Hello all,

I’ve been lurking around here for over a year now and have started to gather the pieces I need to build a projector

I’m planning on using a vertical design based on a 350mm projection triplet and a 17 inch LCD, I know this will give me dark corners in full-screen but 90% of what I watch is in wide-screen and I’ll mainly be using the projector for movies, I’ll be using treaded rods in the same way as Punisher and many other have done.

I’m based in the UK so I’m finding it difficult to get hold of some pieces.

So far I have:

Ikea napkin holder (x2) about £4

Aldis 35cm projection triplet (x2) about £11 for the pair off ebay, I only thought I was getting one, so I was very happy when two turned up, they were really dirty but I took them apart and one has cleaned up really well and I haven’t got round to cleaning the other one properly yet. I think they’re from an opaque projector but I’m not sure.

A 25cm x 35cm (just big enough) bathroom style mirror brought for £1 from a charity shop, it has two mounting holes already in it, I know it’s not ideal and I should use a FS mirror but this is cheap and easy and will do for now.

LG Flatron L1715S 17 inch (5:4) monitor brought as faulty of ebay £12, got it home took it apart checked all the connections, put it back together and it works perfectly, there’s no FFC problems and it was really easy to strip details are:
1280 x 1024 / 75 Hz - 250 cd/m2 - 450:1 - 16 ms - 0.264 mm - VGA (HD-15)

I have a power supply salvaged from an old PC and 6 12v fans of various types all acquired free of charge from various places.

Currently on their way to me are a pair of Fresnels from 3dlens.com, 320mm x 400mm one F = 220mm, one F = 330mm, which set me back about £44 ($81) including shipping.


So far I have spent about £72 ($137)


As far as I can see the last major components I need are the lighting kit (lamp, holders, ignitor, cap and ballast), I was planning on going for a 400w bulb preferably of the double-ended variety, as this should be easier to mount accurately. How much should I expect to pay for the whole lot?

There is someone selling kits on ebay ( DIY LCD PROJECTOR 250W M/HALIDE LIGHTING KIT ) £35 +£7.95 p+p for a 250W set +£8 to upgrade to a 400W set, so that’s £50.95 ($96.74) for the full set, is that a good price?

I’m planning on building this when I go to see my parents for Christmas as my Father has many, many more tools than I do and much more space to make a mess in, so I really need to get these last bits ordered soon, I would really appreciate any advice.

I’ll post some pictures of designs and the bits I‘ve got once I’m a bit more organised.
Is there anything you think I’ve forgotten?

Cheers.

Wow,Fraggle_Rock.
Great find on the LCD!
Also,that lighting kit looks pretty good to me.
The LL kits are excellent too.
Your choice.
You sound like you have everything in hand.
Good luck.
Cheers P

The kit from France has been good to me, though possibly a tad overpriced at £78 if cost is a biggie for you. One thing I have been pleased with is all the components are not too large, so I have been able to incorporate them into my case rather than taking the route of having the ballast separately.

I have to admint I managed to destroy the original bulb but you can get these for about £25 (ouch). It's actually the same as the OSRAM HQI-400T bulb - my hunch is they all come out of the same factory. An option might also be to call the guys at lampig.com, and they might be able to put together a suitable kit for you which might save you a few quid. The double ended bulbs seem a good option since there are no width issues with the case, though building the adjustable lampholders is a little more involved. I also believe they aren't quite as bright as the stock LL bulb, but I have never seen any others in action! The kit you found looks good, though you might be better off with the additional power from a screen brightness POV. I guess it depends what sort of conditions you want to use your PJ under.

Good luck with your build - PM me if I can be of any help (not that mine is finished....)

I'm looking at the listing on eBay and he describes the lamps as “This is a white light lamp and burns at the required temperature for the intended purpose."

Well that’s all I need to know!

Without knowing the maker or color temp or CRI it might be hard to call it a good deal. He also says that the maker may be different which means you will get a China lamp.

I have bought two 250 watt HQI China lamps for less than $18.00 each shipped. At least they stated the color temp and CRI.

I’m not saying that it’s a bad lamp just that you don’t know what it is.

thanks for your replies,

Pun15her thanks for you good luck wishes, reading through your plog was one of the first things I did when I found this place, you do great work can't wait to see what your current project turns out like.

Richster thanks for your offer of help, I read over your Plog and it looks like you'll end up with a really nice projector, but I have one question, I was under the impression that these double ended bulbs are best used side on to the LCD, but you have it with the top facing the LCD have I got the wrong end of the stick or is the difference just not that great? or does it vary from bulb to bulb?

AV you make a good point, and it did concern me a little, but would I be wrong in thinking that the set would be usable with many different brands of bulb, so if the one I get isn't ideal I could always look for a different bulb at a later date?


My Fresnels arrived in only 4 days ordered Friday morning arrived tuesday morning (this was on the faster more expensive shipping (only $9 more)), sadly I haven't been able to look at them yet as they were delivered to my other half at work on the same day she had to go away for the rest of the week, I should get to check them over tomorrow, hopefully there won't be any problems.

I've spent most of the day working on a model in Google sketchup, not the easiest program to use but I have got to grips with it and should have something worth posting soon, I'm still trying to work out a few thing about the design, basically I want a simple quick build but flexible enough to be used in different loactions as I'll probably be moving house within a year.

like I said before I'll update with pictures soon.

thanks again.

looks like you have a good start, did you win the auction for the bulb and ballast? I too have been learning Google sketch-up. should come in handy once I learn it.

I havn't bid on the bulb and ballast yet, I've been e-mailing the guy to confirm exactly what price I can get a 400W set for, but he has a shop in Scotland and said I could just order from him direct without bidding if needs be, i.e. he has loads in stock. I think I will go for it I just need to confirm the final price (my estimate before was based on the starting bid not the buy it now price) but I'll report here when I've ordered and what price it came to.

other than that since my last post I havn't done much, just watched some 'Father Ted' (really great series if you haven't heard of it/seen it you really should) and slept so no new progress, I'm looking forward to getting my hands (via gloves) on those fresnels today, my plans for the rest of the day consist of cleaning the house before my other half returns so I don't expect I'll have anything new before tomorrow evening.

Now that's interersting - let me know where you read that and I'll take a look. There is info on the packaging about the angle the bulb shoud be mounted i.e. +/- 45deg, but I think this is rotataing about one end so as to move the whole unit vertical rather than horizontal. I can't see any reason why it would matter if the bulb is rotated about it's long axis looking at the build since it looks symmetrical so that the arc chamber is identical either way round, but maybe I have missed something somewhere. Will be interested in people's views on this.

And remember:
"Dance your cares away, worry's for another day"

I like the double ended bulbs, I want to try one in my enclosures, you are not limited to a size to fit the bulb. the enclosure can be smaller if you dont have to worry the length of the bulb, you can also make a holder for the reflector to keep it at the right distance for the bulb and make the entire assembly adjustable to the collimator fresnel. I have seen some excellent work here on LL done with these bulbs. some really nice light boxes too. if you can get a good deal locally go for it.

IIRC it was in sims plog that he found if the bulb is rotated through 90 degrees you get a better light distribution over the screen. With the double ended bulbs being that much smaller it's easily possible to do in a standard design, can't imagine you'd have much room in a HAAS.

I was looking at doing this but didn't have the room in the end !

I also remember reading in someone else's plog that they had bought the lighting kit from rwilson and was over the moon with it.... looks ok to me, just beware of the china bulbs like AV says.

I went with the radium from izzotek... It's been good for me.

Indeed - or get the OSRAM locally if you can find it which is identical. I know they stock the bulbs a couple of doors up from where I work (Genesis Lighting in Northolt) but you'd need to look elsewhere in the UK for the other components. I also called Radium directly and spoke to John there who could sort you out with a bulb.

These are pretty much my reasons for wanting one of these bulbs, they just seem so much better suited to accurate adjustment. I can't remember where I read about using the bulbs side on, I think I may just have got that impression from pictures in arizonavideo's thread in the extreme mod section.

I will be paying for the lighting kit today £60 for the lot (400W bulb, 400W ballast, cap,ignitor, holders, and wiring diagram) a price I'm very happy with hopefully the bulb will be good, I'll get your opinions on it when it arrives, if not I'll find something better down the line, just got to ask what are china bulbs? I've not seen them mentioned before.

I've got my Fresnels now and they arrived in good condition and I'm keener than ever to get this thing going, I spent yesterday evening doing some test projections using the LCD backlight as a light source as such the projections were only visable with all lights off, but it was educational, I'm not sure my projection lenses will be suitable, the dark corners may cause more of a problem than I thought they would, I tried re-mounting one set of lenses in a cardboard tube (constructed from a pizza box and some sticky tape) to get a better field of view, and it did noticably improve the brightness in the corners so they might me OK with a decent light source, either way I'll be using them initially and if I have to upgrade later so be it.

pictures to follow, I know I keep saying that, but I'm just registering on image shack and I've dug out my camera so it will actually happen this time.

thanks all.

Cheap copies made in China.... for the intended purpose of these lamps (ie lighting a warehouse etc.) they are fine... but we are exploiting these bulbs so really want the originals that conform closely to spec.

Thanks Conker, I probably should of thought of that, but it's best to be sure.

Ok so now for some pictures.

here's one of the projection lenses, I got 2 of these which are almost identical, this is the cleaner one which I've left in 1 piece:


here you can see the 2 lenses, one set remounted in a card tube (Tesco Naan Chicken Korma pizza highly recomended even though it's a bit expensive):

you can see that this has reduced the total length of the lens so has increaded the field of view, obviously this wouldn't be a permenant solution.

Ok here's what I managed in sketchup the other day:

The notes are fairly obvious as they are for the benefit of my father who hasn't quite got to grips with how this is going to work! my ideas have changed a little since I did these and I have altered that sketch up model, but I wont re do the images until I'm happy that it's a final version.
the Fresnels aren't going to be cut down to the size of the LCD, I will sandwich them in ply board or similar and the force applied around the edges should hopefully help prevent the lenses from bowing, I've realised there will be no need for the mirror to move as long as I can mount it accurately in the first instance, and I'm still thanking about how the bulb and reflector are going to be mounted.

I'll set up my test projection again this evening and take some comparison pictures, which I didn't do last night because I was far to distracted by watching Star Wars even though it was dim, out of focus and on my ceiling it was huge and that's the main thing (I know that's not the main thing but it pleased me) I didn't watch the whole film just the scenes on the blockade runner at the begining (nice bright white corridors), really can't wait to get this thing made, I've even got the girlfriend keen on it and that's half the battle won.

Lighting kit arrived yesterday (one day after I paid for it), I haven't had a chance to wire it up yet (might do that on sunday) but it is a Radium bulb made in Germany, so providing it all works I think I got a good deal. It brings my total expenditure up to about £132 ($258).

the only other thing I'm looking to buy before I start building is either some lexan or temperd glass, I might be lucky enough to get some free but other wise I think I can get something suitable for about £5.

I'll update with some more plans over the weekend.

I think I spent about £4 on the polycarb, then about another £6 in postage! Look forward to seeing your pics.

BTW take care when removing the bulb out of the holders - I destroyed my original one that way. Keep the fixings loose on the bulb holders so they are free to move around a little when you are removing it.