edge or another is a little darker, darn it.) The five pieces of the light box were wrapped with aluminized mylar, with the holes for the bulbs trimmed as needed, and assembled.

 lightbox1.jpg ( 56.1K ) Number of downloads: 98


I used regular lamp sockets from Home depot for the bulbs, and spliced two sockets into one plug (cannibalized cheap extension cords for that). The powerstrip I'm using has six outlets, but I'm using two wall-warts, one for the fan and one for the LCD, so I had to be careful about the space available.

Here's another view:

 lightbox_angle.jpg ( 41.25K ) Number of downloads: 73


You can see where I put the fan on top, it is pulling air through a slot in the top of the lightbox on the LCD side (just a shorter section of the lightbox, really). The intake air comes in from the bottom of lightbox through an identical slot. That way, cool air is always flowing over the LCD. The whole thing barely gets warm after a running a few hours.

More in a little bit....

[tgreenwood]

Looks great. Can you possibly post some more pictures, especially the florescent bulbs how it is placed etc.
Also some picture of the actual projected image would be neat.
I have a very dumb noob question, do all PSOne systems come with an LCD screen? I might bid on one on ebay, if this looks interesting.
Thx
-Sachin

The fluorescent bulbs are angled inward in the lightbox so that the bulbs don't touch the inside of the box.

I think that PSOne systems don't usually come with the LCD screen. Search Ebay for "PSOne LCD" and you can usually find some.

Tgreenwood

[tgreenwood]

I'm building a PSOne projector (link in my signature) and am wondering: What's the "simple brightness mod that increases the brightness three-fold"?

Here's a picture of the brightness mod:

 psone_brightness_mod.jpg ( 95.64K ) Number of downloads: 96


Only for Sony branded PSOne LCD screens.

Since I can't solder anything that small I used a "Circuit Writer" conductive pen that I picked up at Radio Shack and just drew a line over the top of the component. Worked like a charm.

Tgreenwood

[tgreenwood]

Here's another view of the lightbox:

 lightbox_fan.jpg ( 57.2K ) Number of downloads: 60


I got the aluminized mylar from a hydroponics supplier on Ebay, but I think that a "Space blanket" or "Emergency blanket" that is made of aluminized mylar will work just the same. Like this I found on Ebay EMERGENCY/SURVIVAL/THERMAL/ SPACE BLANKET/MYLAR SOLAR, or from any sports equipment store. Shouldn't cost more than $5.

The fan is just a regular computer fan wired to a wall-wart. Works OK. I think I got it from Alltronics.com or Herbach.com for less than $5.

The view of the inside of the lightbox shows how reflective the mylar is. I didn't bother trying to get the mylar smooth because the light from the Fluorescent bulbs is diffuse anyway.

 lightbox_bulbs_cropped.jpg ( 31.96K ) Number of downloads: 69



The lens assembly and the lightbox together next.....

[tenzip]

Nice. I like it.

One thought for you:

IANAEPJB (I Am Not An Expert Projector Builder), in fact I've yet to build one, but it seems to me that you've got your 2 long lamps in the box so that they give you the least benefit, even with the mylar.

If you turn them so that they come in from the side, "pointing" at the other side, that would expose the maximum amount of the bulb to the LCD. As it is, the LCD only "sees" the end of the bulb.

I can imagine that it's expensive to experiment by making a new lightbox, but it might be worth a try.

[Ma2T]

Interesting build, i wish you the best of luck

[borg1of4]

WOW! Up to 65" diag. projection. The G-Kids portable DVD player is looking better all the time... On a serious note, is aluminized mylar conductive? I didn't see any ground wires in your pics. Maybe some non-con tape on your wire nut connections. Also be careful of putting those flourescent bulbs in a outlet with a volt\amp limiting or fault sensing device as they don't seem to last very long. I put these in my new kitchen fixture. When I turn it on it sends a pulse; presumably, to check for ground fault and then powers up. Bulbs didn't last 3 days All I got. Once again WOW! Will definately be watching your progress. Wow ! BORG.out

[tgreenwood]

Nice. I like it.

One thought for you:

IANAEPJB (I Am Not An Expert Projector Builder), in fact I've yet to build one, but it seems to me that you've got your 2 long lamps in the box so that they give you the least benefit, even with the mylar.

If you turn them so that they come in from the side, "pointing" at the other side, that would expose the maximum amount of the bulb to the LCD. As it is, the LCD only "sees" the end of the bulb.

I can imagine that it's expensive to experiment by making a new lightbox, but it might be worth a try.

I think that the mylar is key to this, and bounces all of the light all over the box and eventually to the LCD.

But, I think that I'll give it a try, and mount the bulbs from the side. I'm going to go to walmart tomorrow and get two more of the long bulbs so I'll have four matching bulbs. The way it is now, I have two long and two short ones. Doesn't hurt to try it, huh?

Let me at that cardboard, and where is my glue gun?

Tgreenwood

[tgreenwood]

WOW! Up to 65" diag. projection. The G-Kids portable DVD player is looking better all the time... On a serious note, is aluminized mylar conductive? I didn't see any ground wires in your pics. Maybe some non-con tape on your wire nut connections. Also be careful of putting those flourescent bulbs in a outlet with a volt\amp limiting or fault sensing device as they don't seem to last very long. I put these in my new kitchen fixture. When I turn it on it sends a pulse; presumably, to check for ground fault and then powers up. Bulbs didn't last 3 days All I got. Once again WOW! Will definately be watching your progress. Wow ! BORG.out

Aluminized mylar is most probably conductive, I've been building on the assumption that it is. I don't have it touching anything that has current running through it. I think that I will put some more nonconductive tape in some strategic spots just to be on the safe side.

I'm using a regular power strip, no GFCI, to power the whole thing and I haven't had any problems with the bulbs so far. It is supposed to be a surge protector, I think.

Tgreenwood

[tgreenwood]

Now the two pieces are shoved together, everything plugged in and running.

 projector_running.jpg ( 40.74K ) Number of downloads: 90


Of course, since the two assemblies aren't attached to each other I had to use various handy things to prop pieces up.

Not much light leaking given the limits of the design, and it should be easy enough to tape or weatherstrip the sides. I have some pretty porous filter material that I'm going to use for the bottom ventilation slot that should block a lot of that light leak but still let air through (and catch all of the dog hair and dust around here).

Dimensions so far:
8 1/4 inches high
8 inches wide
20 1/2 inches long to the ends of the lamp sockets
It'd be good to add a couple of inches for room for the lamp wiring.

Tgreenwood

[borg1of4]

Sorry to be presumptive.... But glad you thought of conductivity...reg on/off power strip shouldn't be a problem even with 8-10 little flo ballasts starting off of it.. I hope.. Need new category for Hall of Fame, Alternative Light Source Beamer.
Not so good with smilies , Borg

[tgreenwood]

The moment of truth cometh....

Screenies!

Hooked my little portable DVD player to the input.....
Added a set of powered PC speakers plugged into the headphone jack.....
Had to rearrange the plugs in the powerstrip for the speaker plug to fit....

Whoohoo!

 I_lights_off.jpg ( 38.3K ) Number of downloads: 83

The Incredibles (lights off)


 Incredibles_kitchen_light.jpg ( 27.36K ) Number of downloads: 72

The Incredibles (kitchen light on in background)


 incredibles.jpg ( 20.42K ) Number of downloads: 64

Another Incredibles shot


It is six feet from the end of the lens to the wall.
My wall is a textured buttercream color, so the colors are a little off, but that didn't stop me from watching the Incredibles!
The projected image measures 65 inches diagonally.


Tgreenwood

BTW, those little powered PC speakers sound freakin fabulous. I'm gonna take them apart and incorporate them into the projector.

[tgreenwood]

Just because I can't get over how well this is working, I have some more screen shots.

FYI:
The projector isn't quite perpendicular to the wall (furniture in the way) so there is some keystoning and slight blurring on the left side of the image.
I finally got my digital camera two days ago, so I'm still learning how to use it.
When taking these screenies, the camera was set on the table next to the lens, so the camera was six feet away from the image.
One of the light bulbs was switched off and I didn't realize it until a little while ago. Four keyless light sockets go on my shopping list for tomorrow.

One of my favorite films. K-Pax.

 kpax_lights_on.jpg ( 24.82K ) Number of downloads: 78

All lights on. Why it looks reddish, I don't know.



 kpax_lights_off.jpg ( 21.22K ) Number of downloads: 79

All lights off



 kpax_dog.jpg ( 26.15K ) Number of downloads: 50

Talking to the dog



 lights_off_sunglasses.jpg ( 19.98K ) Number of downloads: 55

Love the sunglasses



Tgreenwood

This post has been edited by tgreenwood: Jan 4 2007, 06:08 AM

[tenzip]

I think that the mylar is key to this, and bounces all of the light all over the box and eventually to the LCD.
But, I think that I'll give it a try, and mount the bulbs from the side. I'm going to go to walmart tomorrow and get two more of the long bulbs so I'll have four matching bulbs. The way it is now, I have two long and two short ones. Doesn't hurt to try it, huh?
Let me at that cardboard, and where is my glue gun?

I believe I'm correct when I say that you still lose light every time it hits something, reflective or not.

If you get the chance to build the new light box using the same bulbs that you're using now, I'd be interested to know if you notice an increase in brightness, everything else being equal.

Nice screenies. For some reason, I've never seen the whole of K-Pax. I think I've seen the middle and end 3 or 4 times, but never seen the beginning.

[Ma2T]

Very cool to see this working, im glad it's working out for you!

tenzip, yes you lose light everytime it hits / reflects off of something, but often it's like 95% or something reflectivity, so most of it will probably pass through out of the LCD after a few bounces.

Also, I would like to add. Why do people often paint the inside of the box (before the LCD Part) black?.

Engergy can not be destroyed, only converted into other forms. Painting it black will just convert the light energy into more heat energy. If it was white or reflective more light would stay in the useful light form and increase brightness over painting it black.

[senior_technicia...]

Why do people often paint the inside of the box (before the LCD Part) black?.

I can only speak for myself. I painted the area before my LCD black to reduce reflected light leaks through the fans. As I understand it, only light originating from the first fresnel's focal point will be properly collimated by the fresnel. If that is the case, stray light entering the fresnel at odd angles will not increase the brightness of projection. At least that's my understanding. I painted the entire interior of my box black before I fired 'er up, so I've not tried it any other way.

[jdmlight]

Painting the inside of a projector black, as stated above, reduces the chance of light entering the fresnel at odd angles. This is beneficial because the stray light would cause ghosting (not fun, also kinda diminishes some of your bragging rights )

This post has been edited by jdmlight: Jan 4 2007, 10:19 PM

[jdmlight]

BTW, those little powered PC speakers sound freakin fabulous. I'm gonna take them apart and incorporate them into the projector.

Be careful when taking apart computer speakers and just using the bare speaker. Part of the reason that they sound so good is because of the box that they're in. I would recommend just taking off the front part and mounting them flush with the sides of your PJ box.

[tgreenwood]

Very cool to see this working, im glad it's working out for you!

tenzip, yes you lose light everytime it hits / reflects off of something, but often it's like 95% or something reflectivity, so most of it will probably pass through out of the LCD after a few bounces.

The mylar I got is supposed to be 98% reflective. Looks like its working pretty well, huh?

[tgreenwood]

Painting the inside of a projector black, as stated above, reduces the chance of light entering the fresnel at odd angles. This is beneficial because the stray light would cause ghosting (not fun, also kinda diminishes some of your bragging rights )

Are you sure that the stray light would cause ghosting in the image?

The reason that I ask is because the light entering the LCD from the fluorescent bulbs in my projector is coming in from all kinds of angles and there is no ghosting.

Also, from my understanding, the part of a standard build from the LCD to the projection lens should be painted black to keep stray light (light not coming directly from the LCD) from getting through the projection lens and washing out the image.

Tgreenwood

This post has been edited by tgreenwood: Jan 4 2007, 11:46 PM

[Ma2T]

Sure does work well

Thanks for the info jdmlight, but tgreenwood does have a point. If that was the case, then this projector should have bad ghosting of four different ghost images (as four lamps are used), plus others from the reflections.

I can understand painting it black after the LCD, but before the first fresnel, I am curious to try. Has anyone ever done a decent test on the "black" theory.