well here it is, my projector, its uncompleted as of yet. But I can watch projected videos.


Parts list
Walmart LCD monitor brand Synaps 15.4" wide screen
400 watt Electronic ballast from hidhut
400 watt MH bulb also from hidhut
standard fesnels and triplet from LL
3/4" mdf from the home depot

-lesser important parts
jigsaw
mogul base out of an outdoor yard light
radio shack fan
soldering iron
bowl-as a reflector
dc inverter
lexan heat/uv shield
drawer slides
8' power cord
hinges
cable ties
screws and washers
multiple dremel accessories
fuse holder and 10 amp fuses
non reflective camo paint

here is a few photos that i have

*note: I think I have the worlds crappiest camera, thanks walmart.

??for some reason i can't link to pictures hosted elsewhere??? wtf? got this message "Sorry, dynamic pages in the [IMG] tags are not allowed" whats that all about?

but you can view my flickr account and see my progress if you'd like
My Projector photos

short low quality video of the box on you tube

as you can see it still has some work to go, when I ordered the Fresnel's I didn't know that they would be too small for my lcd panel, since it is wide screen, my projector is still viewable in the center but there is about an inch on either side that is not visible. When I get some money rounded up in the next week or so will order new Fresnel's from3D-Lens.com and replace out the standard 15" ones.
Also I'm still waiting on the FFC to come from LL its been a week today and still nothing, otherwise in my pictures you may have noticed a big piece of the circuit board blocking the top half of the picture

I finally i got my 20 pin FFC yesterday morning. after ordering it through Lumenlab, and waiting about 3 weeks I checked the post office and i guess it got lost in delivery, thankfully LL's staff was nice enough to refund my money. After that I tried ordering from diy-beamer.com, after no response from them I said F*!%# it lastly I went to digi key searched around for five minutes to get the parts i needed 8" ffc with connector, after i placed my order at about 3 am Thursday morning i found out that they were shipping it from only five hours away from me. I was ecstatic, since I haven't had much to work on my projector in a while, ups guy showed up on Friday morning with the goods...yay finally i will be able to get that big circuit board out of the projection.


also when reading up on other posts I came across one that said the green layer on lexan can be removed....I had no idea, I figured removing that would increase the brightness a little, however I didn't notice much, maybe because I hadn't turned it on in over a week and a half though

I finally figured out the dynamic image tags thing heres some pics off of my razr, sadly they're better than my 4.1 megapixel camera


lcd power supply with modded usb cable to extend the distance between its power supply and controller board


Lexan, rear Fres,..etc and electronic ballast in the background


400 watt bulb, reflector wall wart to power radio shack fan, other wiring

Yeah it's great when you find out Digi-Key is in your home state. It was even better for me when I first met my mother-in-law and found out she works there. So I get great deals.

Anyway keep moving on the PJ, and off all things keep the pics coming, we love pics.

Got some more pictures the other day, still off my razr phone so don't knock the quality

extended FFC


LCD sled


the LL forums, its nice not having that huge circuit board in the way anymore now that I have the FFC extened


*In the pic I've still got some wires in the way of the projection in the top left corner, i just haven't secured them down yet

I think I have It nearly completed, with the exception of adding new Fresnels. I have the standard set and they don't quite cover my 15.4" wide screen, so ill need the the 220mm and 550mm fresnels from 3dlens to fix that.

Also since my friends seem to smoke more than my car I need to find some sore of screen to cover the intake vents on my projector to protect them from dust and smoke.

Well it's been quite a while since I've tinkered with the old projector but I decided to change from my split config to an unsplit. The reason for this is when I took this project on I thought that I would hang the PJ from the ceiling, after it was all built I realized that I would have to anchor to some studs to hold this expensive toy.
But since I'm renting an apartment thats out of the question.

The first thing i had to do was remove the collector lens from a wooden dowel that used gorilla glue to attach it to. wow that stuff doesn't come off, good this i only glued in the corners. It took about and hour with a razr to get it off.

Anyhow when I switched to un-split the image on the wall was so screwed up that it looked like pure garbage. It went from 110" to about 80" and was totally hot spotted. I farted around with the fresnel distances for over an hour and didn't know what i did wrong i checked the focal calc many times and read the beginners stuff over again, and couldn't figure it out.

Finally in a last ditch attempt I switched the collector and collaminator Fresnel around and BINGO! That did the trick these whole 2 months I've been running with the fresnels in the incorrect configuration which surprised me more than anything that I even got a viewable image.

The only downside is my screen is still about 80" but its dang near crystal clear corner to corner, compared to how fuzzy it used to look.
*edit the screen is only about 80" but that about the distance away from the screen so everything is running correctly*

Here are some pics off my razr again







here you can see my shadow,..oops

here is a pic of my air vents, i just added a peice of wood over the top to prevent light leakage on the ceiling that was annoying

Here's my rearranged fresnels

Triplet

Lcd from inside PJ

another

Here's the PJ in action next to my laptop which Iuse to run it, and yes it's all sitting on my home made bar

Here it is with the ceiling light on


Now Heres the Kworld HD-pro 1680 that I got off newegg.com. I love it i can finally use my modded xbox and XMBC. does everything that i need it to do, and the remote has excellent range and doesn't need to be pointed at the front of the box or anything like that






Now that I've been messing around with this since 2am last night and its now after 9 am, I need to run up to menards and see if they have any pvc pipe i can use to replace my focusing mechanism. I hate the drawer slides that I'm currently using. More to come!

well I just got back from Menards, I was going to stop at Jo-Ann fabrics too but I found some poly wall, or something like it. So that means I won't need any blackout cloth

I got the pvc pip for my new focus mechanism, but I haven't done anything so no pics yet but here's a photo of the poly wall screen I set up against the yellow wall that I'm currently projecting on


and here I flipped it around I think this side is brighter

Well its now just after 1pm. I wrapped the standard triplet in electrical tape to get the 3" diameter needed to fit in the pvc pipe. also since I removed the crappy drawer slide mechansim I inserted the front wall into the box and needed to cut off about 3/4" off the top as well as cut a much larger hole for the pvc to fit.
here are some initial pictures


inside


test fit


another


inside view

heres a shot with the video playing, and you can see alot of light leakage, cuz i just slapped it together. I aint finished yet

Looks like the polywall made a big difference. I threw a couple coats of Behr Ultra Pure White on mine and it made mine look a little better. The shit is $25 a gallon though..

Also, I got a good laugh out of your "don't f--kin touch" instructions

oh yeah a tremendous difference, it was only 20 bucks for a 4' x 8' sheet, i need to buy another one today cuz its not quite tall enough for my projection.
haha oops i didn't think that you could see that "don't f--kin touch",... I live in a building full of kramer like people that just pop in and are like cool then want to touch the lens with their fingers, so thats why that is there, simple and easy instruction

I have a few questions about this thing.

1. Does it tune standard as well as atsc hd channels?

2. Will it accept 480p/720p/1080i through the component input?

3. Does it have it's own independent contrast/brightness adjustments?

4. Picture quality.....from 1 to 10...

5. Just wondering, because every set of specs I've found doesn't even say if it has component input. Clearly I can see from your pics that it does indeed have it. I really need to get my xbmc equipped box back, I loaned it out over a year ago, XBMC was the main reason I USED to use it for. Oh, and this isn't really a question, I just wanted to put the number 5 before it.

1 i believe that it only tunes standard channels

2 I've gotten 480p to show from my dvd player, I'm not sure if it will go higher, and I don't know if its a limitation of the kworld device or my dvd player because i haven't seen an option that will let me change that

3 It does have its own individual settings brightness contrast saturation tint sharpness and picture are all adjustable

4 personally I think its pretty good about an 8

5 it does have component theres 2 versions of the 1680 i have the 1680r. the 1680ex has up to 1080i support you can see here Kworld product specs

Big problem, I had a projector meltdown!
well i came home from work a couple weekends ago to find out my roomates for some reason turned off the fans that cool my projector

I guess its my fault for even wiring in a switch to turn them off, but here are some pics
It just goes to show how hot these bulbs can get
Fresnels






Lexan

I also redid some of my wiring before i had 2 cords that i had to plug in to turn on my projector, now I have 1 power cord, and I installed 2 switches on the side as seen here


and here


Here's where i plug it in at, i ripped open an atx power supply just to use this peice



I also put handles on the side to help me carry this heavy beast around, and i finally got around to putting hinges on the lid



Another thing that I did on my projector tune up was, enclosed my e-ballast in a wind tunnel to keep it cool

heres some more pics for your viewing pleasure

Here i enclosed my ballast and made a wind tunnel to keep it running cool

I've gotten my new fresnels lens's shipped from china (3dlens) and it was about 8 days too!

Today i think i'll get around to putting them inside my projector

Well since i moved out of my apartment and into a house i managed to set up my screen.
Here it is, I rigged it so that i can pull on a cord and it retracts rear-ward up towards the ceiling


The screen down ,(next day)


Rear of screen


pulleys

last week i managed to pic up an 18" beseler lens off ebay for about $50 bucks, and I've got it in now.

That thing is still enormous even after seeing the pictures then holding it in my hand, ITS HUGE, ill post some pictures soon of the new projection, also the throw distance is so much better I can have my PJ further back, and I love that

Is that bulb you got from hidhut really have the ball shape around the arc I was going to get that bulb bbut not now.

Hey there.

I have a question about the vgabox too!
Is the brightness level fully adjustable, meaning, can it go higher than if you'd simply plug it to your tv?
Does it boost it?

Cheers and keep on building. Bummer about the meltdown!!!
Might want to put a heat sensor on those fans for those times when it's not YOU that operates...

Yeah, I need to idiot-proof my PJ as well. One of my roomates can't even figure out how to wire a DVD player to a TV.

Just as a reminder, it's best to wire it so the bulb will never turn on unless the fan circuit is on. That way, if you turn your fans off, the bulb turns off too.

Sadly I dont think many people can.

Heat sensor is nice. You don't even have to think about it. It prevents a lot of headaches!



LOL too true!

well here's my "upgrading to a beseler" pics

front cutout with a jigsaw, which is kinda messy looking



the lens compared to a regular cd


compared to a 20 oz. bottle of doctor pepper


now here is a picture after I built an extension for the lens


and the front view of the extension

yes it is, but it was $15 cheaper than LL when i bought it so I went for it. Also I didn't know it would look like that when I ordered it, however so far it hasn't given me any trouble, and I've taken the bulb out many times whilst tweaking the PJ

It is very adjustable IMO. It can completely dim the screen or go up to 100 and wash it out however, I leave it in the 70's (1-100 adjust ability scale) for good viewing.
When on pc mode you can't adjust contrast/brightness/etc the only time you're able to adjust those settings is when you're using the s-video/rca/component/coax.
any more questions?

Nope, big thanks. keep up your work. It looks nice!

WOW

Holy.....that is a monstrosity of a lens!!! I thought my opaque triplet lense weighed a crapload, but I now stand corrected! My 10" triplet is about HALF that diameter, and here I was thinking that the 18" Beselers were almost the same size diameter!

It is indeed very big!
I wonder what results you'll get with that thing once you optimize your optics.

I also wonder where one can get that...

Did you have a standard triplet before?

Yes I did have the standard triplet there are pictures from earlier in my plog, I only recently upgraded to the 18" besler.

The main reason that I switched was to obtain a longer throw. When my old Fresnel's melted I ordered the wrong new Fresnel's, so then I had to upgrade to the beseler to get the correct focal point. It all worked out in the end

eBay, is where I purchased mine, there's always some on there, or craigslist I saw a few on there once, I got lucky and only spent about $45 if I can remember right

just search 18 or 22 beseler, or opaque projector, or vu lyte thats how I found them

For anyone that is interested I have posted a video of my projector on youtube.com the link is my project here,
anyhow if anyone wants me to video record any other aspect of my projector, don't be afraid I just bought a camera and if you want to see any certain aspect I will be happy to record it and post it as well

Very nice video

hope you're enjoying it.

The kworld letterboxes stuff?

Well I couldn't help myself today. I came on the forums, first time in a while and saw the 108" screen for $99 shipped
And I had to buy it, it took only about 4 hours for me to break, but I definitely ordered it,
I can't wait to get it in, now ill be able to save a little space over having my current screen.

I just got mine today, man that tube they ship it in is huge.

really? thats cool as soon as you get some pictures posted let me know i want to see what this thing looks like, I can't wait

-I am totally Enjoying it. I always have people asking if they can come watch "the game" or if they can play video games on the big screen.

-Um about letter boxing (definition: The process or form of video where black horizontal mattes are added to the top and bottom of the display area in order to create a frame in which to display video using an aspect ratio different than that of the display) As far as I can recall, I haven't noticed any. the lcd I used was a wide screen, and if I remember correctly all of the pixels look like they're being used, no black bars, with the exception of some movies that I play add the black bars "letter box"
but the K-world device does not.

I may be mistaken, but as far as I can recall it doesn't

I received my 108" electric projector screen today, via fedex, they were a whole day early which is awesome.

here's some pictures from when I was unpacking it

the power input on the screen


the up and down hardwired switch


the remote control


another shot of the back, for some reason it didn't come with a battery cover


and heres the odd 3 pronged Australian plug

Those plugs only look odd if you don't live in Australia/New Zealand

well now im about to Re-Wire my electric screen cord, since it's designed for an austrailian plug I believe.

I got alot of help from member philw


you only need a new male cord end on the old cord.

If I remember right the yellow wire with the green stripe, green strip is the important part is the ground. Goes on the green screw of the new plug.
The blue wire is the neutral, silver screw of the new plug.
Brownish yellow wire is the hot, brass screw on the plug.



Commercial Coding for AC Wiring
Service US Europe UK
115v/240v 60Hz Black Brown Brown
Common White Blue Blue
Ground Green Green/Yellow Green/Yellow

here's a picture of the cord stripped down to the 3 wires



heres the new end I purchased at Menard's



here I finally got the new screen hung and mounted

Silly question maybe but what have you done to make it work from 110v rather than the Oz 240v?

Well... there's a hard way and an easy way.

The easy way is to just swap out the plug that goes into the wall outlet:

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21049

Thanks for taking pics of the screen and linking those rewiring instructions. That should be a big help to those deciding whether to buy or not.