Hello folks,
The 'road less traveled PJ' beta 3

Im using an 8.9" LCD with a sweet resolution of 1024x600 16:9
The catch.... Im integrating a portable dvd-player into my PJ. Only mini plug AV in(with no mod as of yet... )
Im not much of a gamer, so that dosent bug me too much.
I have done this before, but done alot of reading and day-dreaming since then. I hope to have this one give me good results for a few years, until home-ownership is on my radar. Also, who knows... buy that time, maybe there will be 9" HD panels, suitable LED's, and cars you can drive to the moon.


Upgrades this time around: 575w arc lamp and ebalast from a Dukane OHP. 5600K.
I would like to thank member Sporty for posting his results with this light engine.
If your considering using it, just keep in ming it was designed to accomadate a 12" panel.
It is adaptable, but I wouldnt call it a piece of cake. Be sure to do your research before you choose this light.
If you would would like some more pics of the OHP dismanteling process, I have some.


also,Lumenlab S15 standard lenses.


I really want to do a genuine mini hass, Im being helped out buy the very capable Joechevy2000 with the enclosre.
The image on the right is the panel sitting on the stage glass of the OHP(Just before I blew its mind out and tore it apart ..... quite a can of worms)

Here's how Im trying to lay it out in the box.

I plan on using two fans, 1) the light-box (light engine dedicated airflow chamber with its own cool air slot)

And 2) in the standard position to cool the LCD and eballast on its way out the back door.


The pencil line in front of the lamp represents the mirror. I hope I can fold the light path in the back like this. This would let me keep the length at around 2' or so... I hope.

Also, the inside width of the enclosre as layed out here is 10" exactly.

If I go with the hass form I have in mind, the highest point at the lens carrier is 6.25". I hope to have the hight taper off to 3.5" front(focus box) and back (eballast storage).

Birds eye view....

One more pic of the projected panel, just ploped on the stage glass in daylight w shades open on the pre-butchered OHP.
I cant wait to not be wasting all the light around the panel!
From ghost in the shell 2,

Any input is appreciated as always.

Question,

I scored on the Dukane OHP. It was listed as having a "broken magnifier". I thought it was going to be the fresnal, but it was a mirror that was broken!!!

And only 56 hours on the lamp.
Got it for 90$ shipped
However!
When I dismanteled the light engine... I was bummed to discover that this very nice little reflector is cracked.

Any suggestions on stoping this crack from traveling?
JB weld maybe? I dont want to make it worse, but then again I dont want to wait around for it to break.

The crack can't be fixed but the pro reflector might work OK. Does the light engine use a condenser lens? if not then the pro reflector fron LL will be fine. The replacment reflector for any altman 6" fresnel spotlight would work also.

Some one said they killed ther Dukane ballast by runing it outside the OHP. you might make sure that some forced air blows on it.

That's awesome Yoshuaspawn! I like your tiny lcd.That light engine is cool too. You are going to have a small projector with a big ego.

My brother use to stop cracks in glass with a Dremel tool.You have to drill a very small hole at the end of the crack.Be careful,if you apply too much pressure while drilling the crack could get worse.It may be helpful to put a drop or two of super glue in the crack before it's drilled.I have never done this,it could be tricky on a curved surface,but I've seen it work.

Awsome, Thanks guys!

AV, the light engine does have a precondensor. So the pro-reflector wont work then?
And on the ebalast, I have read that too... that there knd of krappy. So Im planing to go a little overboard with cooling it. I have fired the bulb after taking it apart, and so-far, so-good.

elbeghast, thanks mang, thats the plan. Hopefullly this thing will be nice little movie-blaster. Your screenies rock BTW buddy. Your PJ is big with a freaking HUGE ego
I dont think Im going to try drilling and filling, but I was thinking about superglue in a syringe or somthing. Im just afraid the glue will melt, or even worse... EXPAND

The reflector should get to 400 deg or so any thing not metal or glass will melt. you could just leave it it might not crack any further.
The pro reflector may work for a small lcd. A quick test is to take a piece of paper cut it to 74mm round and put it 22mm behind the lamp center. From the front side look through the condensor at the same angle as the end of the LCD If you can see the fake reflector and not see past it then its large enough.

Im starting to think I should mount the ballast under the box instead of packing it all in there.
Anyone agree?
This would make it alot more simple and at least 4" shorter in length. I have comissioned joechevy2000 to help me out with the hass-box. Hopefully he agrees this is a simpler, more practical solution.

Actually, Joe, if you want, I found out today I can get this cut on a laser cutter. So if its easier for you, you can just send me a DXF file, or an auto-cad file, and I can get it burned on the laser.
Unless your itching to cut somthing on your new machine of course

So this pic,
just these two components in the enclosre looks like a better solution for a "genuine" mini-hassman I think. Thats a 12" steel ruler from the LCD to where the focus box and trip would be (300 mm fres). The light engine( 4.25" square x10" wide) is placed 180 mm from the lamp for the 220 fres. So this is just about 2' long.
good? no good?

I like the idea of having the ballast under the box.My ballast is 20' away from my projector,tucked neatly in a corner.If it gets too warm at night,I can set it on the roof. Your ballast will probably be cooler under your box too.

How does this look for size?

Joe, looks awesome. And with only 1.5 eyes no less! Hope thats on the up-and-up.
I was trying to get it a little shorter, but I think your spot on with it, and I will have a little play, which is good.

So Joe, I think I would like you to cut the box for me too, because If I got it cut on the laser, I would still have to hand-router the grooves for the lid right? The laser can go any depth in the wood, but its a straight beam no matter what obviously, so routing chanels would just be a waste of time and energy on a laser.
Am I correct in this regard?

Just let me know about squaring up further to CNC the box, and for your time. I cant wait to see the rest!

Hey Joe,
also a few more pics for technical stuff.
The only dimension I know I absolutley NEED is the inside width of 10" exactly. Just keep in mind that Im keeping it simple and slim by bolting the light-box right to the side panels.
Same deal on my lens carrier, its ready to be slid right into a 10" width.
The height you have there is perfecto. Can you scribe a center line inside the box for me to line up my components? that would rule.

Does your design use those case spacers? Those will need to be clear of the light box and lens carrier. Maybe just behind the light-box, and just before the lens carrier?.


I only had to slightly mod the light box from the dukane.
I basicly just took it in an inch so the fan can sit inside the light box, rather than just outside it as originaly set up. I replaced it with this handsome chrome ever-cool, which fits into the end of the light box.
The other side is equipped with a nice air vent. At first I thought the fan wouldnt work as efficiently going straight across the light-box, but MAN, this thing is moving a TON of air. I put a piece of paper on the intake vent, and it was like a HOOVER. And its going to have nowhere to go but straight out the other side.

Joe, if I tell you dimensions, can you cut holes for the fan covers to flt in flush in the side-panels? If its too much of a PITA, I can take care of that by-hand. But you know where the lightbox will be, so I dont think it would be too hard. Let me know your thoughts

Is it normal that I think my light-box is sexy?

This fan cover is the one I want to sink flush in the side-wall. The hole on the other side can be the same size. I took out the vent so you can see what the intake side of the light-box looks like. Nice, black louver thingys.

no problem at all might as well get it right now... the fan i take it is a 120mm?, post the hole hole diminsions and the screw holes for it, also do not forget a cooling for the lcd itself, and the space between the light engine and the rear fresnel will get hot also if there is no air to excape, so i would sugest two fans, the one you have for the light engine and also one to draw air from top of lcd between it and the rear fresnel out the bottom of the rear fresnel then back up top just infront of the light box.

Joe

I cant thank you enough Joe. Im pumped.

Im not sure how the fan is mesured, but it looks to be 80mm square.
The hole for the fan covers should be 95mm square, with what looks like a 1/8" radius on the corners.
You dont have to worry about the screw holes, this should fit snug enough for me to glue the 2-part fan-cover flush in the side panel.

Could you make the vent side hole in the side panel a little smaller? like 85mm square?
If you were looking at the PJ head on at the triplet, the vent side is the right panel.

And I was going to ask if you can put a hole for the evercool PCAC fan in the storel, as you mentioned, for cooling the LCD and rest of the box. Put it wherever makes the most sense to you.Speaking of cooling the LCD..... do you think the top-secret cooling slot idea I asked you about is going to be do-able? You didnt forget did-ja?
I dont want to spill the beans on that one till we have some nice pics....

Also, I was wondering if its ok to make it all out of birch ply, or whatever real wood will look clean, and take a coat of stain if I wanted to do that before I assemble it. I dont mind the cover MDF, but I would like real wood sides natural or with some tung oil or stain I think.

Im totaly flexible of course, if this is not the way you want to do it, or if it might cost a bit more.

One other note, can you cut the hole for the standard triplet in the front panel? Thanks, and sorry for all the questions.

.Josh

This Top Secret cooling slot has peaked my interest.I will discover your secret plans and expose them to the world.....(sinister laughing)....(choking)....(quiter sinister laughing).

I really am interested though.Can't wait til it's declassified!

Well,
went snowboarding over the weekend, and its back to class and work. Managed to do a few things though.
I stockpiled a few of these LCD's, particularly because I scratched the polarbear a little during my first AG removal. So I found my happy place , put on some relaxing music, and did a proper AG removal on another panel.
Rag method,
6 hour soak,
clean up w distilled water and denatured alch.

it went perfect this time. This little panel is a very thin, polysilicon tft.
I have a feeling the transmittence is great, maybe I will borrow a meter and measure sometime

Also got the design Joechevy programed printed out 1:1
Its absolutley perfect.
I cant wait, but I know I have to be patient joe, your time is valuable, and you have your hands in alot of pies! I wont forget that when you get the time to bang it out. Just hit me up when you can with an update,

More,

Say hi to Gypsy,
She is my homegirl. My other girlfriend dosent take as kindly to quality time with PJ. :angry:

So Im also wondering about RF input for TV watching.
Well, ok you got me...

, its just for ABC's LOST.


Can anyone recomend an affordable soulution?
My only AV in is mini-plug on the portable DVD player. But it's really not bad. . I have gotten a good picture with my mac's s-video out. It detects it at 800X600. Looks shaky in 1024x768. But it actually looks really nice in 720x480. Thats standard DVD res right? That would kind of make sense right, because the player is configured to scale DVD resolution to 1024x600, the LVDS panel's native resolution.

Here's the screens spec sheet in case your curious about the LCD itself.
http://www.flatcontrol.com/filemanager/dow...09C362S_V10.pdf
I also just purchased a service manual for the player to rule out any hope af an input mod.
More on that later.



Anyway, I just dont know if I should go with somthing for my mac, or somthing like the N6??

I dont really understand the whole HD whoopla totaly, but might I be able to view 480p ?

yoshuaspawn, am I reading that right? 6.5" by 27"?

Yep,
Exactly SIM

I could probably get it 3 or 4" shorter, but 27" will let me fix the triplet in the front panel for fine focus, plus give me some comfort-room Im thinking.
6.5" is the highest point in the arc radius

I want to model this after your hass box partly,
So I appologize in advance for ripping you off....

But it just looks so damn cool.
I have been having these crazy thoughts about tripod legs... motors... and all sorts of wierd stuff, but it always comes back to the way you built your hass. Especialy because
I need to lose the ballast under the encloser, and Im going to have potentialy 3 fans, so having speakers from the portable player in the underneath portion makes sense to drown out the fan noise. Not sure about that yet though.

Yoshuaspawn,

It looks like you didn't leave enough room for a fan. Cooling is crucial in your build.

wait i think i missed it. where did u get that panel.. and it 1024x600 the native resolution. if so then wow

Phutton
Theres an 80MM fan in the light box that will pull air straight across it. There will be fan and vent holes in the side panels. And its hard to tell in the pic, but theres still room for another fan behind the lightbox to draw cool air over the LCD's slot and dump it out of the back.

Benjimatt, the panel is from a portable dvd player. I put the spec sheet up a few posts ago. but dont get too exited, its only mini-plug in, and so-far no vga mod. Im starting to feel like I fully understand Frodo's journey in trying to figure one out.

Just posting more accurate positioning mesurments of the holes in the side panels for Joe.

So Im using these 1.5" L brackets to mount the light box to the side panels.
Should fit in like this.

Sorry about the crappy pic,
The hole should start 36mm in from the back panel, centered verticaly.

And the hole itself (for the fan cover to fit in flush) is 1mm larger than I originaly thought.
So 96mm square with 1/8" radius on the corners.

decided to use the LCD's original frame,
it actually lended itself well to the project. I did it mostly so everything still snaps together just as it should. Im glad I took the advice of many here, and used the frame-portion of the backlight. It only takes one little cracked LCD to realize that the less you even have to touch it, the better

Hence AG removal is like some kind of "spiritual journey" of emotions.

Anyway, on the frame
I just had to shave the edges 1/16", and cut off the swivel collar things that attatched it to the player.
I used some of the nice speaker grille mesh from the speakers to lessen any light leak I may get from the bottom air slot. Then I hit it it with some silicon and flat black to seal it, and prevent ANY reflections.
Not the prettiest thing in the world, but it should work well I hope.

Its upside down here to show the mesh holes.
Enough air will get through that right? I think so, but Im not 100% sure.

I taped a tansparency film in there to help line up my fresnals nice-nice.

If only I was back home, I would have acsess to good tools and a shop.
Used to work in my dad's steel rule die shop when the economy was booming.

Im really dying for a table saw and drill-press. The laser cutter and automated bender would have come in handy too. Check this one out...

Good this will allow for another fan to be placed on the rear panel and brind air from lcd fresnel and below and above the light box and out the back, and also block light out the rear with the lightbox.

Yep, the design is looking like it may work out even better than I thought. I really like the idea of the independent cross ventilation.

Im thinking about using fire-barrier silicon on the joints between the lightbox and side panels, mostly to seal the lamps independent cooling circut. I figure this will also be an added measure of protection from scorching. But I really think the fans are going to handle the heat and then some in this configuration.
Could be wishfull thinking though.

Any recomendations to further stop the heat from conducting beyond the lightbox? Is there some kind of heat-blocking washer I could use on the mounting brackets? I had planed on slathering them with high temp silicon also once there socked in.

So I have a small concern about the fresnal. I was going to use the dukane fresnal, which I have read is 300mm fl on both sides. Thats only somthing I read in a post though, I have yet to validate it

Its really good Joe kept the length at 27", because its still long enough to use a dual 300mm fresnal. However, I think I might have to make the focus mechanisum outside the box to accomadate the focus length, which I was trying to shy away from.

So what do you guys think?

Should I just get a 220 rear fresnal from LL, or roll with the dual 300mm fl dukane fres?

The dual 300mm should give me better, more even light in theroy correct?
But then again, my LCD panel is only 8.9", so maybe it wouldnt be much different either way, but Im tempted to stick to the fresnals that Dukane matched for this light engine.

Its not a big deal.... If they are in fact 300mm dual, and I use them, I may need to gain like 2" max with an external focus box to place the triplet correctly. So If it will improve the light noticably, than I think Its worth it. Any opinions on this one would be greatly appreciated gents.

Joe2000chevy, If your reading this, dont get the impression it needs to be longer. The size of the box itself is perfect, no need to change anything

Happy Weekend everyone.

With an 9" LCD you wan't to use the shortest rear fresnel possable A 220 is a bit too long. rember your rear fresnel is only half the size of one for a 17" lcd it will only collect half the light too. If you left the condenser then I would only move the lamp a few mm closer thats it.

Thanks AV.

Hmm, I can get a 165mm fres from anchor optics. I think I have one laying around actually.
Should I use that for the rear?

Im using that fresnal in this screenie with this panel, and a 250w halogen light from my last build, and an OHP doublet lens,
Here:

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?s...ndpost&p=117310

I was pleasently suprised with the quality in this crude experiment using the 165mm fresnal.

I can't rember if you are going to leave the condenser lens in? If so you will need to stay with the 220mm and re adjust the condenser to be slightly farther away from the lamp. The 575 with a condenser will be really bright They make 7,000 lumans so your pj will make like 500 or 600 lumans. this is the brightest of any PJ I have seen yet.

With no condenser then the 165mm may be good it won't be as even but your PJ can be shorter. The HMI lamp is perfect for PJ use. At 165mm you will need a heat sheild.

I do plan to leave the condensor in, so I will take your advice AV, and go with the 220 fres.
Those numbers are encouraging indeed, but I will need to finish it up, and get a light meter before I start any celebrations.

Otherwise ROX will be in here in 5 minutes, crackin' skulls with mathmatical equations.

so have u got the lcd to do 1024x600 yet

Ben,
Im integrating the portable player into the build. So, it will automaticaly and exclusively do 1024x600. Only drawback is the mini-plug only input. But Thats not a big concern for me, because I mostly want this to watch DVD's, which look great.

Im a film scoring major, so I will need to view work-prints from my mac while running audio applications
I get a good enough picture from the mini-plug with my powerbook with the resolution set to 720x480,
which kind of makes sense, as thats standard DVD res.

If I find myself unsatisfied with the LCD, the nice thing is that I will able to reto-fit it with a HAMI, or even somthing better if I wanted to drop some more cash. Im seeing newer, smaller panels similar to this one slowly getting added to some industrial/retail sites.

Here's a site that has a few new 1024x600 (WSVGA) "Plug and Play Prototyping Kits"

http://www.purdyelectronics.com/products/d...ys/tftmodul.cfm


Big bucks though of course on the tiny ones...
But a few are somewhat afforadble, should the complete solution there talking about have a VGA or DVI input..


"– To aid in the prototyping process, we have assembled all of the components that you will need to light up your display the day that you get it. The kits generally include: the display, LCD controller circuitry, power supply, CCFL inverter, and cabling. Also included is full documentation, including component specifications, system diagram and cable maps.As small as 5.6" LCDs

Not sure what to make of that.... does that imply a total controller solution w standardized(vga, dvi, svid) output?

Well, Im at a bit of a standstill right now while Joe finds some time.

So, I decided to take my little LCD out of the cusiony vault, and do some comparison shots between the composite mini plug, and direct DVD playback.

If your just tuning in, this is a portable dvd player project. 1024x600 PiSi LCD


So first, take a look at the LCD in its frame after AG removal. Wow that thing is clear!

Now heres my Mini-plug. I got rid of the audio wires, and swapped the video wire for a meatier one.
That go's to the S-VIDEO to composite adapter from my mac.

Now, here's a shot from ninja-scroll for input comparison.
I tried to take pics as close as possible.

This is direct DVD playback.

In case your unfamilliar with this anime flick, or dont remember this part,
Thats a fire-fly's green butt, not a hotspot.

Now, here's via the mini plug, from my mac.

I didnt take any pics of other resolutions, but 720x480@60hz from the mac looks and behaves the best.
The mac detects it as a television at 800x600.

Not too bad. A little sharpness and color accuracy is sacrificed.

Oh,
I guess I should mention the diffuser sheet is taped on the front of the display so we can see it.

Theres a 50 watt halogen desk lamp behind the LCD.