Yes ! This is the best idea yet. Very simple and cheap... although i'm betting there is some sort of loss with the transparency, but i've noticed a loss between my LCD being off and being on displaying a white screen...

SIM, simply amazing results... I need to get to work on the light side of things now... for me i'm still only topping out at 107 lumens (650/220, PS lamp, Pro trip)....

Man with all the extra brightness you got from your light engine the Dalite screen I guess you would want to go as big as you can. It's a shame though the Dalite screen seemed to add more brightness but your pj but why rob yourself with a smaller sceen after all of this hard work .

Well, since you'd be dealing with folks all over the place and you want something universal one could always simply draw a grid with a fine point marker onto a suitable clear substrate and lay a 35mm slide (or similar) onto said substrate for purposes of fine focus and color checks. That way any given user can readily lay out a grid suiting their particular diagonal and aspect ratio. Just some thoughts.

Stupendous work & results sim. I gotta get my rear in gear.

hey Sim...any pics of how you have the 5" ladle mounted? did you use part of the handle?

Well, compared to that pic of Gandalf I might as well be a hobbit. It's really hard to say what is the diagonal, there is about a foot and half projected on the floor and half a foot on the ceiling so I'm guessing 9 feet at most altogether. The length is closely measured to about 11 feet and about 3" more. The height of my ceiling max out at 7 feet 8". And I'm just a 5'11" tall hobbit. I'll get some pics of some animation for you unless anybody else wants to see something in particular?

GS, DMeat, Durachko: I wish you happy lumen hunting. I'm really convince that targeting the light source is the first step in these builds, as I'm sure arizonavideo would agree. Max it out, Even it out, Collect it out (MEC) especially with a larger triplet like the 18" opaque or LL's pro...hehe. Anything you want to illuminate thru it is what you'll get at the end.

Only one issue though, not all arcs will stay steady within their bulb enclosure while standing on it's base (check arizonavideo's threads about this, he's finding the same thing), perhaps the Ushio s400dd since it is a shorter arc but longer arcs seem to react different. Trial and error I guess plus give it time to burn in while in this position I suppose.

Here's a pic of the old 4" ladle with the pro reflector. As I've removed the pro since it could not sit properly in the 5". I've shortened the mounting screws since the ladle was taller. I of course remove the springs since it was of no use. And generally its just the holding springs looped at the edges of the notch that is holding down. I just measue it from the edge of the lightbox to the edge of the ladle for alignment and adjust the screws accordingly. It's a little more work adjusting 4 screws but tolerable.

On another note, mikyd, have you performed another lux reading of your T15 Plus Rite bulb? Oh, and no handle on the ladle, but utilize it if it works for you.

I just want to remind you all that even though I'm taking pics in the nightmode and at normal settings the camera maybe over exagerating the brightness a bit. At night I was amazed by the even lighting mostly but brightness dropped of course being I'm projecting a larger area. And the yellowish paint on the walls are not helping, but then I allowed my eyes to adjust and it got better. From afar it may look quite clear but up close it's not, the pixels are now over exagerated as well along with the Windows Media Player software I'm using. Here's a little...er, big shrek for ya's.

thanks for the pic.... no, haven't tried a bare lux reading for the bulb yet, figure things like that will come next week when the wife is out of town or when I go to install the ladle in the lightbox......

Understood mikyd, I'd like to see a pic of the installed lade/light setup if you could after your done of course. And don't forget to polish it up real good.

So, any request's?

Oh heck yah, how about some Harry Potter, Gladiator or Star Wars screens? (perhaps Halo 2) Oh and would you mind fitting the picture into your screen that way we can get a better idea of the image quality?

Well my screen sucks but I'll see what I can do. Perhaps, tonight without the light leaks coming from the windows. Not a Halo avid player but I do dabble in online America's Army....nic - 'ChamorruPride'.

Ok cool, and I honestly don't care what you take screens of, just take some more!

That's Huge!
King Kong at 240" would be kinda cool!

Ok, one 'mighty KONG' served up 172 diagonal style as requested.

2 'mighty KONG's'....ah, ah, ahhh

Wow, I just realize I can trace this guy onto the wall and get a mural going.

And here's America's Army Online.....again, 172 diagonal.

..........

Sim,

Very Nice! Very Bright! Very BIG!

What kind of sound system do you use with an impressive picture like that?

Cheers,

Fulcrum

Currently, just a 5.1 surround. Just understand it may look kinda bright but thats the camera making it appear that way. It is still watchable as far as clarity but from a distance.

Just showed my lady the size of it and she thinks I'm nuts if I will be making her watch her movies this way. LOL!

awesome results @ such a gigantic screen size!

I really do love the screens, you get excellent image quality. I just really wish you had a flat smooth service to project onto, it would definitely even the picture out.

Ok, this is interesting. I just did a ANSI test with the large projection. Now I know I can't get the exact height measurement but like I said when I was describing the ceiling and floor over projections, I'm sure it should be in the area at 9 feet tall. The length is exactly 11'2".

So, about 108"x134" or 14,472sq/in which equals to 9.34sq/mtrs.

26 36 22
33 52 32
21 39 23

Average is 31.56 x 9.34sq/mtrs = 294.77 ANSI

Interesting how the ANSI's differ depending on distances. Seems I got more when going big. I'm sure someone here has an idea whats going on, so, let's hear it.

Very interesting, I'd think your lumen output would decrease dramatically with that screen size....

I have one

The longer the throw the shorter the focus point of the front triplet to LCD this reduces the magnification of the arc image so more light can get through the triplet.

This effect is the reason that for my test setup I focus to between the Fresnels because my through is short. For a long throw large screen, my front fl will be about 14" from LCD to triplet. 2" makes a fair amount of difference in arc image size.

220/450 or 220/ 500

Ok, so here are your two recent readings. My question is, which one looks brighter ? I'm asking this because people are starting to talk about a target 'lux' and since you have a pretty good range 108"-172" diagonal with varying lux readings, I am just curious to know. My guess is that you perceive both to be about equal in brightness. If you think the smaller screen is brighter, this certainly makes a good case for trying to hit a target lux. (in the back of my mind i'm considering to make my screen smaller to get higher lux) I will probably do this as a test anway, but I am very interested in your opinion.

Thanks,
gs

also, notice how the vignetting is getting worse ...50% then down to 45% for the bigger screen....hmmm let me go look bacl at some of your other readings...

ahh..from a few pages back:

88"x67" = 5896 sq/in or 3.80sq/mtrs

64 76 53
75 95 77
57 78 63

70.89 average x 3.80sq/mtrs = 269.38 ANSI
..
vignetting on this one is 62% ......
I guess my question is how noticeable is the difference in uneveness from 44(your uber-sized screen) to 62%? my projections are miniscule compared to your(1.8 sq. mtr is the biggest) but it was pretty apparent to me, but then again with my setup the different sizes(thru powerstrip) are only a hotkey away so I can switch rapidly..... and I found the >60% one to be much more pleasing

For the Buhl lens the edge focus will be slightly worst with a large screen too, because the shorter triplet to LCD distance makes the (Yes I have to say it) FOV worse. The angle is sharper.

This is what I thought as well A/V but, there must be a certain point where the lumens begin to drop the further away you get from the screen. I suppose when the angle of the triplet's fov is maxed then thats when we begin to see this drop?

Well, I guess I'll just have to take her to the back yard and see how big she get and see where her lumens begin to drop. I wonder if I can hit 300 diagonal with her.........dang, I just reread this last sentence, it just didn't sound right?

Well, follow me with this....you know how bright a smaller area seems at a preset distance but take that same area and spread it out wider and view it at the same distance and you'd swear the smaller was alot brighter although they are the same lux readings. Now, if I were to take this out back and walk further away comparable to the same ratio of distance to size when viewing a smaller area then thats when I'd notice the brighter and larger screen compared to the smaller......I would beleive, I think.

Don't get me wrong mikyd, I'm not planning on leaving her this big I think I'll be accepting about 120 diagonal out of her. With the even light distribution I'm getting with the bulb vertical and with the precondenser I'm not really seeing vignetting very easily compared to my very first build.....dam, I came along ways.

So, I guess I'm still playing within its FOV max limit then since the corners are still tolerable at it's current 172" size, correct?

yeah, I figured...would be nice on a warm summer night though! imagine the marx bothers or maybe "apocalypse now" that big in your backyard....
yeah, I think I may have been sub 40% vignetting on my first build....

Oh yeah, FYI, I just closed her up as far as the lightbox area and the fresnels with some 1/4" MDF. I have some venting going thru the LCD and fresnels onto the air tunneled lightbox but I guess it wasn't enough. 2 hours later I heard this muffled 'pop' from within the pj. Looked around and found nothing unusual and thought it was the expanding of the wood since enclosing her but projection still looked alright. Just when I shut her down I was still wondering about that sound and thought....no.....could it be? So, I turned her back on again and looked straight into the triplet as the light warmed up and there it was....the precondenser had cracked. Guess I'll have to replace it and open up somemore vents for the large cfm fan to suck more air into her.

Fail and learn boys, fail and learn.

Sorry to hear that.
I have been reading alot about precondensers and thought this was the way to go.
Oh well, as you say fail and learn.

sorry to hear that....but it brings up a thought I had, for my build I was thinking about having a small fan(say 60-80mm) blowing directly on the lens, maybe at an angle from in front of the lightbox and at the bottom of the pj...what do you think?

Thanks greeneyed (alien, huh:lol: ) and mikyd, I still have 2 extras for cases like this. To answer miky, think of it this way. We are using the precondenser to channel as much light towards the fresnel/triplet target. The wind tunneled light box does the same, forcing, focusing and targeting the bulb/lens itself especially inbetween the two where the heat is the greatest. Otherwise you'll have this wide area in your pj box where air vortex's around and not targeting the bulb/lens until your fan pulls it out.

My previous military career was HVAC (heating, ventilation and A/C). Us reefers like to breathe in with the good air and out with the bad. Guess thats why 'Air Force' works well in this case.

so even if it was exactly the same lightbox, having a fan blow on the outside of the lens wouldn't help? my experience with hvac is confined to being able to change the temperature the second the wife leaves the house.....

nice, I'm trying to get a picture of this in my head mikyd, think you can draw up something?

Nice, huh? Well, got the lightbox out, removed grills. took out the damaged condenser lens and replaced it. About a 15 minute job. I only have one left and it's the yellowed one from previous test. A result from inefficient cooling. I think I'll have to purchase more extras just in case the majority of you condenser switchers buy out these models from Surplus Shed

Now to move onto adding another slot for more air to get in...sigh...

Simmmmm,,, ouchie's

Sim,, a question,,, which lamp are you using,,,

reason I am asking is that I am now choosing lamps with the correct choice rather than just max Lumens and degrees kelvin and cri etc,,

because most lamps are not at all near perfect,,,

Lamps need to choosen using their spectral curve first,, then lumens etc etc

so give me full spec on your lamp Pleeeese

Mikyd actually found this one. Seems he tried doing a search on this and came up short. I beleive someone had found the site for which these bulbs are being sold at. Hang on and let me search a bit.

Here's the thread: http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11347&hl=

Search for this "Simul8r's T15 6500" changed to "mikyd's T15 6500"

Its under my name

Traynor

Thanks Traynor, I wanted to ask if you could change your heading to show mikyd's bulb instead. He deserves the credit for finding it but I didn't want to make a hasty desicion. You think you could, I'd appreciate it.

BTW, the closest I could find to this type of bulb was this but it states its a 4200k color temp. I may be wrong unless someone finds it.

400 T15 E39 M04009351402 MH400/T/HOR/4K M59 38000 24000 5.75 9.75 20000 4200 65 Clear 24

Thanks again Traynor

thats exactly what i pull up to

did you have any references anywhere about 6500k,, because i believe you really have a 4200 k

and what lumens rating and cri?

Only where mikyd bought the bulb from (ebay) claimed it was, oh and there's the box it came in which claims it's a 6500k.