I was wondering if painting the inside of the box flat black made much of a difference? Currently none of it is painted black, not even the flashing. I have some flat black paint, should I go for it?

yup definitely try to cover everything that will see direct light from the bulb flat black. countless times people have asked about artifacts in their projection and after they paint the inside black, all gone.

Tameone hits the nail on the head once again. Kill that off-axis light with flat black paint or black felt.

Awesome, thanks for the advice guys. Btw, should I use high heat paint? Or is regular flat black Painter's Touch fine...?

If you are going with a 400-watt bulb, definitely high-heat paint for everything in the bulb chamber. But be careful, the black will absorb light (and therefore, heat), so metal flashing is recommended between the bulb and any wood surface.

For anything after the Lexan/tempered glass/shield, just go with regular flat black.

Damn, I just got done painting it with regular paint. I do have the 400 watt bulb, should this be much of a problem? I mean the bulb chamber isn't really THAT hot. My fans keeps it quite cool...

Well it's been runnin for several hours with just the regular McLendon's exterior flat black paint I used. No weird smells or burning, all is well.

I'm not totally convinced on the painting the entire light chamber / back half of the projector black...

But I am open to hearing its pro's and con's. I won't argue with painting the front half all black.

I wonder if you are giving up lumens by painting the rear half black? I know the concern is light hitting the LCD at the wrong angle. Perhaps this causes problems in the front half - if it doesn't make it through the lens.

Or perhaps this off-angle light doesn't even make it through the LCD. I seem to recall something about the LCD / polarizers only working at up to about a 7 degree angle from perpendicular. What this means exactly, I don't know...

I was thinking about lining the entire rear half of my PJ with aluminum reflective tape to see if this improved brightness - after I got it running. Think of it as a giant reflector of sorts...

I have several surfaces coated with black velvet and I can tell you that my contrast is very good. When Im looking at black bars on the top and bottom, I'm REALLY looking at black bars. No grey...

The front is the most important part, especially the side walls. A few people have reported wierd artifacts from the reflection of their LCD controllers.
Most black paint will be fine as long as its flat. If you really want it all gone, then use Krylon Ultra Flat Black. Its like spraying on a black hole...

ding diing ding ding, I was going nuts trying to figure out what that odd smear on the top of the my image.

Black felt laid hot glued to the back of the lcd controller card fixed it.

But what about behind the LCD - does the black help or hurt the projection?....

Less off axis light cannot hurt.

I guess I'll have to try it both ways to find out for certain...

Well I painted the entire inside of my box flat black, and all I can say it WOW! The darker scenes stand out WAY more now, I'm amazed at how much different it looks.

Hmmmm....better black levels?

Can you see more detail in the dark scenes - which would indicate a higher contrast ratio?

Yep, I can see way more details in dark scenes, now they're not all washed out.

Good proof you were getting reflections back on your LCD screen...or excessive light/hot spots from behind.

Which paint did you use?...just out of curiosity

Heheheheee. Told yah!
Seriously, it s a great way to clean up. Just about any paint will work, as long as its flat.
Krylon Ultra Flat Black is the favored paint among telescope builders. That should give you an indication of how flat it really is.

Will that stand up to the heat and what about barbecue paint, the stuff you spray your barbecue with to make it look nice and it is highly temp resistant.

I used BBQ paint on a few things in my PJ so far. I have not gotten to the point of spraying the whole inside yet. I got it at the auto parts store of all places.. good for 1200*F. Its pretty flat, but not 'ultra' flat.

I used some McLendon's flat black exterior paint.

Does anyone know where you get the Krylon Ultra Flat Black, Home depot didn't have any.

I ran out of the Krylon and started using some Rust-oleum flat black camouflage paint - it seems just as "ultra flat".

I just got some rust-oleum flat black so I guess I will use that.

I work at Home Depot, we actually don't sell Krylon paint anymore. Had someone ask me about it today actually...

how does that rust-oleum flat black work? is it good? and will plain old flat black from acehardware work? lol
and wouldnt brushing the paint on give a bit more coverage than spraying it on?

not if you spray it everywhere. just need a thin coating. any flat black will work.. but you should use high temp for pieces very close to the bulb (I know this thread is about paingint the front mainly, but paint the back too). If the paint you buy isn't flat enough, rub it down lightly with a brillo or scotch brite