Was going to make a Vertical based PJ and first need to know what minimum size mirror to get. This is nothing fancy just based off of joe2000chevys plans with standard lenses and 15" panel.

Next, where can I get a smaller mirror than the lumenlab store (who is sold out currently).

I dont want to have to go with a 12x16" mirror that seems like it is too big for what I want to do. The only deviations I will be making to the plans here is the box will be square instead of angled (so the ballast and wiring can go behind the mirror) and with a shorter length mirror (such as 12"x 12" or 9"x9") it will make it easier to run these wires and allow for keystone and airflow and etc.

I cant seem to find Joes Plogs for his vertical he started then changed then the new one he started (for refrence on my build) can anyone point me to them?

SurplusShed has some mirrors on sale right now for pretty amazing prices. Follow the link and check out page 2.

Well I hope this one is large enough and a high enough quality

EASTMAN KODAK 10" x 8-3/16" ALUMINIZED FRONT

I am about to bite the bullet and buy it

Nice catch sensibull. I just picked one up as added insurance I'll have one for my build. I've had instances of things falling off benches in my basement and smashing. Heck - at that price it's hard to go wrong. At the very least it may be a fun experiment to compare it to my existing mirror. Thanks again.

Bought the one I mentioned above. Hopefully shipping is fast cant wait to get started. Going to HomeDepot today on lunch to have them cut MDF for my box

Also going to play around with lens placement and mirror angles to maybe make this project up higher if it is sitting on the ground. Going to build a box with no front or back and use a cardboard mockup of the front to put the lens on so I can slide it up or down while playing


Now if only I had enough cash for a high power screen!! hehehehehehehe

Hey Durachko, let me know when you get yours in. I ended up using a pre-paid visa giftcard and got declined had to call in with my check card number today to place the order I live in KY so Shipping should be reletively fast from PA depending on how they ship.

If I get mine in first I will let you know, how it looks and etc

Will do. I may be out-of-touch more often than not between Christmas and New Year's but I'll let you know when I can. I paid with PayPal but I think I had it shipped to me at work and we're pretty much closed down for a week so my mirror will get warehoused for that week if it shows then. Later . . .

Edit: Man but I'm hoping to get some solo time at home over the holidays to work on my projector!

YEah I hear that lol

I have been planning my vertical and just realized that I wont be able to make it the size I want without making it taller because of the position of the mirror

back to the drawing board as they say

got my mirror yesterday...and honestly not very happy with it. There are blemishes all over one side and then a area that is really screwed up and has no mirror coating on it

gonna try it but I know it's hopeless, gonna have to find another mirror might have to try this paint stripping method I have seen mentioned here.

sounds like u need an exchange or a refund from where u bought it.

by the time I pay shipping back I would only be getting $5 back so no biggie. I fired everything up and it looks ok I dont see the part that doesnt have the mirror on it in the projected image...but.... I still have a lot of tweaking to do:(

Even still it was worth it even just to experiment with (that is if after tweaking it doesnt work out)

Dang! Bummer! I'll let you know what kind of garbage I get.

whats weird is I dont see the blemishes yet on my projected image. I just spent the past while tweaking here and there and have the image pretty close to what it was on my horizontal setup. Not quite as brite but close. Still more tweaking to do though and I think I can squeeze out a little more brightness and still need to come up with a permanent solution for my front fresnel that will allow it to keystone. I have an idea that I am going to try to impliment tomorrow (think I have been up late enough as it is lol)

You know your addicted when you forget to eat, dont know what time it is and you go in to work late after hours just to use the drill press...

In a different thread, GSX posted a link to an eBay member who sells high quality FS mirrors.

Here's GSX's post about it. He links to the eBay seller who goes by the name of vette4jja30. Seems to be quite promising.

Got my mirror from Surplus Shed and I think they should change their name to Outrageous Outhouse.
What remains of the coating is nice but there ain't much there!
Ah well . . . what's a poor DIYer to do anyway?
It was packed well and very cheap so there are some good things.
Oh, did I mention it's wrapped directly in the most foul, stained, dirty paper I've ever seen?
Just gotta post a picture of this.Click to view attachment
Truth in advertising ain't one of their strong points. I'm certain the ad didn't say nice, flat, FS mirror missing a great deal of reflective coating and lovingly wrapped in paper towels pulled from a dumpster just outside of a neighboring machine shop specializing in resurfacing locomotive brake rotors.
Surplus Shed has some good stuff too. I ain't really knockin' 'em. Well, maybe just a little.

Update on my Surplus Shed purchase. I penned them a polite complaint regarding my purchase and they almost immediately responded they were shipping me out another gratis.

Two thumbs up for Surplus Shed!!!

Now, I just hope it's got some reflective coating on it.

Holy sh**! (no pun intended). That is not the Surplus Shed I know. Maybe they got some sketchy help for the holidays? Now I feel really bad for sending people their for these mirrors...

Hey, at least they appear to be making good on their mistake. And for the price I ain't complaining . . . much.

Update on my Surplus Shed issue. They replaced the mirror with a very nice one. I evaluated it by viewing it in a dark room with a fiber optic light source behind it. It shows the same missing spots as does the Lumenlab mirror. Also, it show a very distinct reflective gradient from one edge to the other. I wonder if this is an artifact of the way the reflective coating is deposited? And why can't they get the reflective coating to be homogenous and unbroken (no missing spots) over the whole dang substrate?? I'm also way too curious as to how an expensive one from Edmund would compare. Sigh . . . I'll likely someday spring for one of them as well.

Has anyone used the surplusshed mirror in their projector? I'm curious how it turned out before I drop the money on one. If it does degrade the quality a bit, I'll just opt to spend a little more and get a more expensive one.

I don't know about that one, but I'm getting a fs mirror off ebay tomorrow, same measurements as the LL one(12.5x16,seems to be a standard size for a "kaleidoscope color free mirror")) I'll let you know how it turns out

miky: Would you mind doing the trick I'm intereseted in - that is compare the mirror with any others you have in a darkened room with a point-like light source behind it? I wanna know if there are many flaws in the coating so that it seems you're looking at the night sky - little pinpricks of light showing through. Also, one could make a relative quantitative estimate of how transmissive each mirror is using this technique.

uhh..... don't have any fiber optic thingies around , but after reading this thread I was going to do some kind of testing(at least visually anyway...maybe a flashlight without the reflector?)..... I also have a very nice quality , 97% reflective fs mirror to compare the new one with..its only 6x6 but is 6mm thick (I originally was going to put the mirror after the triplet) so I'll do some quick tests anyway.... the 12.5x16 size fs mirror seems to be pretty common, I'm guessing there is one main manufacturer of them(mostly avail from stained glass places)
I'm pretty sure the ebay guy(whre the 6x6 97% came from too) just drop ships from here :
http://www.highreflectivemirrors.com/

I'm sure you can improvise a "point" source. Very interested to hear how that 6x6 HQ mirror compares flaw-wise.

I haven't run the numbers or gotten any hard measurements but some of the flaws I'm seeing my gut says could be a big problem when using the mirror far from the LCD and other members observations kind of support that feeling.

Here's the mirror I got from ebay. It had a small line going across it, doesn't rub off, I'm going to see if they'll send me a different one. Was very well packaged though, as you see it's in a plastic sleeve, and that was placed between two THICK cardboard pieces, in some peanuts. The mirror is 6x9" which I guess will be big enough after it's far enough away from the fresnel. They advertise 94% reflectivity. I'm pretty satisfied with it. Oh yeah, it was only $21 shipped I think.

Think the line will have a negative impact on the image? I'm sure it will. If they won't refund I'll probably just place the mirror back far enough that it wont be in the line's area. Since the screen is 4:3 aspect, the location shouldn't be a problem (but couldn't hurt to ask).



If anyone knows anything about what the top right bag is, you get a cookie 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthio-PEA if you can't read it, should make the projector more enjoyable! The scale was a defective product from ebay too. I needed a milligram scale, and it's pretty accurate but resets to 0 by itself in the middle of weighing.

2C-T-2?

Will anything be in the cookie I should know about prior to ingesting said cookie?

Aw the image isn't coming up for me, I wanted to try for the cookie.