What is up?! I have just placed an order for all my parts from Lumenlab I ordered the lens kit, the pulse strike lamp kit the UV filter and the fan and cooling equipment. Now being in Canada my LCD selections were a bit slim since this was my first PJ and I'm a little pressed for cash I decided to go with a Metro M15S it is a pretty decent monitor and seems to work OK.
IMPORTANT>>MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THAT THE MONITOR DOESN'T HAVE ANY DEAD PIXELS BEFORE YOU OPEN IT TO TAKE MEASUREMENTS<<IMPORTANT
I made the mistake of opening it up and taking the measurements of the LCD before testing to make sure that there are no dead pixels. I have one, so luckily i was safe. I don't have any pictures or anything up yet because I'm waiting on the Lumenlab order, but i can explain it to you anyway. Its going to be kinda like a Haas style in that its bigger in the middle and gets smaller toward the ends of it. I want it to get smaller on all the sides not just like a vertical i want it to get skinner too. I hoping this will make more sense once i get some pictures up. I'm also trying to learn how to use the 3D studio max 8 and then i will have a good 3D model to build off. But i will keep you posted and i placed the order on the 29 of January, this is to keep count on how many days it takes to get to me. I'm hopping to get a 3D model very soon.
Later

As promised i have made up some 3D wire frame models of what i want, they aren't exact but i think most of it is close. Cant wait for my parts to arrive so i can build this beast.
Click to view attachment

Here are the side and top profiles
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

Yes!!! finally got all my parts from lumenlab, now im just waiting on the temperd glass form the glass shop here and i was thinking about adding servos to the build because i had a servo controller i was thinking i could use the servos to control the keystoning and modify a servo for continual spin for the focusing. I will pick up some MDF tonight and start this build i will probly dismantle the LCD first. I alos built a small htpc using an old labtop it should do the trick! cant wait to start this build, so excited!

OK i started making frames for all the lenses and the LCD, it worked out ok just have to wait for them to dry, and then im going to put them into another frame that holds all 4 peices of glass. I also started to woodfill all the screws on my HTPC, the next thingy for that is to paint it, I havent set on a paint yet but i want to paint the PJ and the HTPC the same color.
I was wondering what you guys think is the best paint color for the outside of a box as so that it is harder to see in the dark, either like a flat black or a differnt type of black?
Once the frames are dry and I have all the frames in teh the bigger fram ill set it up a little to show you the picture so far. I also solderd a switch into my wireless mouse that i will be using, this is so i dont go through batteries like crazy!!
Later

This is a picture of the lens frame asslembly, in my opinion this was the hardest part so far about this build.Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Here is a picture of the enclouser just all clapped up waiting fo the glue to dry. Its about 36 inches long.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Bad news the FCC sides of the lcd wore down a bit form handling and measuring the LCD so i have to buy a new one, but other then that i have started to paint it. I hope that I should be done before the weekend coming up. Hopefully

Whats Up? Well I got all the painting done and im just waiting until tomarrow to assemble it but it should be sweet, I did a test a while back aand it was swwet as ever. My LCD should show up tomarrow so it will be a good day. I was thinking of using a hugh white sheet, like on a bed for a screen, just temporary. I thought if i could find a really big one adn double it so its twice as think it should get good enough until i can afford a better screen. I will just have to make it really crazy tight. I will include pictures of the painted and assembled projector.

it sounds like everything is coming together

it sounds like everything is coming together

WHATS UP GUYS
Sorry I haven’t been posting I bet you are wondering what happened.
Well the projector was finished about a week after my last post, and it worked wonders. It was overheating a bit so I went out and went crazy over some new fans. The crazy part is that I bought 3. So there are a total of 4 fans and it stays nice and cool. I painted the entire thing black. It worked really well for about 3 months then I moved to Edmonton. After moving and setting the projector up hanging form one of the walls I had to have a little party. It was good we hooked up the Xbox 360 and played fight night round three, it was amazing. It’s all been good up until about a month ago, there was a surge in my house and it blew the projector bulb, along with other house bulbs. So I bought a new bulb and hooked it up hoping it would work fine. But of course the ballast was fucked. So since I didn’t really want to wait like another month for a new ballast I just opened it up. Turns out there is a 10A 250V fuse right on the input. THANK GOD. So I desoldered the fuse out, to bad it’s the weekend. On Monday ill get a new fuse from NAIT and ill re solder it in and then ill be able to put of pictures of the quality. I also purchased a real projector screen form futureshop. It cost 250.00, I would have liked to build a projector screen but I moved into an apartment so there really isn’t any room to build stuff. I will post some new pics right away of the finished box and some pictures of the fuse in the ballast. I have also decided to make a new box; this design is amazing except because I have such a tiny apartment now it’s not too practical. The design I have in mind is a vertical box but make it big enough that I can like put a small HTPC in the bottom and also get the ballast away form the light. I think the light being close to the ballast is what was causing a little interference. But the new design should be pretty cool. I’m kinda going for like a stereo cabinet look but with a mirror on the top that will reflect the projection. I’ll post some new drafts soon. But for now I have to say goodbye.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

A really bad draw idea for the new enclosure, i hope it will work out and if i can get all the planning done by the 18 i will start it over christmas break and hope to finish it before the first cause then its back to school.

Click to view attachment

Here is a 3d image of my projector, the trick is to try and cross your eyes until you see an image in the middle.
Click to view attachment

So turns out I didn’t start on a new one yet, and my previous plans I have scrapped, then new way if going to be better, I’m going to design it in a way so that it’s a small coffee table design, I want it to fold so that I can save space. This is a picture of what I’m looking for; this is a top view picture. turns out the capacitors also fried when there was a surge. so i have to replace the ballast before i can use it again.

Click to view attachment

The new idea is to follow these plans:

Must have relay board to control:
1) lamp
2) LCD
3) Fans
4) Any other electronics that need to be on and off except computer ( will be one 24/7)

Must have shielded ballast for no static

Must be folded design, and must be made into a coffee table

Must be remotely controllable

Must have good inputs, including:
1) VGA
2) RGB component
3) S-Video

Must be quieter then before

Must have fans that flow heat from front to back

Must have thermostat, to turn fans off once reached certain temperature (or similar)

***Must be all controlled form one controller, that includes the lights.

***Must have cooled cup holders!!

I have designed my relay control board; it is operational from the parallel port on a computer. It has 6 outputs that are controlled by relays; once I have completed it will look kind of like a power bar.

I will have picture once the parts arrive and I can print out a board, and solder it all up.

By doing this I will be able to use a remote control to turn the lamp and fan or what ever on and off.

The cost so far has been 30.00 CAD and that’s just for parts from jameco.

just out of curiosity, how will you know how to turn on the lamp \ fans without seeing the lcd, or are you going to have a second monitor to see the desktop?
or are you just going with a simple i\o that has buttons on the outside going through the pc parrelle port to
control the lamps and fans?

What I’m going to do is have a computer on 24/7 and hook up an ir remote control that just plugs into the serial port. With the software that came with the remote I can program what the buttons do. and because I have another program that controls the printer port outputs, all I have to do is program a certain button on the remote say (on), to do a certain task and then bingo remote control of everything. The remote control I have is from a pctv TV tuner, I just edit the remote code. The relay program I’m using is called relais timer. If that helps at all!!

One thing that may be a good idea is to use a macro (a frew buttons in a row) to turn on the lamp instead of just one button press. The idea is if you accidentally press the button fumbling around, you won't turn off the lamp and won't have to wait for re-strike.

That is a very good idea, thanks, yea it would suck for the remote to go into the couch and have the button pressed, and then have to wait for 15 min just to contine the movie. Thanks!

So i have finished designing the PCB for the paralelle controler, im just waiting for the parts to come in from jameco.com. After i get teh parts ill make sure they all fit and i will then make the actaull PCB. Ill take lots of pictures so you can see how its done and to see what my little control should be able to do. I will put up a parts list for any one who is interested. Later

Click to view attachment

So for that parts list i got this for you:::

Jameco # Description
108599 RESISTOR NET,16PIN,1K OHM, 1
139977 RELAY,DIP,DPDT,5VDC,2A CONT 6
99398 CONNECTOR,5mm TERM BLK(3)RTAG 6
38236 TRANSISTOR,2N2222A,NPN,GP 6
35975 @ DIODE,SIL REC,1N4001,1A, 6
47562 IC,74LS367 1
37402 SOCKET,IC,16PIN,MACHINE TOOLED 2

So i have moved The relay project over to the DIY electronic page!!
heres the link Relay Project

[SARCASM]This projector sucks, don't try and copy it. Picture quality is terrible [/SARCASM]

This guy right above this is a douche, a good friend, but a douche!!!

Seeing that you also are in Canada, you might want to order parts from Digikey. They have Canadian prices, and overnight shipping is only $8 CAD. I've ordered from both Digikey and Jameco - Jameco takes longer since it ships from US, shipping is 3 times as much since it ships from the US, and depending on the value, you will be charged from Canada Post both for GST and their handling fee.

Thanks for the info Digikey, hmm never herd of it but thanks, ill remember that next time i have to buy components!!! Thanks

So i was surfing the net and found these things called peltier pads, they are these neat little pads that use electrical energy to take a hot are and make it cold, or vise versa. Then i got thinking, well since im building a projector into a coffee table why don't i make some cup holders in it, and then seeing these coolers, i was like damn, that's perfect, i can have a cooling cup holder built into my coffee table!!! they are relativly cheap too!! Can't wait to start building this beast!!