Hey LL community -

Firstly I'd like to say how amazed I've been at both the projects and the sentiment of support and open collaboration on this board. I've been lurking for a while now, drinking in and admiring all of the accomplishments of others, and am only now beginning to assemble components for my eventual first projector.

First, a quick (and possibly uninteresting) description of my quiet struggle to finally begin this process:

I was going to hold off on starting a build, as my fiancee and I have dreams of purchasing a house, and our current apartment isn't ideally suited to having a projector up and running. However, there was a confluence of events that has led me to change my mind:

• Recently, my boss was given an ultra-portable InFocus projector for the talks and workshops he gives regarding home weatherization of old Victorian buildings - insulation strategies, etc. Now, was this projector really intended to be lent out when not in use so that my gal and I can play Mario Kart: Double Dash on a 7 foot diagonal projection on my living room wall? No, not really, but it's left me convinced that I can do better in our current place with some Lumenlab parts and a bit (or, okay, maybe a lot) of elbow grease.

• My goal for a projector was to build one that supported HDTV, with an LCD panel with built-in tv tuner, etc. My background gives me strengths in fabrication, not wiring, so I do hope to keep the wiring as simple as possible. The notion of an HTPC is a difficult one for me to swallow because 1) I'm a fervent Apple devotee, and 2) there's the Wife Approval Factor to take into account, and an HTPC would never work in our current set-up. The Mac Mini does appeal as a possible HTPC, but given it's lack of DVR functionality, it's nothing I'll be toying with on this build. Apple's Front Row navigation app does appeal, though.

Wanting an HDTV projector, I thought that whis would mean getting a 17" panel and going the Pro Lens route, which seemed to me like a decent chunk of change to invest in something that the time didn't seem completely right for.

• Then, a few Saturdays ago, I come across a Magnovox 15" 15MF605T HDTV LCD at Best Buy, come home and start searching Lumenlab to see if anyone has used it to success, and find an astonishingly helpful step-by-step monitor stripping thread (big thanks to staindrocks (for asking the questions and posting the pictures) and pagercam (for then answering the questions and other suggestions)), along with a thread with a link to where the (purported) Magnavox is $100 cheaper than at Best Buy.

• Switching over to the LL Store, I find that the Standard Lens kit is finally in stock again - so how could I resist? It seemed clear to me that I'm going a more frugal route in pursuing this, but somehow I wasn't able to fully convey that to my gal when filling her in about all of this. Her response, which I'm sure is familiar to many of you, was supportive but ultimately: "I'll believe it when I see it."

=====

So, I'm sure that I'm gambling on a few things, like whether or not that Firefly link was actually selling the 15MF605T (it should arrive today, so we'll see), and whether or not a 15" Panel and the Standard Lens will be enough to satisfy the quality that HDTV demands, but ultimately, I don't have the highest expectations given that I may eventually give this to my brother (who somehow came across Lumenlab in the first place, bless his soul) and build a Pro-Lens version. Obviously, I'm shooting for a 'good-enough-to-be-a-final-product' result, but I'm sure I'll be much better poised to build another after completing this one.

I am currently trying to assemble most of the components before really launching into everything, and am currently stuck on obtaining the lamp, ballast, fans, etc., and figuring out what I'll do for my enclosure. I'm also working on carving out a workspace for this, but don't want to strip or unpack anything and let it sit around, as dust (and cat hair) is a concern.

I did place an order on Bulbster.com for the Ushio bulb, but yesterday was told that they won't be shipping out until late June, so that has me a little concerned - especially if the bulb's length differs from earlier bulbs others have used, as I think I saw Brain report at some point. I should still be able to cancel the order still, so if anyone recommends a better way, please let me know so I can do that soon. It seems that the bulb is the difficult thing to obtain, as there seem to be many sources for the ballast out there.

Lastly, to follow up on my PLOG subtitle, there are a few resources I've come across from my work in the remodelling industry that I'm looking forward to sharing that I think could be of use to people regarding cabinetry and ventilation. Those links to follow in the days to come - meanwhile, I'm just excited to be finally throwing in with all of you in pursuing this fabulous, luminescent dream.

wharpua

Welcome Aboard!
Sounds like the bug has caught you and its only a matter of time before you are tossing in your sleep, murmuring "Noooo, No fingerprints on the fresnels..." , and picking up odd bowls in walmart going 'Hmmmm, I wonder if this would make a good reflector?'...

Its a great hobby and the folks here are second to none. Have fun, take pictures and ask questions! You will find no end of help here.
Im looking forward to any new insights about the cabinet and vents!

SamuraiJack

PS. Dont say we didnt try to warn you, but this is a very addictive hobby.

Oh, I've been addicted to the theory and promise of this for some time now, I'm sure it'll become all-consuming when I actually start assembling everything.

Thanks for the kind words of welcome, SJ, I've been a fan of your plog for a while ago. (As a side note, I was completely addicted to Civilization back in the early 90s, playing it on my old Commodore Amiga. I'm both saddened and relieved not to have slunk back into it with the more recent versions of it - I've got enough on my plate as it is).

Here's one carpentry tidbit for ya:

In considering a vertical build a while back (I'm currently thinking of a horizontal folded design, for this one), the obviously-named website tablelegs.com seemed like a useful one, where one could obtain four turned and notched legs for the enclosure, elevating it off the floor, and bringing it closer to a traditional piece of furniture.



Personally, I'm more partial to the simplicity of the Hepplewhite style than any of the more ornate, turned styles:


The other possibility in making it an even classier piece of furniture would be to also get the mortised and tenoned apron to create a clean transition between the body of the enclosure and what would become the tabletop, again like more traditional furniture.



Obviously each incremental step means more and more money, with added tweaking to make sure all the ordered parts go well with what you've made. However, these shops are often flexible in terms of being able to make stuff to order, so if you have a decent enough set of specifications, the guy may be willing to work with you.

Congrats on the start and welcome! I think the 15"er will do well from what I have seen. Alot of people seem to be saying watching movies on toooo big a screen sometimes isnt always desireable so a smaller screen with a 15" lcd may do very well for your needs.
good luck!

Glad to hear it, Cap!

Just got home, and it turns out that the Magnavox is indeed the 15MF605T (or the '15MF605T 17' actually, which is what I was expecting). Only $250 or so on
firefly gifts (no personal affiliation, I assure you).

One of my company's remodelling mantras is 'We don't start a project until we're ready to finish it' - meaning that we don't tear everything apart and then figure out to do next, we plan as much as possible beforehand to make the duration of work as short as possible.

It's an approach that I've used with great success in cooking (prep all the ingredients beforehand, so you're not measuring or chopping anything up while something's sizzling on the stove or grill), but now having the Magnavox in hand, I'm pretty excited.

I'll probably post some pics of my space and the (seemingly lo-res) InFocus projector soon, as well as start drawing up some schematics for feedback and criticism.

On a lighter note, there seems to be sunshine outside my window for the first time in a week and a half - just in time for me to want to sit in absolute darkness dreaming of my projector-to-be...

Durachko had asked about my avatar - my response on his Plog, cut & pasted:

My avatar is actually a light drawing (photograph) I made during art school - I did a big series of them, and printed a few out as 5' square images. That's me inside those rings of light, swinging around a little mag-lite bulb, and turning it on and off. The avatar is too small to show this, but at the points where the light arcs end, you can actually see my hand silhouetted against the background multiple times, so it's as if the figure in the middle has 12 arms or so.

Here is a larger version of the avatar image, uncropped:

Very cool. Gonna have to try that. Thanks!

Welcome wharpua---looks like we have a woodworker.
Any man who talks about Mortise and Tenon Joinery is going to be fun to watch.
(where is that Norm when you need him )
That light pic reminds me of the light up Astro Jax that the guys played with last summer. I got to find a pic somewhere. hmmm

Good luck.

Thanks for the welcome, remdaddy, but while I may have some woodworking experience, and a definite appreciation for craftsmanship - it's a whole different story to make it all happen. Plus, I currently don't have access to a shop, which can make a tremendous difference.

For any interested in my suggestion for an alternative Ventilation approach, you might want to check out this thread I just started:

Remote ventilation suggestion from the world of remodelling, (122 cfm + quieter, but home-theater PJs only)

Welcome wharpua
I Love the light drawing,it is beautiful.
Already I like this plog,you have some good ideas,and seem well researched.I think we may be seeing some interesting inovations with your build???
Good luck,I look foreward to following your progress.
Cheers P

Hello wharpua. Just getting started on my PJ. I have also been trying to assimilate the mass amount of information I have been getting from the forums (pressing head against the monitor while scrolling though pages does not appear to be doing anything for me) A small lightbulb went off for me when you talked about building your PJ with legs like a piece of furniture.......not sure why I had not considered it before but it makes sense for what I am trying to do. It is amazing how one concept shots off in so many directions. Thanks and Good Luck. I look foward to following your progress.

Very Cool Avatar.

pun15her -

Thanks for the welcome - I'm sure you're used to hearing this, but I've been a huge admirer of your pjs for a while now.

In terms of interesting innovations for this build, in launching this effort I do want to make the production of this as condensed as possible, but it keeps evolving... as if explaining this notion is anything new to everyone on this board.

Right now the biggest hurdle that I'm currently facing is obtaining a lamp/ballast etc. - I cancelled my bulbster.com Ushio order, and am now trying to find another source for anything comparable. I'm still waiting to see if bigdisu1 has had luck with atlanta light bulbs before placing an order there - if anyone else could either confirm them as a reputable source or point me in any other direction, that'd be very helpful.

The only other development is a bit of small concern over my Magnavox's image quality, although I found that my dvd player only displays in 480i, leaving me with no HDTV source to try it out with. Also, this means that clearly, at some point, I'm going to need to get another dvd player, and leaves me wondering when I'll do so...

Zohayder-

Glad to hear that my furniture-legs mention helped you out. I do think it would be a great handling of a vertical PJ, to build it as a cabinet unto itself, rather than tuck it into a coffee table. A quick google image search yielded this:



A few aspects of this do describe what I had been thinking of for a vertical build - mainly the way the edges of each surface is resolved in some way. I kind of liken the standard, completely spare dog-coffin to seeing a residential wall without baseboard; it's as if there's no considered transition between the wall plane and the floor plane.

Granted, residential baseboard has a practical function to it that a freestanding cabinet doesn't necessarily need to address (basically, the gap and transition between materials), but there is a historical reference there too, in which a wall (crown, plaster, baseboard) parallels a column (capital, body, base). It's just a possible way for the whole body to seem more considered in relation to the rest of the space.

==sorry for the tangent==

Another item that I had thought of in terms of the tabletop (of the Vertical build that I'm not making right now) is that of cutting in a drip edge groove on the underside of the top's overhang. Like this tiny notch on the bottom of this (although I probably would make it rectangular, like a single kerf-width from a sawblade):



In theory, what that does is prevent a spilled liquid (GASP) from continuing over the edge and onto (or into) the sidewall. It creates a place for the liquid to stop moving on the surface of the material, and instead drip straight down to the floor. Now, I'm sure that I'd be pretty protective about letting anyone put any container of liquid on the PJ top, but this would be an extra precaution that would be easy to take while assembling it.

There are a lot of good examples of furniture-style plogs out there, some construction their own from scratch, some housing their projectors in already built furniture. The one that immediately leaps to mind is barry_x2's Widowmaker bureau (which everyone admires, I have no doubt) - I'd do a search for 'coffee table' and I'm sure all of them will pop up; there are some particularly good executions out there.

Sadly, the room that is the current destination for my PJ affords no room for such a thing, so I'm now toying with a wall-mounted PJ. Initially I had thought for it to be a horizontal folded PJ, but I think I'm leaning more and more to an upside-down-vertical one. Not much use for furniture legs there, but I'm already thinking about taking some wall-mounting techniques from the realm of cabinetry, so as to avoid some honking big shelf brackets beneath the pj enclosure.

We'll see - weight and stud location will defintely factor into that, and so will the fact that I'm still renting.

I have built several tables using Mathew Buraks legs good stuff.
I also built a few high end houses for architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen http://www.hughjacobsen.com/
he dosent use any base boards. To each his own.
Good Luck with your design if you want a floating look for your pj google torsion boxes simple to build and can hold ton of weight.

Okay, so today I got my order from Atlanta Bulbs, and please tell me these spots inside the Ushio bulb are normal:

Bulb 1:

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Close-up of gunk inside the inner bulb:

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Bulb 2:
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close-up of bulb 2:

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These things are monstrous - I didn't expect to be so taken back by their size.

And, the ballast weighs a ton! That was also unexpected - I hope I don't need to re-think the upside-down vertical design that's been spinning around in my mind...

Maybe I'll actually get it into a post-able form.

All I'm waiting for now is my second order from the LL store - the reflector, an FS mirror, and the fans (I know I may have found the latter two for cheaper elsewhere online, but I'm more eager to start building than to continue shopping).

Disconcertingly, I haven't yet received a shipping notification email from the store like I did with my last order, and I placed this order at the start of the week...

The lamp is normal and if you think 400 watt ballast is heavy you should see a 1500 watt one.

Welcome aboard
.

thanks for the reassurance, AZ

I'm sure I'll have many more questions about wiring in upcoming posts

EDIT: post moved to page two for side-by-side comparisons

so it's been a while since I've added to my Plog, but I've managed to assemble nearly all the non-housing components via mail order delivery, etc.

I had been comiserating a little bit over concerns about the Magnavox's quality over on mikado's A-mazing plog, as we're both working from the same unit.

Today I discovered that my Comcast cable box is actually broadcasting HD channels that I'm not paying any additional fees for, so I managed to hook my Magnavox up to it via component cables and did a little comparison with the HD & non-HD sources, both through the component inputs:

Here's the non-HD pic of tonight's Sox/Yanks game on the Magnavox, which you must admit looks sub-par for standard definition broadcast - it's still via the component cables, at 480i:

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I wish that I had done a comparison shot of this standard definition image on my CRT as well, but I didn't have time - I'm convinced that this image would've looked better on my CRT tv.

here is the HD version of nearly the same image:

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It might not come across in the pictures, but the HD image truly seems like visual crack - later on in the evening I watched some of Star Wars ep III on HBO HD (which had sporadic closed captioning, for some odd reason), and the images were pretty spectacular. It got me pretty psyched for building this thing, even if it lacks any digital HD inputs. Something for build #2, I suppose...

I just hope I end up watching a lot of DVDs....

I've been using my Maganavox for a while now I only have a regular cable connection but just through regualr coaxial input my image was much better than the first pic that you posted. Some channels have a lesser quality than other are its hard to find one fixed brightness contrast setting that seems to work across all channels.

HD tv channels isn't an option right now but I can't complain about the quality I have right now with this panel.
My settings are 63 Brightness and 54 Contrast the sharpness is about 65. You will have to use the personal settings to get the most out of this lcd.

I only have component input for my JVC dvd player my xbox and my ps2. With Halo2 480p the games looks great even the ps2 games are only 4801 and sometimes I need to increase the brightness for the ps2 games but thats just about it.

The component input is the only thing I use now with this thing as fara s movies and games go my cable company must be smelling themselves with the price they are charging for their HDTV box.

Just remember to use the personal settings to increase your sharpness, brightness and contrast its makes a big difference over the regular settings.

DarkMeat,

Thanks for chiming in with what you've found to work well - I had some concerns that maybe the more recently-made Magnavox LCDs that I and mikado picked up might have been made at a lesser quality than what you picked up a while back for your first build.

I know that I just need to spend a bit more time with it, but I'm hesitant to run it too much having seen some mention of potentially baking on the AG layer - I know you've posted some advice on AG removal for this panel, I need to read up some more.

Anyhow, this past week I set about mocking up a model in cardboard, to try to get this out of my head a little bit and start having a sense of the actual sizes of everything. Having seen so many pictures of people's PJs, it's been exciting to inch closer to creating my own.

Here is what I came up with - I doubt it'll be a useful reference for anyone on the board, but it was a very helpful step. I had previously drew out a possibly way of how the bulb/sled/fs mirror/triplet would be laid out, and that's the piece of paper folded over the side of the cardboard box. I also patched together rough models of both the ballast & bulb/mogul base/reflector, which may or may not have been a folly.

Again, it's a complete rough sketch, longer than it needs to be:

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Having the a rough size in front of me, a light bulb clicked and I thought back to my parents' recent (2 years ago) kitchen renovation, in which we mistakenly ordered an additional cabinet which had been sitting unused in their basement:

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Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

The dimensions are almost ideal - the interior of the box is actually a little too narrow. You can see that the 'top' of the cabinet is set in about 1" or so from the sidewalls and face of the cabinet edges. The 'bottom' is the same way, with both panels sitting within a dado in the sides and rear panels, behind the face frame, which is what the doors are hinged off of. Nothing insurmountable, it seems.

This cabinet has a far more traditional look than what I had been thinking of doing with this build (more along the lines of Tescorp's vertical haas, but upside-down and mounted on the wall), but this is too serendipitous to ignore. It will require a bit of tweaking, though - trying to deal with this box creates a whole different set of obstacles than I would be facing if I was building an enclosure from scratch.

Also, the box currently weighs 22 lbs (9.9 kg), which now has me reconsidering whether or not this should be hanging on the wall, or on the floor with some of the ideas from page 1 of my Plog, furniture legs with tabletop, etc.

Things to think about, although the floor is sounding more appealing by the second.

aarrgh

my first post in months and I keep losing it to a crashing browser.

Here's where I am currently - lots and lots of work on the enclosure, some on the wiring/lamp/ballast/fans/switching, and I haven't touched the LCD screen yet. Also, I only have a hazy sense of how the optics and and LCD mounting is to occur. I did map out the optics and lcd layout weeks ago, enough to get myself started on working on the lower half - making me realize that I wouldn't have enough room to comfortably include the lamp and ballast, thus prompting me to install the lower plywood box to extend the whole thing (as seen in the second pic).

Here's a picture of the whole enclosure as it currently stands:

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Here's (a sideways) one without the side panel, the doors, and the front right leg:

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So the lower plywood box is open to below - I intend to add an air filter to block dust and cat hair. It has given me a good spot to mount the terminal strips. I was hoping to take more pictures but my camera's battery died - I have several switches on the back.

The second picture also shows how I had to cut out the sides, too, in order to accommodate the LCD width. Trying to work with this existing box has demanded a lot of additional work - I spent a bunch of time standing around, scratching my head, thinking of scrapping the whole thing in favor of MDF.

One difficulty has been that fabricating the legs has demanded intensive table saw work. Luckily, I've been able to borrow one on the weekends from a friend at work, but I've had to return it during each week. I'm pretty much at the end of the legs, thankfully, but there are several more things I'd like to do that will require borrowing it again - one thing I intend to do is wrap the plywood box in maple, matching the legs.

One more pic:

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Questions:

- Should I paint the interior black - I'm assuming it'd be preferable to, although I kind of don't want to bother disassembling everything.

- I also have aluminum as heat flashing to cover the lower plywood box, separating the lamp from the ballast. Given the air flow that I have set up, do I really need to add flashing below the bulb?

- As an on/off switch to be separate from the wiring kit switch, I bought a rocker that is labelled:

20A 125VAC
15A 250VAC

Is using that switch going to be a problem? I've been searching for the wiring diagram I've been referencing for my setup, but can't find it presently.

- Lastly, I have the fan AC adaptor plugged into an extension cord that I've stripped the plug off of. Am I right in thinking that the wire that corresponds to the wider prong on the plug and outlet goes to the Common/Neutral strip, with the other going to the Hot/Line strip?

Next steps:

• mount the reflector (I have a fan grille and some picture hanging clips, and I'm hoping to make that work somehow
• finish wiring the temp switch, on/off switch, LL wiring kit, and lamp
• strip LCD
• mount fresnels and LCD (I'm going with a split setup, and am uncertain about keystoning - it'll likely be necessary)
• mount FS mirror
• mount LCD inputs behind FS mirror - I'll be extending the inputs I'll be using down to the bottom rear of the enclosure
• mount triplet w/focusing mechanism (I'm thinking of using drawer slides to move the whole top door in & out
• alter & install rear finish panel (this isn't clear in the pictures)
• fabricate tabletop cap to entire enclosure
• finish all non-cabinet pieces of the enclosure

So - I can do all of this in a month before I start architecture school, right? Right?

I feel like I've already done a lot, but I know that there's a lot left, and a whole lot that could still go wrong so I don't want to get too sloppy in hastening my pace. My fiancee has started getting really excited about this, though, so that helps with the sawdust.

some more pictures - here's one showing how the side panels slide in the dados I cut into the legs:

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here's another showing the back - this will receive an end panel which will have holes cut out for the fans. it will also act as a wiring chase for the input extensions, which will be parallel with the back panel down by the on/off switches:

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here's a side view of my current tangle of wires, sans-side panel:

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Congrats on a great looking build so far. I have been pondering the same design philosophy (code for WAF) as you since I joined. I am planning a furniture grade enclosure in the mission style. The goal is that it won't even look like a projector when not in use.

Keep up the good work!

Re: painting. From others' PLOGs, black paint is applied in the area between the front fresnel and triplet to mitigate reflections of light information back to the triplet. Heat shielding between the lamp and rear fresnel is paramount; IMO painting that area is not.

Flashing below the bulb.....recommend flashing to prevent scorching of any wood that is closer than 6". Over time, any exposed wood around the lamp will get very dry.

20A switch should be adequate. But what will it control? Typically the standard projector build uses a single double-pole, single-throw (DPST) switch. With one operation (i.e., single throw), two independent circuits are controlled (double-pole). One circuit powers the ballast and the other circuit powers the LCD and cooling fans (or power supply for the cooling fans). However, it's perfectly OK to use two single-pole, single-throw switches; just twice the "effort".

I see where you're using an attic thermostat. That is usually always hot when the projector is plugged in and runs the fans (via the power supply) to bring the temperature in the box down to a set temp.

Wider prong is the neutral lead.

Haste WILL make waste. Take your time. It looks good.

u've officially made my bookmarks. (i'm doing a vertical build as well, similar WAF methodology) - didnt gut an already piece, though i love that idea, Barry had a great one which you've surely seen (the one where it raises out of a big hutch.
you're is looking good, keep it up!
What're you planning for the mirror triplet assembly?

LOL i have to say my favorite term when i come to this board is "Visual Crack" lol

I do believe on the WAF scale this would rate about a...................10

Good Job on the enclosure. Sets nicely in the corner when not in use.
Oh yes, this design is def a wife winner.

Thanks all, for the kind words - I'm pretty excited about how it's shaping up.

bevo77 - huge thanks for your feedback regarding my questions. I'll definitely plan to paint the upper half interior black, and use the aluminum flashing to cover the exposed wood and wiring.

Regarding the switching, I'm using the LL Store's wiring kit, which seems to have an SPST switch on it. For some reason I still can't find (in the forums) the wiring diagram I had printed out and was referencing for the wiring process - in case it rings any bells out there, I believe whoever drew it up had been using wide purple curves to show where jumpers were needed on the terminal strips (if you're out there, big thanks & by all means take credit - I'm sorry I lost track of the authorship on that).

Anyhow, the additional switch that I bought and asked about is a DPST, and it's supposed to light up blue. I may obscure the LL switch somehow, or just always leave that one on as a completely unnecessary master switch. Besides, the DPST switch lights up blue, which is my gal's favorite color.

Lastly, bevo - I must confess I was a little confused by your discussion of the Attic Fan thermostat - am I right in thinking that you did not forsee a problem with how I've placed it?

Definitely more to follow...

Firstly, FatScreen, let me say that it's flattering to have been added to your bookmarks.

Right now it's still hazier than I'd like it to be (and I've still got a ways to go before I get there) - I'm intending on mounting the mirror to a piece of plywood, and affixing the plywood to the enclosure's ceiling and back, which will hopefully leave enough clearance on the sides so that I can install drawer slides to the back of the upper door.

The lower door will remain hinged, and the upper door will act like a drawer face with the triplet mounted in the face of the panel. Last night I cut several pieces of plywood to match the door's height & width - cutting into the cabinet door for the triplet is going to be stressful, and a one-shot deal.

Although, having said that, I'm suddenly struck with this cabinet door shop that my company has had success in dealing with: Northeast Cabinet Door

They have a really quick turnaround time, and can make custom sizes - they've been pretty easy to work with. Remembering them lowers the stakes of cutting that triplet in, and now the clean simplicity of that 'Bari' style door looks kinda appealing...

Attic thermostat placement is fine. My points were in context of the use of switches to supply power to the fans, ballast, and fan/thermostat circuit. Having a "master switch" before the DPST switch will work and lets you avoid unplugging the PJ.

On your vertical build, where will your triplet emerge? Through the side wall or pop up from the top? The distance from the front fresnel to the triplet is about 20-22". Where the bulb is placed, it looks like the vertical space above is filling up fast.

bevo - LL simple projector plans call for a distance of 12-5/8" between the collector fresnel and the standard triplet. Early on, I was constantly referring to Joe2000Chevy's folded plan, - I think I'm still in good shape to have the lens come out of the center panel of the top door on the front wall of the cabinet.

However, the mention of 20-22" (is that the Pro lens dimension?) had me initially freaking out for a little bit, but that soon turned into a brainstorm over cutting out the top of the cabinet too and hinging the eventual table-top so that the triplet and mirror assembly would pop up somehow. I'm sure that would quickly exceed the focal length of the collector lens, though.

Yup. I assumed you were using the ProLens set-up.

What are you planning to abate the light spillage from the fans out the back?

I picked up an HVAC return duct grill cover from Home Depot that might be this (or basically looks exactly like this):

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The louvers are all angled - initially I planned to place it on the inside of the enclosure, between the fans andd the bulb, but now I'll be mounting it on the rear finish panel which I haven't installed yet. One benefit in mounting it on the exterior is that it will cover the hole I need to cut in the finish panel for the fans, so that gives me a lot of wiggle room and removes my concern over exposing the cut edge of the birch plywood.

The grille is a basic white grille - not a perfect match for the maple & birch, but it'll do. Another site that my company has had good luck with for decorative wooden HVAC grille covers is patterncut.com - the grilles don't have louvers (those are installed beind the decorative panel), but you can get them in a few different wood types. For now, the white grille satisfies. (Not to say that won't change...)

bevo - I just checked out your Plog #2 - it's crazy! I'll post my questions about it over there. I particularly like the angle adjustability of your FS mirror - it's making me think ahead as to how permanently I'll be affixing my FS mirror. Tweakability seems key, when it comes to the optics.

Hi wharpua,

I have a few questions about your ballast. It looks a lot like mine and your wiring appears to be done by someone competent in these things .

I was wondering if you have 3 wires for input voltage: 347V, 277V and 120V

If you do, can you tell me if you need to do anything with the 347V and 227V wires?

Do you have two common wires on the ballast? Do they both go to the common on the input?

My ballast says ground ballast core. Does that just mean to put a ground wire on one of the mounting screws?

Nice case by the way. Mine's going to be very similar

Nice looking build so far, very nice job on the wiring! how tall is your pj going to be and do you plan to tilt the image at any angle? I am currently building a 15" vertical and I did tilt the light path to move the image up on the wall. very much like the way pun15her did his. you might want to consider making your mirror and front fresnel pivot or you must be 100% sure of your angles. I like to build adjustability into my builds.

Meat -

(Great username, by the way - is that a tribute to the big lughead in the Porky's movies? Also, Phish has a great stop/start funk song called Meat - some people don't like it, but I've always been a big fan of it)

Anyhow, I'm not right in front of the PJ right now, so I should caution that some of these answers might be somewhat hazy - if anyone else reading can correct any of what I'm saying, by all means do so - it would really help me out, I'm sure. Also, another warning is that my wiring isn't yet complete, so I wouldn't think of the pictures as a fully valid reference as a whole yet. Completing the wiring is the next step for me - I'll post some close-up pics afterwards for people.

When starting out, one reference that I looked at a bunch was this really helpful and descriptive post by Zoyhader.

Zoyhader also posted this picture of the wiring instructions, which are the same as what I was going off of (I adjusted the white balance of his post - I can post a bigger scan of my instructions later, if you like):
Click to view attachment

The wiring instructions say to individually insulate all unused leads for the unused inputs - I had three (the 347V and 277V sound familiar, I don't recall what the third was). In this earlier post, on the lefthand terminal strip, you can see the three righthand wires going to nothing. Also, on the lefthand side of that strip, I incorporated my connections between the ballast, the starting cap, and the mogul base.

Regarding the two common wires - one goes to the mogul base and starter cap (the wiring connection at the bottom of the instructions), and the other goes to the common terminal strip.

Regarding the ground wire - I do have a grounding wire off of the mounting screw, although feel a little uncertain about it myself. If anyone could reassure me that this is the correct way, I'd appreciate it. I recall seeing it being wired like that in some prior post, but I don't have a link to it.

Also, regarding the wiring overall - it was the biggest unknown to me, and the most intimidating aspect of this project when starting it. After spending a long while toiling away at this, staring at all the diagrams, reading as much as possible, the whole thing clicked for me. Picking a beginning point and just starting to work with the terminal strips was very helpful - suddenly the whole thing just clicked and I seemed to understand it all. I suggest just trying to wire the starter and the mogul base as an entry point to it all - getting your feet wet may go a long way towards unlocking this puzzle for you.

While I still haven't fired up my lamp, I did test out the fans by wiring them up and plugging in the AC adaptor, and it was ridiculously satisfying to see them whirring away. The big consolation in wiring while you're still trying to figure it all out is that nobody's rushing you to plug it all in - keep chugging along on the wiring, and your comfort level will rise in terms of your understanding of how it all works, and how you're being safe in what you do.

It always helps to have a healthy amount of respect for whatever it is you're working with (I've always felt that way about power tools, too).

Tescorp -

Thanks for the compliments - your words carry a lot of weight in my mind. For a while now, I've admired from afar the way you crank out those prototypes. I was checking out your site just yesterday and really dug the cleanliness of your pre-wired panel's single terminal strip, particularly the green and white handmade jumpers - seeing those as concentric loops are really satsifying in a way that pre-made jumpers don't come anywhere close to touching.

Anyhow, my PJ will stand just approximately 37" tall (or about 94 cm, for all you metric folk out there).

Adjustability definitely seems key. Ideally, the only fixed point that I'd really like to shoot for is having the triplet be centered in the top door panel (although this morning while showering I was debating the possibility of retaining the top cabinet door as a hinged enclosure, with the lens on a moveable panel inside. That way I wouldn't need to worry about a lens cap and the thing could fully look like a cabinet when not in use - of course, it would create other complications).

Actually, the other fixed point I was aiming for was to have the gap between the upper and lower cabinet doors (not visibile in my post in page 2, 'cause the top door is resting on top of the bottom door) match up with the top of LCD screen as a horizontal air intake similar to the HAAS cooling path. That might be a pipe dream, and possibly even unnecessary given the big air intake at the bottom of the cabinet and the fan placement. Even if I had that cooling path, it's possible that no air would be drawn all the way around the LCD panel - it might just come up through the bottom and shoot straight out of the fans. Perhaps it will be unnecessary; I do have a good instant-read oven thermometer, so I'll be able to test things out pretty well, I think.

Regarding the angled light path, I am hesitant to make things more complicated than necessary (despite what my enclosure looks like). I had so far been planning on staying with trying to keep the light path on a fully vertical-to-horizontal path, with built-in tweakability to try to get it right.

I also have some uncertainty as to how the PJ will be placed in the room - there's a chance that it'll live on top of another table between our couches, and it might need a bit of keystoning on both axes (pictures would be more descriptive - I'll post some later). I don't think that a Lens Shift would be necessary, but I could be wrong - perhaps a lens shift on two axes? I shudder to think about lining that up while involving the FS mirror as well.

Also, I haven't been able to use the DAZZZLA's Focal Calculator yet, I need to get on my gal's PC soon to finalize that.

Yes, a little long-winded, but it's definitely confirmed: The DIYPJ bug has bit me hard.

Thanks! That was very helpful! I'll take your advice and take things slowly.

In that diagram there is a "Starter". Do you have one, or is that only for the pulse start lamps?

Oh, and you got the right idea about the username!

The 'Starter' (which I may have mistakenly referred to as a 'Starter Cap') is tucked behind the face frame of the cabinet on the left, in the aforementioned picture from page 2 of my PLog. It's also visible and labelled in Zoyhader's pic, which I'll just link here (I don't know why I didn't before):

Thanks for the clarification! Can't wait to see more of your progress!