Well this is it. I've been lurking for quite a while and I finally feel confident to start my own projector.

I just got a call from the wife saying that my monitor arrived at the house (I'm at work )! I'm using a Benq FP71V+ (and it's too ugly for me to look at every day on my computer desk, so it's gotta go into my projector).

I have to say that there is some incredible work done by LL members. Pun15her's projector caught my eye and his design is perfect for what I need. I did however decide that I do want the added resolution that a 17" gives.

Anyways, my idea is to use the LL standard triplet and LL Pro fresnels. I'm not sure if I will be getting the LL lamp and ballast or sourcing a cheaper one locally (until I can afford the LL one). I will pretty much just be scaling up Pun15her's design to suit my needs (there will be some cosmetic differences, but essentially the same design).

Can anyone see any problems with this plan?

no problems i can see except the fresnels.
17"s on the standard LL lens requires bigger fresnel lenses....
i believe most are using the 395mm sized 220mm rear / 330mm field combo

check out these plogs for more info...

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12642
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?s...ic=7278&hl=
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?s...ic=7095&hl=
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6701
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?s...mp;#entry143241
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8033
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11498
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10366

Thanks for your input! I'll check those out.

[edit]
Do you mean bigger as in size? The Pro LL Fresnels are listed as being 431mm x 406mm (with focal lengths of 220mm and 650mm). I'm still trying to wrap my head around how the focal length affects the projector, but I thought that this setup would work... Anyways, as always, all input is welcome and appreciated.

I was working with the focal calculator to figure out my dimensions, but as far as I can tell, it doesn't say how far away from the lamp or LCD that the rear fresnel should be. I'm pretty sure that I've seen how to figure it out somewhere, but I can't remember where... Any hints?

[edit]

I've found, in Professa Oak's plog, a suggestion to use 15-20mm between the rear fresnel and LCD. Does this sound reasonable?

Sounds about right, I've read that any closer you start to see the fresnel rings on your projection...

Good luck with the build, I'm currently doing a pun15her clone, though a 15" one... I'm very happy with the overall size/shape of her.

The fresnel uses its grooves to bend light depending on where it enters. The center is untouched, but the edges are angled the most. The shorter the focal length, the sharper those angles will be on the ends. When the focal length is met, by placing the center of the bulb from the distance, then all light (entering through the center and all the way to the edges, will become parallel. If it is too close the light won't be bent enough to get a picture.

Lumenlab offers free plans for a 15" projector so make sure read over these. I just read over them just the other day after believing for several months that the grooves face outwards . You will learn about safety, theory, and plenty of useful tips you may have questions to now and later on. PLOGs are great for specific questions like LCD sled designs or lens adjusters, because there are so many ways to do them. They are usually equipped with plenty of pictures to get you even more motivated to get your projector done and do it the best you can.

3dlens.com once sold 395mmx395mm fresnels in both the 220mm and 330mm FL variations you are looking at. They do offer 320mmx400mm sizes which should still work with the 17" and actually are suppose to be better, optically, than the 395mm ones.

The only thing with the 17" LLCD/ LL Standard Lens combo is you will probably get dim and out of focus corners, not much though. Comp_Atkins helped me through this but I chose to go a different route anyways by cutting off pixels that would be dim (eg. the N6 allows you to do widescreen with all sources, not using pixels that will be dim). Others simply use Powerstrip to use widescreen with their computer, also rendering the dim corner issue non-existant. Look at Comps PLOG and he will show you some of the dim corners but he states that it really isn't that noticeable when your into your movie/game. If you are on a tighter budget, it is definitely a good way to get HD without spending the extra to get a PRO setup.

I read the basic plans when I first came to the LL forums, but I've been reading plogs ever since. There's a lot to learn about projectors! It's kind of overwhelming and it's easy to forget the small details. I'll re-read the basic plans before I post again.



HD for cheap was the idea here. Hopefully I'll be able to afford the PRO lens eventually, but right now it's not possible. I'll be checking out 3dlens.com (LL is out of one of the fresnels that I was going to order anyways). Thanks for the help!

[edit]
I had a quick look through Comp_Atkins plog. I didn't notice him mention the focal length for his fresnels... I'm at work, so I had to look quickly Anyways, are the 220mm and 330mm focal length fresnels the ones that I should use? I noticed that 3dlens.com has a 550mm one and LL usually sells a 650mm one, so I'm curious about how the focal length would affect my project (and I don't want to order the wrong ones ).

550mm and 650mm FLs are for the pro lens setups. You can choose between 330 and 220 for the first fresnel in the series, the one by the lamp, but you will need the 330 for the second one, near the lens. Comp may be using the 330 actually, I forget.

meat,

glad to hear you're taking the plunge! i'm using the standard triplet in my pj so my fresnels are the 220 / 330 setup from 3dlens

-cA

I ordered my lamp, ballast, fresnels, triplet and reflector today. The lamp and ballast are coming from a local company (didn't want to wait for LL to get more stock) today. Fresnels are coming from 3dlens.com (FL 330mm and 220mm). Reflector and triplet are coming from LL (I hope the reflector works with my lamp).

I'm going to try to get the materials for building the box this weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to make up a cardboard mock up the weekend too.

I still need to figure out where I'm going to host my pictures for the plog...

Imageshack.us works for me

photobucket is good too

Thanks for the tips guys!

Here's the monitor of choice for this project.



Note the nice shiny finish! No AG removal for me!



If anyone wants larger pics, just ask.

How did you get it without the AG

It came that way. Here are the specs on it:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku...anufacture=BENQ

Got some parts for my projector today:

• ready rod (threaded rod)
• nuts and washers
• lexan for my heat shield
• clamps
• level
• measuring tape
• tape
• craft knife

I'm going to go try to do up a mock-up now. I'll post pics of that when I get it done.

Can't wait to get my lenses!

This is what I've done for the mockup so far. Not very impressive, but enough for me to get an idea of the size that my projector will be.



I've come to realize that if I tried to copy Pun15her's case style, mine really will look like a fridge.

I have some pine boards coming free of charge from my parent's business. They were from a crate, so they're not perfect, but I think they'll clean up enough for me to use.

I think that I'll change my design to make the most of these boards. I'm thinking I'll go with more of a square style. Possibly make it look like a cabinet or an old style radio. I'll post drawings later.

Maybe you should gut out a mini fridge and build the projector in that.

Sweet idea, but I'm a pretty shoddy metalworker, so I'm sticking to wood for this thing.

Here's the new plan. It's not going to look nearly as cool as Pun15her's (or look anything like a clone of his), but a lot of the internals are still going to be based on his. Hopefully I will score high in the WAF

I salvaged a bunch of pine boards from some crates that had excavator tracks in them (the upside of having parents with a rental store ). I'm going to build an upright cabinet like this:



It'll be wide enough that I can easily adjust the elements on the threaded rod and tall enough that a DVD player or HTPC can fit underneath the projector (and maybe an amp).

The top is going to flip up like this:



I'll have a focus mechanism built into the top section.

I got my lamp and ballast today, so I will finally be able to start working on my light box. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that my lamp is meant to be vertically oriented and there is no way that it'll work with the LL Pro Reflector...

I guess I should just have spent the extra cash on the LL lamp setup...

what lamp did you get?

It's a Philips MH 400W 4000K bulb. Pretty much like this.

The bulb I have is 5" long and 3" in diameter. It doesn't sound that big, but in person it seems huge.

I'm wishing I had been more careful in choosing a lamp... I should have just bought from LL or made sure that I had a smaller bulb...

My lighting gear. I'm going to have to find a reflector. The bulb is a universal mount, but it performs best mounted vertically. My projector is a vertical fold type, so I'm thinking maybe a VW Bug headlight reflector might be a good one to use. If anyone has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.

A large soup bowl will also work well many of us have used this large style bulb even a stainless steel bowl that not a perfect sphere is better than no reflector and it won't cost you much. Just go into any Walmart.

You'll have to scroll down a bit to see the bowl that I hacked up stainless steel bowl I think Christmas used a larger bulb at one point as well with a larger bowl reflector but I got tired searching through his plog to find the pic

I'm using that bulb in a vertical build with it laying horizontal so even if it isn't as bright as when vertical you'll be more than happy with it.

DM

Thanks DM! I'll check out Walmart this weekend. Knowing that you used the same bulb and seeing your results makes me feel a lot better about my decision!

I'm borrowing a table saw for the weekend (and hopefully a mitre saw), so hopefully I'll have some construction pics to post by Sunday.

It's going to be very hard to wait for my lenses to arrive when i have the box built!

Can anyone using 3dlens.com fresnels post about the rigidity of them? I'm not sure whether they need any support in the frames. I'm also not sure how much expansion room they need...

The 3dlens fresnels are fairly rigid, they are about 1/8" thick. I make a frame with a groove thats 1/4" deep. the fresnel sits in the frame and has a little room to expand.

Did you leave expansion room in all three dimensions?

Yes, it can expand in all directions, the fit is just about snug not tight. not that the lens expands that much but it does have "wiggle room" in the frame.

I'm going to try to get the wood for my fresnel and lcd frames tonight.

Can anyone comment on the importance of having your fresnels the same size as the lcd? Would it hurt to have them larger?

I'd rather not cut them...

Having them larger wont hurt it'll just make the overall size of the enclosure larger. The lcd frame will block off all the unused light from the fresnels so that won't be an issue either so if you don't want to cut it don't, but there are some somewhat safe ways to cut them properly... exacto blade and score it a few times or you could be a butcher like me and use a hack saw .

DM

Thanks DM I'm mostly just worried about not cutting them evenly and having trouble lining them up when I put it all together...

Got home today and my fresnels were here!!!!

Can't wait to get working on this thing tomorrow!!

Funny that I received my fresnels from Taiwan before I could get my triplet from the US...

Good luck meat. I'm new to the forums and DIY projectors, but I'm in the process of researching my first build right now. Good luck with yours, hope it turns out well.

Thanks a lot Loboloco!

This is definitely the best place for noobs like you and I to figure this business out! Everyone here is very helpful and supportive! Can't wait to see your project log! See you around!

My triplet finally arrived in Canada, but I'm guessing it's still on the east coast. Maybe I'll have it by the end of the week. I didn't get the table saw until tonight (and it's too late to start making a racket) so I didn't get any building done today, but I bought a 15A breaker, flashing for my heat shield, wire, connectors and random stuff. The only thing that I have left to buy is a mirror and paint.

I can't wait to get my cabinet done tomorrow!!!

Just a word of advice even though the fresnels appear to be even they are sometimes just slightly off. I tried for hours trying to get my fresnels to give an even projected image. It turns out that although they were the same size one had to be about 10mm off of the other fresnels for it to have even brightness. The first ones that I bought were perfectly matched though but sometimes it happens.


When you go to test out your image if you see something like a radial burst it might be because your fresnels grooves aren't facing each other or that the fresnels need to be a little off center.

DM

I managed to get most of my box done today. It looks a lot like an old west style coffin.

I'm pretty happy with it! I still have a lot of sanding and filling to do (not to mention making the doors and fresnel and LCD frames) but I hope to have it done by the time that I get my triplet.

Thanks DM! I'll watch out for that. I can't wait to be able to fire everything up for the first time!!!

I remember seeing a post on here about someone stripping the paint off of a RS mirror to make a cheap FS mirror. I can't find it now. Anyone know who posted it or know what kind of chemical I should use to strip paint off of my mirror. I want to try this method because I'm already over budget on this project...

I made my frames and cut my fresnels today. For cutting the fresnels, I highly recommend clamping them down (I clamped mine between a square and a piece of cardboard). Score them lightly with an extremely sharp utility knife. At first until you have a good bit of a groove, then score harder. At some point you will start to break through and it will make a snapping sound like you're breaking it, but you're not. It scared me the first time that I heard it.

I'm not too happy with the job I did. I have a couple scratches where the knife slipped. They are on the visible area of the fresnel. I hope they don't show up in the finished image... Guess maybe I'll have to order new fresnels when I have the money.





I'm going to get everything painted and put together before I strip my LCD. I'm getting too used to having it on my desktop.

If you are lucky the scratches won't show up now a scratch on your lcd thats another thing so I hope you have that somewhere safe. Looking forward to seeing how this all comes out.

DM

Bought some Poly Super Strippa. I roughed up the back of my RS mirror and applied a liberal coat of the paint stripper.



After about 20 minutes, I checked on the mirror and lightly scraped part of it with a piece of cardboard. It looks like the paint is going to come off no problem. Hopefully the quality is as good as a proper FS mirror.



I'm stripping this power supply to power my 12V fans (one of those is coming from the power supply). I'm also going to use the socket and switch (until I can find a dipole switch).

Ok, I think i messed up my mirror. It's a good thing that it was so cheap. If you're going to try to strip an RS mirror, I recommend letting the stripper do ALL of the work. DO NOT scrape it with anything. Wipe it off with a soft rag. I'm going to get another mirror and try this technique on that. I think that even if it works, I'm going to have to back it with a flat black material. If that fails, I'm going to just try making a mirror from mylar.