another overhaul. time for indexing

Build Pics

• Focus adjusting mechanism pictures
  
• Power switch panel pictures
  
• lamp mount pictures
  
• original fresnel frame design
  
• OSD buttons and misc pics
  
• paint it black, paint it black!
  
• the underside , and my resistance to a lux meter
  
• the box, and some info about g2a130 and xbox360, and after clicking on this scrolll down, lots of guts pictures
  
• "the bomb" S51 ballast and caps
  
• precision tape on the LCD edge and new fresnel frames
  
• light engine w/precon

Useful Finds/info

• LL FS mirror has specs missing
• the long history of my precon

Results

• initial build with samsung and LLeballast LL65k
• initial lux measurements with new 330/550 precon (before i burnt the lamp)
• new lamp initial lux measurements
• Forza 2
• RS Vegas, Crackdown
• Bee Movie
• Deep reds, evenness of black screen
• Worlds Fastest Indian
• 5th Element

Bits and Bobs

• camera specs, g2a130 xbox360 stuff, new FS mirror stuff, samsung paint stripper death
  
• diagram for S51 ballast overdrivin
  
• offset arc, and original precon mount
  
• precon FL finding
  
• lamp comarison LL65k and S400DD, showing arc chambers
  
• safety gear when playing around in the light chamber
  
• comparison of white screen with LL lamp and overdrivin S400DD
  
• 47" industrial LCD display uses G2a controller board, or.... G2a is a toshiba controller board..... G2a 130 fried
  
• Van halen stops by to sing me a song
  
• temp readings
  
• sam and tosh wuxga, 7% transmissive sunlight test
  
• triplet mod info
  
• too much power to the lamp
  
• more temp readings with added cooling, triplet spillage
  
• bad lamp with precon and no precon lux measurements

------------------------------------------------------

OK this first post needs an overhaul I am going to re-calculate (im scared) cost, and update the parts used. I am also going to put some quick tid-bit notes along in the new post. I am going to leave the old info at the bottom on grey.

killd POS synaps $143 (bad contras ratio, white line of pixels on top of screen)
Killed samsung panel $209(could not get AG off, then broke FCC from all the handling, still nice panel however), bad price though)
Toshiba WUXGA off ebay $130 (good price, very nice panel, distilled water AG removal in 5 hours {easy})
G2A 130 $345
4x sycthe s flex 800 RPM. projector is silent with these, and pull enough air, 1 on ballast, 1 on LCD, 2 on lamp chamber $75
LL pro lense kit $200 (i kind of wished I went with a 22" beseler now, as the diameter is larger and could have gotten in cheaper)
LL eballast and 65K lamp $200 (currently using, too much arc spillage, and i think the eballast is overrated)
S51 and S400DD $100 (upcoming)
LL pro reflector $15
LL wiring kit $25 (the switch and cord and breaker is nice, could of gotten cheaper on mcmaster.com or all electronics, or electric goldmine etc...)
LL 18pin FCC $15 (gratiously donated to another member! Crap! I forgot to include that as a tax writeoff )
Got simple component to VGA cable for $10 on ebay, and sold the VDIGI (73 purchase price) for $103!!! so +$20 here
LL shipping $27
LL FS mirror $33 (sucked, has alum missing from mirror, so it let specs of light through, warps easy, and seems to make things blurry)
ebay laser 94% mirror (thick and bad to the bone) $47 i think
precon from durachko $10 (you rock man!) (currently making mount for it)

2 more sycth fans $40
3dlens 550 and 330 $50 or something like that
dryer vent tube $6


mcmaster stuff
linear slide rail n blocks $120
all my nuts, bolts, weather stripping, tools i needed, stuff that can be used on future projects bla bla $100-$200
capacitors $8
lexan from hd $20 i think

maple plywood from lumer yard $240


black fidelio velvet $40
dazain polysilk screen (sucked)$40, but i have the material to my girlfriend to make curtains, so +1980231732821342 brownie points
dick blick art, pre primered canvas $36 (lets a bit of light through, but a nice white)
home depot wood n hangars for screen $20

lots of donated aluminum
donated thermocouple
donated hour timer
donated heatsink for G2a genesis chip
donated wire and heat shrink

more blabbering to come...

Hello all, let me introduce myself; Natural Newbie, resident tinker-er, paintball and race car fanatic. Future engineer., forgot to add, likes to use the mill and lathe!

I've been wanting to go HD for a long time, and this is the perfect way to do it!

The synaps monitor came in tonight, here is my ordered parts list so far.

Synaps 15.4" 1280x800 $143 w/shipping received Oct 5, 2006 broke it on accident taking frame off
Going for 15.4 WUXGA now SAMSUNG model $209 shipped ebay received Oct 27, 2006
G2A210 or G2A130 $345 shipped from winmate.comrecieved Nov 1, 2006
4x Scythe S-FLEX 120mm 1200RPM 800RPM fans $75 recieved Oct 9, 2006 Apparently I was drunk when I ordered these, only 8.7dBA and 33.5 CFM (100.5 CFM total, the other fan is for the power supply.), they should work OK. I wanted the 1200RPM fans at 20.1dBA and 49 CFM.
LL pro lense $200 recieved Oct 13, 2006
LL eBallast and T15 lamp $200 recieved Oct 13, 2006
LL pro reflector $15 recieved Oct 13, 2006
LL wiring kit $25 recieved Oct 13, 2006
LL 18pin FFC ext. $15 recieved Oct 13, 2006
VDIGI VD-Z3 $73 recieved Oct 13, 2006 2x rocker switches from mcmaster $18 recieved Oct 19, 2006
lindear slide rail with 2 guide blocks $120 recieved Oct 19, 2006
2yds Black fidelio velvet $40 recieved Nov 1, 2006
LL shipping $27

Lots of maple plywood (for the box and table it will be sitting on) $240
Lots more of random hardware from mcmaster $100

sub total: $1,845 :angry2: i think, i passed calc 3 and differential eq. but I still can't add... including broken synaps...

But this thing is going to be sweet and i love a good project and commercial projectors make me sad so


I plan on making the box out of oak maple plywood (in the standard LL strait box single fold horizontal, unsplit fresnels) with a nice stain finish.

I hope to have a very nice fit and finish on this overall project. Can't wait to get more parts so I can start designing!

EDIT: Nov 2, 2006
I removed pictures of the synaps since im not using it anymore

could you post some picks of the monitor in action. ie how it scales movies and at different resolutions.

Hi welcome to the forums I don't want to give you any bad news but be very careful with that monitor. I'm pretty sure I heard of someone buying one that had ffc issues but it may have been an older model. Save all the parts just in case you have to put it back together.

Looking forward to seeing your build.

DM

Yes, as of now the only input I have is my PC, once the VDIGI comes in I can use my xbox and DVD player. I'll include a list of resolutions I found compatible.



I have heard of the FFC issue; another member (c0v3rr1d3) of the forum got this monitor working with the standard 18 pin extension, so that is a good sign

Link to c0v3rr1d3 plog
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14269

Spending time with the lady this weekend. Updates on monitor should come Monday-ish!

Welcome to the forum. I'm curious where you ordered you VDIGI from? Looking forward to see this one at the finish line.

I ordered from http://www.vdigi.com/ they only take paypal and say it may take 2 weeks for delivery. Hope it comes...

Thanks for the welcomes guys!

Go figure, when I first get the synaps there are no dead pixels, second time I fire it up there is a dead (dark) in the upper right! Oh well, it's only a temp. screen anyways. And hey, at least I'm back on my 1600x1200 21" viewsonic

Here are the synaps OSD settings

(removed picture of synaps)

brightness - auto and manual
contrast
phase
clock
h pos
v pos
reset
color temp - user, 6500, 9300
red
green
blue
language
misc - OSD h pos,OSD v pos, OSD time, auto color (i guess the screen can do that?)

resolutions that worked (coming from nVidia Gforce3)
res hz
320x200
320x240 60-75
400x300 60
480x360 60
512x384 60-75
640x400 60-75
640x460 60-75
640x640 60
720x480 60-75
800x600 60-75
848x480 60-75
1024x768 60-75
1024x1024 60
1152x864 60-70
1280x720 60-70
1280x768 60-70
1280x800 60-70
1280x1024 60
1360x768 60

There is no 1:1 scaling, nor fit to screen retaining aspect ratio. It simply just stretches to fit the native 1280x800.

Updated my first post, recived the LL parts and the VDIGI today.

Hooked up my 480P DVD player and XBOX. Both looked good (for being 480 :-P ) and brightness was good.

Only concern is my fresnels are warped. I have them sitting on a flat surface (in it's protective wrapping) with some college text books on them. If they don't straiten up by themselves hopefully the frames will take care of that.

Action pics of the VDIGI on the synaps later!

Anyone else have experience with warped fresnels?

My fresnels from 3DLens are warped, probably a combination of temperature changes and being shipped in an envelope and sandwiched by cardboard.

I have done the same thing, just placed them on a flat surface with something heavy and flat on top of them. But I have my doubts about it working since it's SO FREAKING COLD here, might need a little heat to make them more flexible.

So I'm thinking of going to a vertical build, for the sole reason that it might help me force those fresnels to lie flat. But then I'd have to buy glass to support them. But it would make building the light engine a LOT easier.... Hmmm...

Haha tell me about it. 34 degrees F , in October!! I get home in about 5 hours, I'll see how there doing. I am strict on a regular dog coffin setup, and don't want to loose lumens with extra glass... So I might use some heat to try and flatten them, or build super duper frames. Only time will tell.

If you're really careful, I flattened mine by heating them in the oven and then putting
them on a flat surface with something heavy on top of them. No idea what temp to do
it at, since it's been awhile.

Progress!?


Wiring up the mogul to the ballast



getting ready to fire! Going to do break in.



I hear a couple flickers, small green glow, then, THEN, THEN!!!

NOTHING, FOR OVER 12 MINUTES!!! WTF!
I unplugged...
Checked circiut breaker, everything OK
Checked fuse in ballast, everything OK
Checked solder joints, everything OK
Double checked bulb is making contact with electrode in mogul, everything OK


Ideas anyone?

Action shots on the synaps on the way, soon today.

OK WELL
after investigating, the mogul comes wired wrong. It has the hot (white) going to the threads of the bulb and the ground (black) going to the center of the mogul. After switching these so hot is in the center and ground is on the threads, plug the ballast in and BAM first strike (18:40)



lower exposure


With it wired originally the green flicker started at the bottom of the bulb,
with it wired my way the whole thing lights up instanly.
Bulb scematics has the threads going to the top of the arc chamer, and the bottom of the arc chamber goes to the center of the mogul.

Here are the pics of the synaps, it is VERY HARD to get pics of this because of the crappy AG

starwars battlefront2, 640x480. run in widescreen mode on the xbox, that is why the retucule is squished, as you can see the scaling isnt the best (tad blurry)
(removed picture of synaps)

true crime streets of LA, this game sucks, i rented it last night to see how 720P looks, its run in 1280x720. looks good (camera picked up ghosting)
(removed picture of synaps)

matrix reloaded, 640x480, looked OK in person, a upconverting DVD player in 720 would look great
(removed picture of synaps)

for some reason with certain resolutions this monitor has a line of white pixels on the top or bottom. nothing that cant be fixed with a triplet shutter. and besides, it is a cheapo temporary $130 monitor.

Bulb is still burning, even brighter now (18:57)

I burned the bulb in for 9 hours and 40 minutes on oct 14th.

I try to light it again today and nothing? I'm going to try a different outlet when I get home from work and see what happens.

I stipped the synaps. It was cake. The front cover comes off just by sliding your fingernail under it (only snaps on). And a few screws to take the power supply out. The LCD frame uses small screws, easy to get out. When I get home I will plug the FFC extension in and take pics (after I figure out my stupid lamp issue).

Well my lamp strikes first time in the outlets in my projector room. Then I lost power, and it strikes second time after that. So that is a good sign. The projector room has newer wiring then my workroom.

Synaps is a pain in the butt! The FFC on the monitor is way thinner than the extension so it would take lots of fanaggling to get it to work. But even worse news I cracked the LCD itself (must be a weak POS because I was very gentle with it). So I will be looking for a Sharp WUXGA and G2A controller now. Wish me luck on my next LCD. BTW I would not reccoment the synaps because the FFC is not just plug in and go. It would require fanaggling and a custom union (since they both dont fit in the LL one).

lamp still strikes first time now (when cool) in my projector room, SWEET!

since i broke my synaps stripping it, i figured i would practice AG removal. soaked it for about 3-4 hours, picked a corner with my fingernail, pulled slowly, 45 seconds later AG was removed with no residue! may i add i had paper towel hanging over the edges a bit and the polarizer is still fine!

go figure, LCD glass breaks easily, but AG comes off easy and polarizer is water resistant...

looking for a sharp wuxga on ebay.


decided to go with a single fold in the dogcoffin design, so the projector doesnt protrude so far away from my couch. Got the raytrace done, looks good.

waiting for my linear slide rail to come in from mcmaster to mount the triplet and lamp on. Once that comes in I will go to the lumberyard, get some wood, start cuttin and mountin!

Been slow, between college homework, and not being able to use the machine shop at work, grr! I am making research progress on the WUXGA setup however, so that is good. Hope to have this done by Christmas.

Fanaggling? WTF?

Are you saying that the FFC extension will require some type of glue/fastener to keep it connected? If so, it may not be too bad. Silicon or epoxy should work well once the extension allows the panel to function and produce an image.

Fanaggling, tweaking, rigging, etc... hehe.



The synaps FFC is thinner than the LL extension. the LL extension cable will fit into the board on the synaps, it is a tight fit however.



Next there is the union piece were the extension and original FFC go into. The union is a small white block with a tan clip. It is very hard to fit both of the FFCs in there with the tan clip. What I had to do is put them in the union, and hot glue them in without the tan clip. Make sure when you put it together you have the electrical contacts facing each other.



I did get my monitor working (even tho it is cracked), it just takes time and gentleness.

I cracked my LCD when taking the frame off, i pushed on the corner a tad to hard when taking out a screw.

Make sure you have a very good set of small screwdrivers so you can take the screws out with little effort.





Another member got the synaps to work,

Link to c0v3rr1d3 plog
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14269



check out this thread for reference on the extension kit

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4503

finished the triplet mount, it is on a linear slide rail



And my focus adjuser nob




The samsung WUXGA came yeserday, waiting for my G2A to come to test it out.

Also I am in the process of making my fresnel frames, making them out of poplar tree wood.

finished my power switch panel., brushed aluminum


Just got the G2A 130 in, works with the SAMSUNG WUXGA! full 1920x1200, and 1080P !!!!! :-D

BTW, does anyone know how to edit the topic title for a thread? I tried editing my first post but I could not figure it out. Thanks!

That panel looks great. How much was the controller?

OK, I'm officially jealous now.. very nice


You know I was wondering the same question, perhaps someone else can shed light on that, I'm really no help am I

btw. I like the mount for the lens, should turn out really nice, with high res as well, can't wait for screen pics..

$345 shipped.



Thanks, I can't wait either!

Go to your very first post of this thread and choose full edit then choose Topic Title and or Topic description then edit.

Had the day off work yesterday (voting day). Completed the wiring harness for the projector. The wiring harness will be underneath the projector in the AV cabinet (seen in my HTLOG).

A shot of the workroom, the power switch panel loom, fan loom, and lamp loom are seen on the floor. You can see the lamp wires are twisted to keep interference down.


Closeup of fan wires, twisted for neatness



My finers have blisters on them from twisting all those wires , but it sure does make thinks nice!

I removed the pic of the powerswitch panel from the post above, I had it wired wrong seriously

Here is a pic of it wired correctly




in action!

FWIW, White/Red is hot in audio and many other low voltage/DC situations. But in 120V black is supposed to be hot, that's defined by the codes.

Hmm, thanks for the info! Well either way the lamp works now.

You know, I had the same questions when I wired up my lamp. I got the new VUE eBallast, and I thought that black was HOT (which was wired to the center of the mogul). However, the wiring diagram that comes with the VUE says that black output wire goes to the mogul threads and the white output wire goes to the lamp center.

That means that the black eBallast wire gets connected to the white mogul wire and the white eBallast wire gets connected to the black mogul wire. Seems quite backwards... So, in my burn-in test, I connected black to black and white to white (so what I thought was HOT got connected to the center of the bulb).

I ran the burn in successfully for 7 hours that way, but the eBallast got quite warm (no way was it 'cool to the touch'). It makes me wonder if the output of the eBallast has HOT as its white wire??? I think I will try connecting as the eBallast directions state and see if my eBallast stays cool to the touch (since this PLOG shows it wired up that way). Anyone think this is a horrible idea???

Well, can't hurt to try right? Mine is working now, I don't want to jinx myself.

My ballast gets very warm, but I can keep my hand on it.

And I know what you mean pirin, same thoughts on the wiring!

Completed my first fresnel frame. 1" square extruded aluminum.


Here are two pics of the wind tunnel for the eballast. (located on the AV cabinet, more pics can be seen in my HTplog)


My power one PS came in for the fans also. Will wire that up soon.

I have made so much progress but I am still soo far away! But there is light at the end of the tunnel

Pictures? Too lazy

I have made progress...
Finished 2nd fresnel frame
90% done with lamp/reflector mount (fully adjustable)
mounted; fans, power supply, and switch panel to AV cabinet
made 8mmx1 threaded rods from scratch (to hold fresnels and LCD)

I dont know when I will post pictures next, it gets annoying to me. If i dont post any of my progress I will definatly post the finished product.

Well, I wouldn't mind seeing how you've constructed your adjustable lamp/reflector mount. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to go about this..

Sweet looking metal work you're doing. Yep, I'm jealous. What's your shop like? I'd like to make a metal faceplate for all my switches and buttons but was leaning towards copper. Maybe I'll switch to aluminum and paint it though. Again, nice work!

just for you esoteric! Lots of pics of my lamp reflector mount . It is all made out of 1/8" aluminum. Cut on a break, holes and slots done on a mill.

Here is a view of the full setup. It is on a linear slide rail for for and aft adjustment.


Vertical up and down adjustment of the lamp


Reflector mount. Used the tabs off a 120mm fan grill. A piece of fiberglass is behind the reflector to help hold it.


3 point adjustment of the reflector


reflector mount can be moved up/down and pivoted

left and right adjustment of the bulb and reflector


view of the top of the AV cabinet. The unstained piece will be the base of the projector. The two fans will pull air down for cooling the bulb area.


Under the AV cabinet. The fans, 12v/5v power supply, back of power switch panel


The vent tunnel mounted to keep hot air out of AV cabinet

Fresnel frame (final version, the one before wasnt complete, I lied.


closeup of the hold-down


durachko,
the work is done wither in my shop (pic in previous post) or at the machine shop at work. I work in a dynamometer lab, at ford. We have a decent machine/fabrication shop (mill, lathe, bender, break, bandsaw, etc...)

For the switch panel, you can easily make the brushed finish. 120 grit (i think) 320 grit and back and forth motion

thermocouple readout (*F)



Whats this?


Ahh, yes, the monitor OSD board button panel


Getting ready for a test projection (kinda)

This is what worries me.

I used the water method and only got this far


with these nasty streaks. I cant tell if they are glue or the polorizer coming up


in the next few days im going to do ~15% acetone 85% water for 2 hours and see what happens.

I also removed the clear film off the back and the "mirror" looking layer off the back. No water, just slow, incremental pulling.

I hope this panel still works after im done with it

The OSD buttons look amazing Beats the crap out of my idea.

As for the panel, it looks like it needs more soaking. I had similar issues with my lcd. I did the acetone soak as a last resort, but was a bit lax on the mixing. Next thing I know, my polar is lifting easier then the ag... Hope it works out better for you, than it did for me.

Thanks! I probably spent too much time on it, but it was worthwhile

Maybe I should only do 10% instead of 15% on the acetone then. Im so nervous about this panel. I want to be watching movies by next week, and if the panel dies it will be at least another 2 week wait. Thanks for the luck, I might need it!

lots of flat black parts,..,.,.,, i feel dizzy,,,, goodnight




tomorro is the 10% acetone stripping the rest of the LCD, then, the final build

I've heard others complain about streaks after removing AG. If they don't rub out using acetone, you might want to try polishing them out using a product designed for polishing plastic.

Thanks for the tip.

Well I'm 2 hours into the 10% acetone soak, and the AG is still not coming up any easier.


Another thing to note, when I hold the LL FS mirror up to light, I can see little specs where there is no coating (letting light through). This thing is brand new, and those missing spots are more than likely going to show up on my projection Anyone know where to get a good FS mirror?

I hate anti glare!

I bumped it up to 20% acetone, 8 hour soak. Still wont come up the rest of the way. The AG is still brittle and hard to pull up. :-(

Any ideas? I cross posted this with my plog and the AG strip.

I had a 15.4" like this. I think I soaked for over 24 hours before I got it all off. And it took forever just to get a corner started to be able to pull it up. And then it came up in about 30 strips.

Good Luck.

Natural Newbie,

It looks like you have great wood working skills, and metal working skills too for that matter. Your PJ looks simply awesome, nice an professional.

The holes for your fans look nice a clean and straight. But you could make them even better. Since it appears you have over an inch of wood in front of them, your air flow will increase, if you put a bell mouth (aka curved radius) at the front opening. The straight sharp edge opening impedes the air flow. A curved radius of upto 20% provides optimium flow (radiuses above 20% are only marginally better, so shoot for 20%).

Click to view attachment

Cheers!

Fulcrum

jonjandran, thanks for the luck!

Fulcrum, thanks for the compliments!

I knew a radius along the top circumference would help, it's just that I dont have a router . I did not know however; the majic 20% number, I will keep that in mind, thanks for the advice

Another update on the panel, 30% acetone, at 9 hours i am going to see if its melted or not

And im already bidding for another panel on ebay $$$$

I got my fs mirror from the guy in the link below. Good quality, on a nice thick piece of glass(no flexing)

http://stores.ebay.com/vette4jja30

I feel your pain on the AG removal. I must have soaked my for over 20 hours. Ag lifted at the end, but the polar did too.. Maybe you should replace the polar instead of getting a new panel.