Gday everyone......Long time viewer first time Plogger...

After studying most if not all of the other blogs on the site and many sleepless nights deciding how I will attack this project, I have finally picked one design which I think is a total winner....Pun15hers frame
(Thanks for a fantastic design mate)

I am fortunate to work for an Electrical, sheet metal fabrication and powder coating company so it seemed only right that I should manufacture most of my PJ out of sheet metal and use the lighting control gear they also manufacture there as well.


Based on the standard sizes of the Lexan and Fresnel's available here at LL I fabricated all my frames out of 2mm Aluminium sheeting. There are 3 parts to a frame, Part 2 (the middle part) holds the Fresnel's/Lexan in place and parts 1,3 sandwich the frame together, thus sealing in the Lexan...Also parts 1 and 3 have a 2mm Neoprene rubber gasket attached so as to seal in any light leakage. This format will be applied to all the frames.

Each corner of the frame has a M6 (6mm) hole in it where the 6mm Steel rods feed through....( I am not that good at explaining so I hope the pictures are informing enough).

Gear trays and the Reflector tray where also constructed of 2mm Aluminium sheeting with the 20mm vent slot in the sides as shown in Pun15hers design. I also punched out a 65mm hole in the centre of the Reflector tray to take the Pro Lens when it arrives...Standard Lens, Fresnel's and Reflector were only just ordered so I can expect them in a few weeks

Next I knocked up a 120mm X 2 Fan Module. This Module slides over the top of the gear tray using the same principle as the trays and frames as shown below
The fans are 12V DC and have an independent 12V Transformer attached between them in the module as seen in the image below




All the aluminium frames and trays have been powder coated black to help reduce UV

I know everyone is calling for a 400Watt ballast with a MH lamp but I have decided to go with a 600W HPS Ballast using the 600w Sunmaster MH conversion Lamp, this lamp gives out 50k Luminen and 4k Kelvin I will be running 2 banks of fans in the unit so I am quite confident I will be able to control any heating issues...My only concern is the size of the arc, if it is of no use it is just a matter of replacing the ballast with a 400W unit..so no great drama

I have moved the reflector tray up quite a way to show you the assembly of the gear tray and the fan module

I am currently designing the mirror assembly for the unit and will have information on the site as soon as it is done..
Personally I wish I had the skills like Pun15her to work with wood as I feel I would get more satisfaction out of actually building something with my own hands rather than assemble the PJ like a mecano set, however for me this is my best option to produce a quality product.

Once all is done and hopefully a success I will make available to all LL members a complete set of Solid works and CAD drawings

Until next time

DartzMan

That looks really well built so far. Great idea putting the transformer on the fan bank assembly. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.

Awesome work so far DartzMan!!!
Very well made,I like it.
Any chance of a close up of one of those frames??
They sound very good.
Looks like you have everything under control!
Keep it up,and let me know if I can help.
Cheers P

Sure mate...Below is a photo from the lexan frame...
you will see the lexan fits snuggly inside Part 2 of the frame assembly,...then I sit part one and 3 on (Inside cutouts are slightly smaller creating the frame around the lexan


Also below is a photo of the left and right mirror brackets based on your design
these were also punched out of 2mm aluminium with a 20mm return fold and 6mm holes punched in so they can be attached to mirror base frame
Note the small holes either side of the curved hole
these holes are set at 10' increments to help in alignment
Brackets are also powder coated black

I realise that you have already made your frames,but....
As my frames were wooden,it was easy to "force" the top fresnel frame to tilt for keystone adjustment.
I think it will be more difficult for you to achieve a satisfactory result without straining/bending the frame and the rods.
A solution would be to have the top fres mounted in a frame,and have that frame rotate on pivots connected to bars that attach to the rods.
(Dont worry I drew a diagram!! )



This is looking down onto the frame.
I hope this makes sense.
I thought this would be a better solution,given the less tollerant ,but much more precise materials that you are using,and it may save you some agrivation down the road!
Cheers P

I do like your idea in regards to keystoning....What I actually did for the top one (but will look at your idea) is I slotted the 6mm holes this will give me some movement, but I feel it may not be enough
using your approach I could also add a push pull motor to adjust it automatically......will look into it

The slotted idea should work better for you than it did for me.
My chunky wooden frames broke a couple of times during tuning.But your thinner frames should be under less stress,so you will probably be ok.
I was just thinking that as your pj is so well manufactured,it may be a more tweaking friendly solution.
Either way,it still looks like you are on your way to a beautiful end result.
Cheers P

Was able to spend a little more time on the PJ today so completed the Mirror assembly...As usuall preferred material used is 2mm Aluminium....Based again on Puns design I punched out a 2mm Frame and attached a hinged lid on it..then assembled the unit including the side guides.....


One other thing..I have finally sourced a lamp to go with my 600W ballast.....
It is the Sunmaster 600W MH lamp... puts out about 6k colour and 50,000 Luminens

Would be interested in your views.. I have attached a tec report to this post

That lamp looks "HOT"!
I make it 2" longer than mine ( ),but the arc is not too different.
I hope it fits!!!
Construction is looking really nice,keep it up!
Cheers P

This looks awesome. You've really got some good talent with the metal. I want to use metal framing for my punisher style-vertical -upside down pj (second build) Aluminum is quite expensive here.
Powder coating is the best. :0

what kind of power supply is that on your fans. got a close up pic?

Its a small iron core DC Transformer...Had it floating around and fitted in the gap nicely, about 1 amp so enough to run those 120mm fans plus a couple more. Will also be running 3 X 60mm fans that will be near the LCD as well

pj looks awesome so far.. i really like the powder coating.. are you going to powder coat the pj enclosure as well?

COOL!! Nice idea! That would be really groovy.

Havent really put much thought into the outside of the unit yet.....
I would like to stick with the aluminium theme, and if I do it will definately be powder coated....finsh will be a charcoal ripple finish or a Hammerd metal looking finish

Control panels plates will be made this weekend they are being done out of stainless steel

Well you are right Pun, the Lamp is longer therefore I wasnt able to mount it to the 6mm all thread upright....I had to hang the Mogul holder off the side of the 6mm thread. However once I added the side panel (Thats where all the on/off buttons and Neon lamps will hang from) there wasnt any overhang of the mogul so it worked out fine in the end.......Thanks to Lady Luck


Heres another view of the mogul holder including the lamp


I couldnt wait, and I had to connect 240v to the beast to make sure it all fired well and my wiring was correct...While I was plugging it in the family made a quick dash to the front door..Talk about confidence in my ability.....Well she fired up a beauty...I am still seeing spots

Gday guys...Not much more has been done to the PJ over the last couple days...But I am glad to say that the Frezzies, Lens and Pro reflector arrived....Only 7 days from date of purchase....I cant get local stuff in Melbourne, Australia that quick.

I also picked up a nice little addition to the PJ to help monitor the fans and temps....


LCD Display Temperature, fan speed, alarm clock, time, system status
Fan Output 0V, 6 ~ 12V
Temp. Range 0 ~100°C
3 Temp monitors and fan controllers

12" X 16" FS mirror was found on Ebay for a cool $20.00 so that should be here in a day or two.
I have also replaced the small DC FAN TX for a larger unit that can control the Fan monitor, fans and any other low voltage units.. called the Powertec MWP 606

Adjustable power supply, 15A on +5, 4A on +12 and 1A on -5. Led indicates proper voltage

Will have the side covers Punched out and powder coated tommorrow.. one will hold 3 X 40mm fans that will help keep the heat off the LCD.So all up I will have 3 X 40mm Fans and 2 X 120mm Fans....

I have a week off work next week, so I have my fingers crossed that the BenQ 567v2 will arrive by then, and I can get stuck into the PJ full time for a week.... I will be taking the gamble to remove the AG. NOT something I am looking forward to doing but rather do it now than after I have assembled the whole thing...

With my obession with heat removal I was messing around on the PC and came up with this idea


Will this work? or would the heat stuff up the fan nearest the lamp reflector?

The fan closest to the lamp should go, two fans pushing and pulling doesn't work that well, just use the other one.

Cheers mate....Will do that.......

Nice save on the mogul holder,good job!
Marks out of ten so far???.......180!
(sorry!) P

Finally got the Mirror today...plus the 40mm Fans.. will Asssemble the side covers and also create the Pro Reflector Holder...

good call on the one hundred and eighteeee mate
Managed to get the side covers done today....
Looking at Puns design he cut into his woodern frames to allow air to cirulate through the LCD across the lamp down into the fan chamber.. Due to me not noticing this till too late and having already manufactured my frames out of alluminium, I wasnt keen on cutting them down and then re powdercoating them..
Therefore I modified the side covers to allow for air flow... To improve circulation across the LCD and down into the light chamber I added 3 X 40mm Fans...These fans will be controlled by the silverstone Fan Controller....
Below is an image of the side panel including the fans

And here is one with the side cover installed


I also added the Pro reflector holder....See image below.

At the moment the reflector still has the tissue paper on it to protect it....I have also added a secondary hole underneath the Pro Reflector..This hole will have a piece of 80mm Duct attached on the underside and lead to one of the 120mm Fans below in the transformer area.

The worse thing about powder coating....you can see all my finger prints.....a real %$#@ to clean off too

Sorry the information is coming in dribs and drabs...

I havent had much time to put into the PJ at the moment so its 5 mins here and 5 mins there...
Good news is I have wired up the fans and fan controller...
As stated earlier, I am using 3 X 40mm fans that will help circulate cool air under the LCD and also 2 X 120mm fans to suck air out of the lighting area and Ballast area. IF there is room there will be a duct running under the Pro Reflector out to one of the 120mm Fans...
If you look at the image below you will also see the location of the Thermistors
1 in the light box, 1 just under the LCD and the last one is in the ballast area.


Here is a close up of the PJ showing the first Frezzie and also the 40mm fans in action
the 600w is running at the moment....Temp is low but the side panels aint on so its not accurate


Looking forward to next week, whole week off and hopefully the LCD will arrive on Tuesday

I even have the wife interested in the unit and is drawing up pics on how she would like the box to look
'

Holy cow, this PJ is looking like an industrial-strength beauty! I see hall-of-fame on the horizon...

Question - (I haven't built anything yet and I'm not sure how much heat a 400W or 600W MH will throw off, so forgive my ignorance) - will the sides of an enclosed aluminum box get very warm, even with fans running?

I'm not sure if a metal construction will be of benefit, aiding heat dispersal by acting as a giant heat-sink, or if the transmissive properties of metal will make the sides immediately around the bulb too warm to touch (ie. kids or pets). I guess it will depend on the amount of airflow.

Just wondering, as metal sides was one of the options I was considering in my design.

That LCD temp display looks awesome!

GENE

Lookin' GREAT mate! Do you guys REALLY talk like that?
Oh yeah! I second that call.

Speaking from my little experience a vertical designed like this one won't get overly hot anywhere within reach of small hands. My lightgate gets around 100F (38C) with a 400W lamp. I went ahead and installed heat baffles anyway 'cause it was very easy to do. Haven't tested them yet. My arc is around 4 inches (10cm) from the sides of my steel lightgate. For a smaller planform box than mine having a solid surface directly above the arc I'm certain there would be more serious heat issues to deal with though. Like - can you say "fry an egg"? Like you said "amount of airflow" is important.

Did the lamp really have an 60mm arc? Are you using a 330mm/330mm fresnel?
Great job so far

Cheers guys thanks for all the nice comments......There will be a certain amount of heat in the unit however I hope I have covered that with the 5 fans I have installed, also the housing you actually see in the photos is the inside frame work of the Unit, not the outside of it....I have to install all that into the outside enclosure (Skin). There will be room for the PJ frame to breathe so the heat transferred to the outer skin will be minimal..

arizonavideo, the arc on this lamp is 64mm. If you go back a page there is a link to a PDF file which gives you all the tech stuff on the lamp.....Lumens 50,000 Colour about 6k - 6,5k and 64mm Arc. I am using the standard Lens Kit from LL......Rather wish I bought the pro set up now
oh well, that can go in Ver 2

There is a few lamp that have the wrong arc legths no one evers cares but us[ eye 850 watt lamp says 60mm but is 80mm.

I presume, you are talking about us aussie's mate....Yeah we say Gday mate and Hows it going....
funny thing is I am English... Just been here a lifetime.. Aussies are so laid back if we could communicate without talking, and believe me we try, we would...

Blue skies, blonde girls, the ugly ones still look good...and petrol is still cheaper than a beer

Where else would you wanna live?

Well the weeks holiday has started and I have been a busy buddy with the PJ....
I ordered the Benq 567 v2 the other day and was told that they are not available in OZ, So I took a gamble and picked up the BenQ FP51G
Specs are as follows

Monitor TypeFlat Panel LCD TFT (Active Matrix)
Size15"
Contrast Ratio400:1
Aspect Ratio4:3
Max. Resolution1024 x 768
Brightness250 cd/m²
Response Time16 ms
Dot Pitch.297 mm
Color Depth24-bit (16.7M Colors)
Viewable Picture Size15 in.

As far as stripping it was a easy as.....I was very nervous though being my first tear down of a Screen....I didnt bother to remove the AG I thought "Don't Push ya luck mate"
anyway all went well. I stripped in about 20 mins...had it installed in about an hour and powered her up to make sure all was well.,Worked a treat.


Tommorrow I will install the top frezzie and also the mirror....Hope to show some screen shots by the weekend

Woah,this build is really moving along fast! Nice going.
The control panels for your lcd look identical to my 567.
Cant wait to see her in all her glory. Keep up the good work,D man.
She will be a "beaut".

Man I give you props for making a PJ that looks has factory quality stamped all over it. This is the main reason I joined this forum to learn new stuff of course the more you learn the more you want to tweak and upgrade. Keep the pics coming I'm not going to let my wife look at your plog though she might make me go back to the drawing board On a side note you probaly have the brightess clearest overhead projector on the block right now thats what I used to call my pj until I actualy had the lcd instaled.

Cheers mate.....I actually couldnt wait, tonight I wrapped cardboard around the unit...Stuck in "Deep Blue Sea" Movie and reflected it backwards on the ceiling ...was totally amazing...And that was without a reflector..never seen dolphins that big on a screen before....I cant wait to finish it off....I might pull an all nighter now...

These things ROCK

Hey D-man,how are things coming along now??
Interested in a progress report!
P

Hmm good and bad mate.....I actually fired the unit up, surrounded it with a cardboard box to see what I got out of it, well I got 3 days of movies and had a great time....Unfortunately I had to move the unit and I grabbed the wrong part causing damage to the LCD....I lost about a 10mm strip on the side of the LCD by damaging the FCC...Also due to the position of the PJ, the wife and I decided a vertical is not the way to go...

So I have gone back to square one, However seeing what I can achieve in designing a PJ I have already commenced on ver2 of the unit, it is a coffee table version.....\

I have already made the box, legs and all the wiring is done, and fired up ok......I am gunna work on the old LCD to see if I can fix it , I was also attempt to remove the AG...


The hurdles I have come across have only educated me more in the design of my PJ. and I hope to have some photos soon....

Main thing, I AM STILL HAVING FUN ! !

Hi DartzMan,

Could you post some pics explaining about how to strip your fp51G? I plan to buy fp51G after can't find another compatible monitor in my country.

Thx

Gday mate..Unfortunately I didnt take any photos during the strip as I was concerntrating soley on that.. However it is really simple.....
just lay the screen down on its face and remove every screw you can see...The front and the back clip apart
When you get into the guts of the unit, unscrew the VGA board and the Power supply board.
Carefull of the FCC connections to the long slim board...

THe LCD is housed inside an aluminim and plastic frame....you have to bend the tabs back that are around the edges to seperate the 2 also there are 2 small screws at one end where the Back Light cables are resting against...you need to remove them as well....

Just take your time, its not a race...and remember, you only have to take it apart, not put it back together as well, so if it unscrews, unscrew it

Wow,all that work!!!
I cant wait to see the pics of the new one!!
What are you making this one out of?
Hope you can get the lcd repaired ok.
Keep on truckin' P

Does this LCD have DVI connector and what is the size of the panel?

Hi Pal,

How did you handle the panel issue with FP51G. As I see it has just buttons and no panel on the cover. Can you please post few pics about how it looks on your PJ please

I am swaying back and forth between the idea of a light box/lightgate, or just mounting the mogul on my threaded rod like you have done.

My basic idea is very similar to what you have done, except these pieces, outlined in the modified pic below (hope you don't mind), are exactly what I need! Would you mind telling me where you got them? Am I going to be able to find them or will they make me even more upset that I don't work at a electrical and sheet metal fabrication company I was planning on making them out of wood and glueing the bolts in but I'd like to steer clear of that if possible.




also, do you have any better, close up pics of the metal frames for the fresnels? thanks! your project looks awesome

Hey DartzMan congratz on your PY, Pun15her style !!!!

Jus wanted to ask for the Size of your LCD stripped, the Benq FP51G and does it have any FFC or AG issues? If yes.. Have u tried to soak off the Ag?

Thanks a lot!

Woorayy ppun15her!


Comedown