Hello all! Here's my PLOG! I am going to start with a few pictures.

This is my projection lens frame.

I took this pic before I tore it apart. After I tore it apart, I mounted an LL 80mm lens in it.
It has a little handle to focus the lens.
Oh and the plate on the bottom is gone. Looks prettier that way.

I am using this design: http://www.diyprojectorcompany.com/designs...a_glance_en.htm
My own earlier design (abandoned for bad cooling):

The pretty outside.


The lamp. Metal Halide, 175W, medium base


My ballast. The space was so small.


The projector is on. No lenses. No lcd. I was waiting for the lenses. The design was abandoned because it got
too hot in the LCD area.


My really neat control panel. (click for larger)

Pics of new box soon.

Glad to see you start your PLOG over here!

Looking good so far, but could you make the pics a lil bigger? My old eyes can't see them that good…

Can’t wait to see what’s next!



Mav

That's pictiger's fault that they are small.

Looks nice. You know you can post pics directly into your PLOG, right? Where it says "File attachments" just browse your pics and add them in. I think you have 100K at a swipe.

SJ

Man this place is too cool!!!

Now... If we just had them cookies!

Sweet profile! Reminds me of an Amiga 1000! Did you use any IR filters to cut down some of the heat to the panel?

I know, those were leftovers from my DPC days... phpbb could not upload from a pc


No IR, but the lamp has a UV filter built in.

My final design sketch looking from top:
Click to view attachment
The gray fan is UNDER the lcd.
More sketches soon!

Click to view attachment
This is the DPC design I am using.

Click to view attachment
Side view. A bit hard to figure out.

Great Job Computek!

What size Lcd are you using? What do you think about the 175w lamp? Will it put out enough light?

I dont believe that 250W is not very bright. I dont believe that 175W is not very bright. But, I know, that a commercial projector that I took apart has a 250W MH lamp. And, I have a feeling there is a comemrcial LCD projector out there somewhere running a 175W MH. I believe that you dont need a 400W MH to project the perfect image.

For small LCD's, like my 2.5", 175W is enough. But, It's a Core+coil ballast that's h-e-a-v-y and the lamp screws into a "medium" socket.

At the electrical store, I was told that 175W MH is really bright. And, I am sure it will be bright enough.

By the way, I was curious if an "oval" shaped spherical reflector would work?

how about going down to a 150 watt CDM ceramic,,, even better

I'm staying with what I got.

"Dont be a gearhead and spend lots of your time trying to fantasize what you would like to have, but if you use what you DO have then it will take you to the next level."

- Wayne Lytle, creator of Animusic

Quoted from an interview on TechTV.

It's been over a year since I posted on this site. But my projector is almost done!

What I have left to do:

-- Install the LCD and electronics

-- Install the mirror

-- Wire the fans and MH lamp

A "rough" test revealed STUNNING results!

175 Watts is BRIGHT ENOUGH!

Any picts of the innards?

I'll show the pics when I have my projector completed.

There is two different plogs for the PJ builder. One is for the building process and the other is for the finished PJ. If you are in the building part, it would be nice to show us how the building is going.

This is how we learn from eachother, by sharing.

Ok, I'll get some pics of the projector's guts tomorrow.

And current status:

Electrical components wired up, all it projects is a fuzzy white rectangle. The problem: Lens focus assembly needs a redesign. The focus assembly can not focus very well at all. I need to redesign it so the lens can move back and forth further than two centimeters, without impeding performance of projector.

Okay everyone. Finally got some images.


A shot of the projector with flash. That focusing mechanism does not work. I need to replace it.


A shot without flash. It looks nice!


The fans on the back of the projector. The left one is intake, the right one is exhaust.


The controls. I have good handwriting, but I gotta tell you, it's HARD to write at that angle, that small.

A nice shot of the 175W lamp in operation. The lamp has a built in UV filter, so no worries, my camera was not damaged.


The light hitting the projection lens. Seems as if the Fresnel is positioned wrong...


The mess of electrical wires jammed into a very small space.


A shot of where the 2.5" LCD will go. I made the projector big on purpose in case I ever decided to upgrade it to a larger LCD.

Well, That's All! Enjoy! I'll be getting more pics as I build a new focus mechanism.

Here is how it was built.

--The Beginning-- The Idea, My Fire Hazard, My First Design, the NEC Projector and beyond... --

While searching for projector plans, I found a website called "The Pooch" where I used their plans, which turned out VERY MISLEADING. Not only did my 500W Halogen lamp heat things up, but nearly caused my projector "beta" to burn. I redid the design, utilizing a Metal Halide lamp, ballast and socket. But my design (Pictures in beginning of PLOG) was way too small, and the cooling was terrible. It had no intake fans. A lot of unnecessary heat got into the LCD area, and I abandoned the box. Next, someone gave me a broken NEC commercial projector, and I said to myself, "I'll build my projector into this!" I installed my MH lamp and ballast where the old ones were, and fired 'er up (with fans, of course) and I was SURPRISED with the results. The LCD area was very cool, and the heat management was Impressive. But my favorite thing out of it all was the lens. It had motors! But I was disappointed when I found out about the lens's focal length. I tried and tried to make my projector in there, but nothing worked. I abandoned the projector and set out to design my new projector, pictured above.

When Lumenlab bought DPC, I came to Lumenlab and began this PLOG. I started with pictures of my older design, which I abandoned, then I posted sketches of the projector to come after the current one.

--My Current Design--

I started out last year, with my dad in his shop. We both built the projector's box. I then began putting the various components into the box. I was using a design made by Mr. Alan Staples, former owner of the DIY Projector Company. It was the exact dimensions, but the design is very different from his. It's similar, though. Anyways, the "Pico" projector was put away for almost a year. Just recently, I was disassembling a broken laptop, and when I began disassembling the LCD, it hit me. All the memories of various projectors. All the memories of the DPC site, and all the good times in the forums. That's when I got my projector, in pieces, off the shelf and put it on the floor. I wired the lamp to an extension cord, the fans to a power supply and fired it up. The lamp worked perfectly and correctly. I put the cover half on the projector and began work on other stuff.

A day later, I had the projector wired to the point where it will work at the flick of a small switch.

A few minutes later I was up to where I am now. No LCD, all wired up for it, and in need of a new lens mechanism solution.

------------------And that's how it all went.------------------

Hey Computek,

How do you like the coil ballast? Does it make any noise or humming? My engineer friend likes them in that they will last you forever, but the eballasts don't do the humming. Also, how does the ballast do with heat? Does it produce any?

Nice job - I like the flexible design goal!