Heya Sonic, looking forward to your next build. Your first was intense especially the paint job!

Appreciate the fishing offer. 31'!!!!, we must be living the high life there in SoCal Captain Sonic....hehe

How large is the diameter of this laddle Sim? I should have added on to my request from you. I didn't make it to the post yesterday but I will today. It's amazing that you still haven't used the condenser yet.

I don’t think so.
I can see that you didn’t take my advice to not take your projector inside.

It's movie time...

DJ

5 inches is the diameter. I realize it's hard to get things from where your from (Bahamas) but if you really really want one then I have an extra. I can carve it up for you was well if you don't have a dremel and I'll just bill you.

But I am using a precondenser.....it's the 4.5"x6.5"fl for now

hey sim I was just looking for a pic of your ladle and how its cut..got one? and when you say the base is pointing UP do you mean the open end of the mogul is pointing up or that the mogul itself is at the top(which means the top of the bulb is at bottom of enclosure)

Ok, here's the 4" ladle which I took out and replaced with the 5". Generally, I notched the 5" enough for the arc to be enclosed within the ladle. See the drawing below. I didn't measure how far in I wanted the arc to be just so that it was inside. I was afraid this would project a cross of the reflected light from the ladle's sides onto projection but I don't see it. My intensions were to capture everybit of the arc and throw it thru the precondenser. Now, I had intended to use the pro reflector inside the 5" ladle but it was too wide for the pro to fit properly. I noticed that using the pro inside the 4" brought the middle of the projected spread in higher lumens, but perhaps that provides more vignetting as Rox puts it. In either case I couldn't use the pro within the 5".

thanks, you used your dremel to cut it? what exactly did you use? one of those cut off wheels? never used my dremel to cut metal before, have all kinds of wheels,sanding drums etc, came with like 300 pieces....

Simul8r,

My understanding is that with a LL Pro Lens, the distance from the screen to the triplet is 9.5 feet (using a 17" LCD). See Reference (Post #3)

How far away is your 18" opaque projector triplet lens from the screen?

I realize that you have a 15" LCD, so this isn't a direct comparison. But I recently purchased an 18" opaque projector triplet lens too, so I'm wondering, what distance I might attain (I'll be using a 17" LCD though, so a little shorter distance than what your getting I'm guessing).

BTW... I showed my wife some pics from your plog last night, and she was amazed at the resolution and light quality you are getting. She asked me if I'll be able to get the same. I can only hope too.

Keep up the good work and keep those pictures coming!

Fulcrum

Yes, a cut off wheel like a thin grinding wheel. Go slow so as to not break them (I must have used 3 on each side of the ladle. Then afterwards find ground the edges with your sanding drum wheels but be careful not to mar up the inside of the ladle. This is how I measured where to cut the ladle. It may take a while to get the bulb to sit nicely in the notches but work at it.

Yeah, I know about the 300 pieces. I've destroyed most of my grinding wheels already just for this build. Time to stock up on more tools for the dremel

The last projection you saw of the japanese anime female robot is exactly 9'-10" from edge of triplet lens to screen. The pics you saw of my desktop in the garage is about 11'. Nedster built his with the 18" and had his back to 13' or 16' using a 17" I believe so you may want to check his plog or email him for details.

Greatly appreciate your wife liking the projection I bet though if she were to compare the size of the box to yours she may have seconds thoughts but I tried to keep her wife friendly as much as possible. Funny though, my lady doesn't seem to mind the size it's more how it works...go figure eh?hehehehehe.

I would like to know this also.

thanks sim... as for the depth of the notch, basically just enough to enclose the arc in the ladle right? also, just wanted to add that one of the best things about your results is that you are using a "standard" transmission panel(ie around 6% or less) which means that these results are duplicable by most of us(well, if we could also dupe the quality of your build too! who don't have one of the magic > 8% panels.... actually if you had a supra panel (8.5%) you'd be well over 450 lumens! or imagine jonjandrans >10% wuxga panel.... which this condenser setup should work for also... there you're into serious commercial area, probably close to 600 lumens.. what will you think of next?

Thats right.....I forgot to provide this to mikyd as well, sorry. Mogul pointing up with the base of the bulb down and the arc pointing up... see pic.

I don't know yet. Let's see, I've slapped some Mothers Mag Polish on an LCD panel, I've poured Paint Stripper on an LCD panel, I've shaken 400w arc bulb every which way and of all things I'm using a soup ladle for a reflector.....I don't know, maybe fit the kitchen sink in the works?

I would say yes or maybe 5mm deeper of the ARC from the edge of the ladle and not the bulb itself. I'll try to provide some measurements on tranmission of the panel since after removing A/G and other films from her but not real soon. I'll do the with and without projection readings. I would however be interested to see how your bulb compares to the LL's bulb as far as how much lumens it produces.

Sim,

How did you attach your precondenser to the fan grill? Spit?

Where can I get one of these 18" opaque projector triplets?

well, I remember when I first got the 6500k bulb I tried to get some lumen readings from it but at that time it was too cold outside and there wasn't anywhere in the house where I could get a good reading at.... AV came up with the best way..... take your bulb/mogul/ballast outside at night and have the bulb about 4 feet in the air and have the luxmeter sensor at one metre below it facing up...that way(unless you're right next to a white house wall) there will be little to no reflections to worry about...then you work the calcs, I think mult by 10 to get bulb lumens(area of sphere is 4*pi*r cubed , but rox says use 10 instead of 12.57 to allow for the base etc).....maybe if its not rainy this weekend I'll give that a try since my ballast is in a seperate box from the pj.... I'm pretty sure its 40,000 lumen if not more

hey Sim..... how about swapping the ushio in there and taking some readings? that would give you a pretty comparative estimate of the 6500k bulb , ushio arc is smaller but I think it would at least give us an idea if its about 40Klumens or so... also though I don't think it would show in pics due to auto-white balancing, you could give us your impression of any color differences between the 2 bulbs..

2 of the 120mm fan grills with screws and screwed underneath the plate. First the screw the a grill then the precondenser, then another grill, then a nut, hand tightened, then placed underneath the aluminum plate and washer then screw and tighten.

Just have the outer ring of the 120 grill left on the mount, cut the rest off.

ebay, do a search for Buhl or Beseller projector or Opaque projector. They come in 18", 22" and others.

Let me finish the build first.

sounds like a plan to me! I know how you feel

For everyone asking about Simul8r's soup Ladle. You can find it Here. There is a store locator on the website, and it appears that most U.S. states have one.

Cheers

Fulcrum

Ok, I'll finish off making the wiring look better later on. Here are some pics of the big girl.

And this is for arizonavideo. I also made movie clips with and without the dalite highpower and I'll try to load them up once I figure this out.

My what a large arc you have.

Thanks sim but what I was hoping for is a shot of the lamp image entering the triplet, just to see if the arc image is filling the triplet all the way. You will have to place a piece of card board at the triplet during startup.
You won’t see a focused image because if your lamp is setup right your focal point will be about in the middle of the triplet.

Any amount of un-filled triplet is the amount of shorter condenser lens you can use.

Vary nice shot by the way how did you do it? It does show the arc filling the triplet top to bottom so maybe that is the max.

How are you using a T15 that has a 6500k color temp? I thought they were 4000k...

It's not LL's bulb, it's mikyd's bulb called Plus Rite, it's arc chamber is not football shape but rather like the Ushio's s400dd. He offered it to me to try out in my precondenser test's.

BTW mikyd, I may have to correct myself a little on how the arc is behaving in the vertical position. I just noticed that it seems to quiver every now and then. I noticed this more now since bringing it into the house and when I'm on a none moving projection like desktop. Not substantial but not what you'd expect from a commercial type image.

I've let mine run for a while and it still pulses...maybe not as bad...can you estimate how many hours you have on it? I think using the eballast with it is probably helping control the arc dancing..... though it is a universal mount bulb so maybe it just needs a longer burn in period

It wasn't to long when I tested it. I had it pointing down for 2 hours and it still danced alot compared to when it was pointing up. The duration of when it was pointing up until it seemed to steady was about the same time. it seemed to quiver a bit at first then steady then quiver every once and while. I took the chance and placed it back into the unit and projected it in the garage and I didn't notice it. Perhaps I was too involved and excited when I saw how bright it was that I didn't notice any shakes. But now in the rec room I'm examining it even more and then notice every once an a while it does this. I'm not really disappointed, just something that makes you go hmmmmm...........what was that?

.........it just did it again

well, we'll see how it goes, I know it was fine when I had the pj vertical and the bulb was horizontal as a result..... but it definitely was less bright, if I get the caps wired in this weekend I'll see how it goes....

Here's a requested vid with the dalite. See below for another vid with Lelu - 5th Element

And this is on my regular screen. Lelu - 5th Element further below.

picky, picky, picky ok A/V here are pics of the arc before the triplet and after it. This the best I can get it.

Seems I may have some room left.

Where'd you get your frenels? I think you said you were using a 550 and a 317?

yes, see post #186

Making these little flicks is kinda fun, hehe............here's 5th Element regular screen.

5th with the dalite......

All I can say is DAMN!!!!! the blackout cloth is good for having something cheap and easily available but its a world of a difference between that and a professional screen congrats aon the great work Sim. Quick question though did you still go vertical or did you switch to the horizontal build?

Thanks DMeat, horizontal........I wants da ANSI's!!! But I can always drop it on it's end and see what vertical looks like. But thats much laters.

Cool I was trying to remember if you and Chuck were still going the vertical way. As far as your brightness goes off hand how much would you have been loosing if you went the folded way? And as far as keystone goes do you have your pj at a set height or is it placed low and projecting at an angle. At this rate I'm more concerned about my brightness and the clarity of my image than anything else.

Since I changed everything from going vertical back down to horizontal I incorporated the long throw 18". I figured if I'm going back down I might as well pull it back further. So I can't provide differences from the standard trip to the 18" (larger differences in fruits). I'm not keystoning, My goals were brightness and acuteness and figure out keystoning by tilting the screen. Currently it's kinda low and tilted for now until I decide where dead certain I want it................just read your last sentence...we are on the same page.

Sim,

This is going to sound a bit goofy. What if you canted the lamp a bit, say 3 to 5 degrees off of perfectly vertical? It might help steady
the arc by giving it a side of the electrodes to favor.

Good idea, I'll pull out the lightbox again sometime soon and see if a tilt has any effect.

I think I'll invest into Brain's 1.5 gain screen and go big, really big. I think I have enough brightness to bring things out. I pulled my babe back about 3 feet and got a 68"x92" and I still have 4 more feet to go until I hit the rear wall. Not pretty guys but its the best I can do without a full screen. I got the ole screen and window blinds all in there.

.............

I am seriously.... speechless...

Serious wow factor here. So are you saying that you won't bother with th dalite screen anymore or are you simply putting it in another room? The pics are amazing and seeing as though you have turned me to the Dark side with the 400 watt system I'm looking forward to putting together a proper precondenser setup. Now if you would just stop with the mods I won't have to worry about using anymore new ideas.

hehehe.....The dalite was and I guess now still on sale and I'm still willing to part with it..hint, hint.

Modding can't stop otherwise we would still be at where we all began....just hang on to the rope and don't let go.