Final pics from done projector. Not sure why the screen shots aren't focused, because in real life they are. Here you go. First one is with the flash. I took enough that you can see the corners are focused using the new test 135mm 500mm fl from Alan, this is a wide screen 15" but 4:3 lcd. The projection is on the actual cream colored wall, which is actually bumpy. Inside has a seperated section. 2 6x9 speakers, 250w amp, and 12" sub connected to rear. Power for short time is a car battery charger. I will replace that with a 15 amp transformer. It is using a 330mm and a 550mm fresnels. 2 120mm fans and 1 cylindrical fan. No problem with noise, since the sound system is connected. Only real problem, is I am losing a lot of brightness and not sure why. It uses the 875w metal halide, and it was pushing 118 ish lux at a 7 foot wide screen. Now it is only 80 ish. I am gonna have to go back to the reflector and see if it is clouding over or something. Also, I am still gonna replace the light with the hortilux 55mm 5500k 1000w light bulb. Welp, my wife and I'm satisfied, so I guess that is all that matters.

Yes she is a big girl but what does it matter it works . I actually like the fact that it looks like a tall cabinet hopefully when I close mines off it will have a similar effect. Are you using a bulb from an overhead pj?

Do you have a plog where you can show inside of it and where it is placed in your room when your watching a movie? I like it and was thinking of doing something like that myself. I just have a lcd on top of a OHP for right now.

Thanks, anyways, it is a 875w metal halide, 4000k light. I have an overhead light in my other projector, but this one uses a straight metal halide. Also, I am using a Ikea 8" or so bowl for a reflector. I am switching to the 5500k light pretty soon. It will be better for the shear fact of the 55mm arc. I am over alittle on both sides of the lens. I unfortunately just joined recently, so no plogs done for this. I will someday take the inside pics, but only after I get my other lamp setup in. It is behind my chairs and stuff at the back of the wall. Roughly 13 feet to the screen.

you say 135mm test lens (in your initial post) is this a lens not currently available at alan's site? or is this his longthrow lens? or is it something entirely different that i'm just confused about?
thanks

It is not currently available. It is one that is in a testing stage, to make sure it will work. I am happy with the results. I am waiting to see a friends done with a 17" screen and 650mm fresnel. Although he seems to be poking along. He said he is gonna get the wood this weekend, and I have to help bla bla bla. I am tired of building after this big thing I will do a lot of pointing and explaining. But no more getting dusty damnit

I broke down and ordered it today. :-)
http://www.eyehortilux.com/tb/blue/EQS-N-52-78-57945.pdf

i'm shoppin for a 18" EFL lens; noticed your wallpaper with the mame- off-topic question: do you have a mame cab built, you have any pics online somewhere you could link to?
(someday i hope to build a mamecab) but first... the projector!

I had a friend that downloaded a whole bunch of wallpapers onto my labtop from one of those little stick memory cards. I liked that one, so I went with it. Sorry, don't know anything about mame.

I was under the impression that the Blue bulbs emit too blue of a color. But it says a color temp of 5500k and a CRI of 92, so that should work. I'm just confused at why they list that as a "blue" bulb, when the 10,000k color temperature would be more blue then a 5500k color temp, which should be white.

I'm interested in the results you will get when you use this bulb, as it puts out 80,000 lumens with an arc of 55mm. This is definately a great 1000w bulb IF it actually emits white light.

By the way, I like your box. It might be big, but it looks like its not just wasting space, it has random crap on top of it.

The bulbs color is perfect. Not sure why they list it as blue, but the picture is the best so far, compared to a 5200k ushio and the 875w 4000k bulb. I didn't have to adjust at all the lcd for perfect color of peoples skin etc. I believe that the high CRI may have to do with why it looks so good as well. The only issue I have right now, is the arc is still long enough, that there seems to be overspray of light on white letters. I think it has to do with the light hitting the fresnels at a different angle, since this is only at the top and bottom, and not sides. So, I am going to try to move the light back alittle and see if it gets rid of it. Will keep you updated.

Just got this, so I can remove the loud battery charger

Sounds like you should paint the inside of your box black too absorb the stray rays of light that are bouncing around. That might solve your problem with the letters, I'm not sure however, but painting it black will make it brighter (minimally). Can you make a quick measurement or take a pciture of the bulb? I'd just like to make sure it indeed has an arc of 55mm, if so, the bulb is perfect and should give you very good brightness, I'm excited to see your results

Inside was already painted black, not the problem. Also, I measured it to be a 55mm arc indeed. I will take new pics this weekend or so, cuz I just got a new camera which should arrive today. woohoo can't wait. The other pics were taken off a borrowed camera. I haven't had a new camera ever. My last camera was a $1 garage sale camera. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

The brightness is really good. Just for knowledge, the pics were taken at .5s speed. Most of the pics here that look as bright were much longer speeds some as high at 2 seconds.

Looking foward to some screen shots with the new camera. Do you have a LUX meter?

Of course, I don't play But I am in the process of doing some things. I am gonna switch back to the 220mm fresnel. I have a new cylinder fan that will be on the top of the lcd, already one on the bottom. Then I will make the light about 250mm from the fresnel or so, to get ride of the spray light. HOPEFULLY that is. We will see. Then I will redo the lux readings. I am trying to get completely set before I give numbers, or otherwise the numbers are just that, numbers. I want it real final numbers.

The star effecet in you last pictures I have seen before from the fresnels before when they were too close togather or light was entering the edge of the fresnel.

Yeah, fresnels are not lined up right. I can see the stars before I even put them in the projector. But, with the 220mm I can line up perfectly. I will put new pics up soon. I can't wait to do some more work on this thing. I just got the camera in the mail today.

Glass holding the fresnels broke first try with the 220mm fresnel, so went back to the 330mm. Found a 450mm fresnel for the front, but that is kinda expensive, so it is on the too do list. That would shorten up the throw, and change some things, but mainly I am hoping to shrink the arc alittle with a smaller fresnel. Less change going from the 330mm to the 450mm than the 330 to the 550.

New pics of corners, the light bulb and some daylight shots.

Very good, nice job man.

Thanks

good job on the pj.

you can use a modified PC power supply (350 watts and above) which will give you 15 Amps at 13.8V DC. I modified one to charge lithium polymer batteries for RC airplane. you can find it in my plog.

have fun

fw

This power supply ended up working great. I recommend this to anyone. If I did my box again, probably would be inside, but no biggy.

Newest pic, modded lens still, 1000w bulb capped off arc slightly for clarity.

Good news, kinda bad news?? Well, with the help of AV, as usual. I figured out why my lumens dropped below 200. Well, I was complaining to AV about salt deposits on the bottom of my bulb. Well, low and behold, I am at about 200 less watts to my light bulb than I should be. So, I need to figure out if it is the cap or actual ballast. Either way, 200watts will give much more lumens in the end. So back above 200 lumens hopefully, I think I was at about 250 before. Just an FYI, I bought a amp meter for $14 at harbor freight. It was well worth the money. Also, It says 200v- 1000v, but that means it has two settings. Below 200v and above 1000, so it works for both volts and amps for what we will need.

Welp, back to the drawing board on this. I have been watching it for a while, and 100 lux just doesn't do for me, after watching my lilliput one at 350 lux. I just ordered a new 220mm rear fresnel, and am going to get the 1200w double next. But for now, using the 400w ushio at 579w is doing a good job. The smaller arc makes the image clearer, and overdriving it, makes the actual lumens exactly the same as with the 1000w bulb and ballast. I am at 190-200 lumens, and with the move to the 220mm fres, it should be almost 350+ lumens. with the 1200w it will be well over 500 lumens. But again the heat factor may come in then. I will have to do some changes at that time.

One last note. My goal is to have 350-400 lux (middle max) at the wall on a 73" wide and not sure how tall screen. That way, it is completely viewable at daylight hours. Even the pics I posted are faded. But on my lilliput proj at 350 lux, i can watch with no problems during total daylight hours. At night, it is like looking at a normal lcd TV, there is no fade, it looks as bright at that. For comparison, anyone can take their projector, and move it up towards the wall, until you get 350-400 lux. Then you will understand why. It is awesome.

I have a feeling you like to overclock PCs as well?

For me, overclocking is the way to go. I get as much brightness out of a 400w bulb, as a 1000w bulb. I am happier with the 220mm fresnel setup. The corners are dimmer, but I have watched about 20 movies now, and most end up being wide screen anyways, so the corners aren't even in the projection. But when they are, it isn't really noticeable. Now, the projection is watchable more, when my daughter wants to play, and we have to leave the lights on, and also, the daytime. Someday, I will buy a 1200w setup, for the arc size and the brightness, but for now, I am happier.

This looks fantastic man, I'm going to be using a 1000W Metal Halide also, so it's reassuring to see someone could control the heat and also get amazing results.

P.S.
What kind of fans are you using?