Hey folks! I am totally new to all of this, and as i said in another post, even a week ago I didnt even know you COULD make your own, i just innocent thought we had no choice. Little did i realize that we are all just SLAVES to the big corporate giants. But i digress. I will be building my own projector over the next few months as school permits, but I have some biig questions about building. I understand all of the basics, but would love it if some people could post hints, or even their experiences.

Luckily my room is in the basement with minimal windows with shades. So light wont be a problem. Next year, entering university, I will have my sweet computer in my room, so i would use it to power this beast I plan on building. Here are some pics of my room


This is the wall that i will project onto, I will probably use some sort of a cloth to cover the wall as the creamy yellow colour on the wall is less than ideal to project onto.


This is what the projector will see. The paintings will be covered by the sheet i plan on using. and finally...


This is what the back of my room looks like...mess and all.

After some careful thinking, i have decided that a floor model would be best, as the ceiling is made of acoustic tiles, which are no supporting, and an absolute b#%ch to take down. I will probably use a vertical design to use up as little floor space as possible, and to get the image as high as possible on the wall to avoid key stoning as much as is possible.

So my questings are regarding the use of lenses and such.

I have found suppliers in the humble city of Halifax Nova Scotia who can supply me a ballast for $75CAN and the light for $25CAN. But in regards to the Fresnel lenses, it seems that those can only be purchased from the US. If anyone knows of a Canadian supplier of these, I would greatly appreciate knowing. Its nothing against the US, its just that I have bad luck with duty fees on importing electronic goods. Otherwise I might be tempted to buy from LL, but It seems i can get cheaper elsewhere (for the lighting at least). So my biggest question is...15" or 17", and what FL's? Im running on a pretty tight budget, but I want a good projector that will be expandable in the future, this is why I am thinking i probably dont want to lock myself into a 15" design. My other question is in regards to floor space. I want to save on space as much as possible, and am thinking of using a vertical design as previously stated. However, if I use longer focal length lenses (aka 550 and a 220) will the projector be too tall to feasibly stand independently in the middle-back of a room? Also, how much of a difference would I actually notice between a a kit with a 220 collimator and a 550 focal, as opposed to a 220 and a 320 or so? Are the differences drastic, and where are the differences seen, quality of picture? The light in the bottom of the box would add stability Im sure (the ballast specifically), but is it enough?

Thanks everyone for taking a look, and keep up the good work. The idea of making my own LCD projector is astounding!

PS: just as a note, i guess what Im really looking for is personal experiences, and even personal preferences.

Also, i forgot to mention...probably the foggiest thing for me is the actual projection lens... What lens is recommended and what do i need to know about mounting it?

Read this great thread by ozstang65, and play with the focal calculator that's linked to in that thread. You should be able to determine what size lens, LCD, and Fresnels you'll need to get the picture size/throw you want.

That should really answer most of your questions, except where to get stuff up north. Have fun!

Thanks for the link, but after using the calculator, im still left with the same problem. The inputed focal lengths will theoretically work, but how well? I read somewheres that you have to be very careful matching the FL of the 2nd Fresnel lens with the FL of the projection lens. So if i were to use a 550 FL lens, I would have to use a projection lens with a FL of 550? How does that work? While I am trying to keep this priced well...I want to have a high quality projector, so if using a 550 and a 17" monitor will give me much better results, I will do it, I just need to have a more complete shopping list, and the confidence that it WILL work when i put it all together.

If you go with the complete Pro Kit setup from the store you will get the ideal projection. Just make sure it will fit by using the calculator.