Original concept - most wiring located in bottom box.




Second version - military theme is born!

Click to view attachment


Further design changes and construction begins:




Almost finished!






Gotta love those switches!

Wiring mess!




Eye Bulb and Norpro reflector




Nuclear power source is activated!




We have a projected image! - opening scenes from Batman Begins on an 8 foot wide by 6 foot tall screen (120 inch diagonal).

way to go Rorshach.
You should do something about the light leaking through the fans, it will pollution your room decreasing the contrast of your projected image.

You are correct - that is the next step, looking for some sort of louver that will fit over the fans - haven't found anything that is just right yet - may have to fabricate something.

Are any of these projectors truly 'completed'?

Nice pics!!

Was this your inspiration?

http://saturnsurplus.com/lights/search.htm

lol, quoted from site above:

"you could give a Martian a suntan with kind of power!!! "

Hrrrrmmmm... how can I bolt that to the back of my projector? Duct tape!

I was wondering what westing house LCD you are using? I like the design but how heavy is it?

Westinghouse LCM-15v5, purchased from Best Buy at $199.

The box is HEAVY! 3/4 inch plywood and using old style magnetic ballast instead of newer (and MUCH lighter) electronic ballast. Not sure about the exact weight, it takes two people to lift, mainly because it is so bulky. That's why I put wheels on the bottom of it.

Added louvers to mask light escaping from rear fans. Will take more screen shots soon.

WOW! Those shots look great! How far back are you to project that image?

Thanks! 1 to 1 ratio, pretty short throw - 10 feet back = 10 feet diagonal image. I'm diggin' it! Ran it for 6.5 hours saturday - watched Zathura, and March of the Penguins - Space movies must be seen on a big screen!

Awesome! I have a 12X16 room that's over my garage...in fact it's the room I'm in now.....and I'm thinking about making it my theater room! It's just that I have absolutely no tools, no wood working experience and no electrical experience so that's what's kept me from trying this project!
The new pre-built LCD projector looks like something that's right up my alley but I think I'll wait for the next generation before I buy.

More screen shots - first up, Spider-Man 2 - this is as close to how it actually looks projected.
Screen size is 8 feet wide, 6 feet tall (4:3 aspect ratio) a little shorter for 16:9 widescreen.

Click to view attachment

Projector is on the floor (bottom center of picture).

More Spider-Man 2:

Click to view attachment

Reds look good (using the N6/DVD Player)

Space movies look great!

Serenity:

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Creepy Cop in Frank Miller's Sin City:

Click to view attachment


Sweet little Miho:

Click to view attachment

Wider shot showing the projector on floor. Louvers are in place, but just aren't long enough to block the light at lower angles - I'll have to build deeper louvers!

Narnia anyone?

Click to view attachment

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Weird Sci-Fi series, Lexx

Click to view attachment

Note outline of - and a little light leak from projector's lid in lower left corner in above picture.

Xev from Lexx:

Click to view attachment

12 x 16 room would be perfect size if you put the screen on the 12' wall. I had zero wiring experience when I started, and little wood working skill, but was able to learn or enlist the aid of others more knowledgeable. The pre-built looks like a good deal - but there is something about building your own... I guess it's bragging rights!

Short video clip now available showing my wife and son in front of the projection.

You can view it here.

New screen shots - Van Helsing

Click to view attachment

Van Helsing

Click to view attachment

Van Helsing

Click to view attachment

To the Bat Poles!

Click to view attachment

Atomic Batteries to power - turbines to speed...

Click to view attachment

Hello Down There - lights off in room

Click to view attachment

Hello Down There - Four 25 watt lights on in room.

Click to view attachment


Picture of the lights - they are about 18 feet from screen.

Click to view attachment

wow man
not only is it a good lookin design

but it freakin looks great on the screen
lights on and everything...

nice


red

Thanks Red!

I think I over did it on the box design as far as making it more complicated than it needed to be (especially for a first build). But as a positive, moving the mag ballast to a separate box lowered the internal temp of the main box. It typically runs about 6 to 9º above ambient.

Screen shots from 'Ultimate Avengers' DVD - dark corners on bottom are from my focus box getting in the way of the projection.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

cool design and really good results! please post more pictures of your pj. I love those switches

Thanks! I'll take some more pix of the PJ after I put the decals on.

Here is a pic showing a standard TV signal from satellite (DishNetwork) displayed on a 25 inch television and projected at 120 inch diagonal.

Click to view attachment

Can you name the Batman movie these screen shots are from?

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Batman Vs Predator?

Batman: Dead End

Correct!

Click to view attachment

You can download 'Batman: Dead End' from here.

Hey Rorshach, Outstanding work, Great results....Quick question, I am getting ready to build a projector, but I am still in the information gathering part of the process. I was wondering how you are getting Dish to your projector, and what the results are? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Ahh sorry about the delay in response - I use a Viewsonic N6 as the 'go-between' from my Dish receiver to my projector. It also handles the DVD player via component inputs and is switchable from various sources via a remote. Check the link for more detailed info. An N6 can be found used for around $100 - or new for about $140 on some ebay stores. My experience has been that it works really well with component inputs but the s-video input displays a little muddy and washed out. If you have a HD Dish receiver then it should look great!

Have you tried running your PJ off a computer to play movies - rather than the N6?

I've used a cheapo TV Box before - Kworld - and the difference was night and day worse compared to using a PC to play DVD's (PowerDVD software).

The N6 is probably better, but I still think you'll likely see a tremendous leap in image quality using a PC.

The difference I've noticed is between broadcast via s-video vs. DVD via component - that too is drastic. My tv's satellite signal has way too much mpeg compression, especially noticeable with fast moving scenes. DVD's look fantastic via the N6 because they aren't compressed as much. I have no problem with that, just the broadcast signal looks bad. That being said, nope, I haven't tried a PC - mainly because I don't have one. More of a Macintosh person, but don't have a modern one of those either!

Bought a new iMac - 17" model with intel core duo processor 1.83GHz, 1GB RAM paid $499 - sweet price!
Haven't tried hooking it to the projector yet though...

Finally tested out the iMac with the PJ - looked good.

I'm posting a couple of pix here for comparison - the first is from the N6, the next will be from the iMac directly connected to the PJ.



Click to view attachment



Click to view attachment

After a year and a half of use - and I mean heavy use - well in excess of 1000 hours - the bulb is acting up. It strikes almost instantly, but after about 1-2 minutes it shuts off. I will pull the prong up on the mogul, and clean the contact and see if that fixes it.

Bent the mogul prong up and put the bulb back in - problem persists. Replaced the bulb with a new bulb - arc is waaay off center, but I wanted to rule out the bulb - new bulb does indeed work. Placed an order from 1000Bulbs.com for a replacement... weird, who would have thought that a bulb rated at 20,000 hours would fail at around 1000-2000 hours of use? I guess the PJ environment (heat) and short cycles (typically averages 3-4 hours) really shortens the life expectancy - boy am I EVER glad this is a $28 bulb, NOT a $400 bulb!!!

Anyone else have a shortened life on their bulb?

I'm using a MH 400w 'Eye' bulb BT28 envelope.

OK, I had a spare bulb and I am using it for now. My replacement Eye bulb should be at my doorstep today. Anyway, the temp bulb isn't quite in the ideal spot, and it doesn't have a reflector behind it. So for comparisons of brightness levels, I snapped a picture to compare with a previous picture - behold the difference.


Current temp bulb (LL bulb) - slightly off center horizontally, no reflector in place.

Click to view attachment


Previous bulb, 'Eye' BT28 envelope, in the 'sweet' spot with a Norpro reflector.



Both bulbs are 400 watt MH