After planning for almost a year then spending the last month and a half working on the PJ, I am almost done building my PJ. Tonight I projected my first official projections. I didn't do any focusing or adjustments. Lenses and other components are not quite centered yet but will tweak when I get the chance.

Most parts are from LL:
400 W MH Ushio bulb with eBallast
Pro lens and fresnels
Reflector

I got the Lexan from Home Depot

LCD is an Acer AL1715 8ms 1280x1024 with a .26 pitch and 500:1 ratio. Has DVI and VGA input.

The box I designed myself, got the general box made up by a friend of mine then customized/modified to spec.

Other parts are scrounged from different sources.

I have not completed my screen yet but I got the Goo Systems screen paint which I will apply shortly.

Images of my projector and blog can be found here: http://spaces.msn.com/tbirdmvp/

I will post final screen shots when I get the tweaking done and my screen is finished.

The first image is the bottom of the PJ:
http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b294/Tbi...teriorPJBox.jpg

LCD Control Panel, DPDT Power Switch and Light:
http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b294/Tbi...iorPJBox001.jpg

Rear of PJ showing Remote Temp Indicator, Fans covered with velour and VDIGI VD-Z3 input converter:
http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b294/Tbi...iorPJBox002.jpg

Right side of PJ showing handles and focus mechanism:
http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b294/Tbi...iorPJBox003.jpg

Front of PJ showing LL Long Throw Pro Lens and 3 air inlet filtered cartridges (yeah the dust mask types):
http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b294/Tbi...iorPJBox004.jpg

Left side of PJ showing focus mechanism and handles:
http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b294/Tbi...iorPJBox005.jpg

There are a lot more pictures on my MSN Spaces blog as stated above: http://spaces.msn.com/tbirdmvp/

Very nice work. Is the box mostly/all solid oak glued-up panels? Neat idea with the dust mask filters.

All outside surfaces are oak laminate except for the focus machanism which is solid oak. All joints are glued and held with screws.
I just did some tests and the mask filters do not allow enough air flow. I will try to drill some holes into the inside of the filters from within the PJ box. Hopefully I can increase the air flow that way. If not I will take a Dremel and cut them open, take the contents out and then add a felt liner to collect the dust and block the light.

I've just got back from some vacation and did some testing.
I am getting too much heat onto the LCD. I put a remote thermometer (cable to thermometer located outside the PJ) and at highest temp I get 115 deg F right in the middle of the LCD between the rear fresnel and the LCD.

I am using two 50 cfm fans located in the rear top left and right corners of the PJ box. I though it was lack of flow from the front of the PJ box so I removed my focusing mechanism which created a big hole in the front. It brought the temp down to 108 deg F.

Is it possible that I am getting infra-red radiation from the light hitting the silver flashing then bouncing onto the LCD? Should I paint the flashing black in the light section?

I am using the pro reflector from LL.

Maybe the flow from the front isn't appropriate. I didn't want a slot on top or below the LCD/fresnel.

Any ideas welcome.

what are you using for a cooling circuit if you haven't cut cooling slots ? A picture or diagram would be worth a 1000 words. Also, what are the ratings (CFM's) on your fans ?

cheers,
gs

CFM ratings are 50 for each fan. Thus 100 cfm.

As shown in first image below, the air comes from the front 3 holes and go past the field fresnel, enters above the LCD frame through 1" wide gapes in the frame, exits through 1" gaps in the frame through the bottom of the rear fresnel, goes through the lamp chamber and out the rear top left and right fans.

Here is a better picture of the 1" wide grooves in the frames for air flow path. The reason this is done is the frames go tight together and there would be no gap between the rear fresnel fram and the LCD frame without adding these 1" gaps.

i suspect the air is being greatly restricted by your grooves.. the fans your using dont move anything near the 50cfm they are rated for under any sort of restriction..

You may have to either add some more fans or redo your cooling circuit.

The LCD frame looks ridgid enough to me that you could do without the spacer blocks between the grooves. I would knock them out with a chisel.

Do the areas of the notches on the top of the LCD frame and at the bottom of the fresnel meet or exceed the area of the space between them?

As mentioned that may be what I need to do for a test is remove the rest of the spacers and have one gap across.

I'm not sure what area you are refering to Death. Is there a set area we require for a minimum or maximum?

Thanks!

Yea, good place to start is what DeathRay suggested... Also, what is the diameter of those fans ? They look real small...

Darn! Since you mentioned the fan size looked small I started to do some research. The place I had ordered these fans from on the web last year stated 48 CFM but when I search for that model I only get 28 CFM. I am VERY underated for CFMs then! I need to find an alternative that will still use the same holes.

Thanks!

That makes a lot of sense... you could probably use two 80mm fans to get what you need, and they will probably fit fairly well... still some mod's necessary by the looks of it though...

Good luck.
gs

Sorry, that was a bit of a convoluted sentence. I simply meant that the area of any airpath should be at least as large as the space between the fresnel and LCD.