Hey all!

I'm so excited that I'm finally starting my first build, after hours of absorbing info off of this forum.

Hats off to tgreenwood, and all of those before me, who have developed the Fluorescent TV lense projectors.

I will post pic.s of my progress as soon as I can.

One thing I wanted to point out to everyone, and that is if you haven't read the fine print on the Fluorescent Bulbs. Fluorescents Contain Mercury

Interestingly enough, the local Fox News here ran a story on the New Compact Fluorescents. Several things were brought to the publics attension, especially the Mercury gas content in these bulbs. But, not to worry.

1. If a bulb breaks, don't panic.
2. No need to call a Haz-mat Team to come clean your home, cause it could cost $2000.00 U.S. dollars if you do.
3. FDA has stated that the Mercury content in one bulb is at a low enough level that it is concidered non-toxic.
4. If you do break a bulb, sweep the content into a small plastic bag (try not to breath any dust off of the pieces), wash your hands, then take the broken bulb to your local recycling center.
5. Open a window and vent the space that the bulb was broken in.
6. Never throw the bulb or it's contents into the garbage, these bulbs must be RECYCLED.
7. If you have any other concerns or can't locate a Recylcing center, call 1-800-378-6998
8. You can also find more info at www.lamprecycle.org. They also have a list of Canadian recycleing locations that take bulbs.

Let's all play safe.

MovieFreak

Images of Fluorescent Bulb Package & Warning.

Uhh...the metal halide bulbs that most people use on these forums also contain mercury...

I agree with the report; I really don't think it's that big of a deal. My parents played with mercury from thermometers when they were kids and they're still alive and well. Same with my grandparents that are now over 80. However, I cannot speak for the impact on the environment, so yes, please recycle. Just don't freak out if you break a fluorescent or metal halide bulb (as mentioned above).

Anyway, back to your projector...
Did you read the fine print on the Lumenlab main site? It says: "WARNING: The Lumenlab founders have determined that projector building is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE and MAY RESULT IN: unexplainable loss of expendable money, obsession over image quality, and disappearance of free time due to excessive forums."

Yea I read that one.

It's one of my all time favorite WARNINGS.

I'm a Toy Designer so I see a lot of WARNING labels.

Going to try and further the addiction, and work on some parts tonight. Should have some pic.s of progress, maybe by the weekend. I've got a 21 month old, and she keeps both Mom and Dad busy.

I'm hoping that this PSone projector will keep the spending at bay, while I save up for the 10.6 or the 7.2 (if it works out)

Later,

MovieFreak

Hey All,

Talk about obsession over picture quality. I was working on some of the parts last night and was watching The Big Lebowski on my PSP.

Ding! suddenly a bell went off in my head. I took the huge TV lens I bought (same as tgreenwoods, same seller http://www.herbach.com/Merchant2/merchant....egory_Code=OPT), ran over and turned off the kitchen light and held the lens over the PSP screen.

To my amazement the image projected onto my ceiling and was visable, about a 24" diag, with just the back lighting from the PSP.

Then my wife walked in, and asked "What the heck are you doing. Why are all of the lights out."

I told her to look up at the ceiling, she did, and we stood there for about 15 minutes watching a very weakly lit movie.

After straightening my neck out, I quickly ran to the computer and did a seach for the PSP screen. It's a Sharp 4.5" TFT screen, and that's all I know. A lot of sellers offer replacement screens, but I'm not sure if there are any controler cards just for the screen.

Then that gave me another idea. I have a 7" TFT screen I picked up at Walmart (A.K.A Wally World in our house) for real cheap. Talked the manager into selling it to me for $30.00.

I'd also stripped it down in an attempt for an earlier build, but never finished 'cause all of my lighting attemps were running too hot.

I'm going through a total redesign to try and incorperate the 7" screen instead of the PSone screen.

I hope to have pics up of my results in the next week or so.

Should have listened to those forum Warnings.

MovieFreak

Well I've been working hard at designing my CF 7" Projector.

Over the past week I've assembled a prototype out of foamcore, plywood, and steel rods.

Fired up the bulbs (only had 4, plan to use 6) and was able to project a test pattern of the 7" LCD I stripped onto the Ceiling.

I had about a 4.5 foot diagonal projection. Need to work with the planned 6 CFs to see whether or not I can focus the sides. The center was pretty clear, but with out the other bulbs I couldn't tell whether or not the sides were in focus.

But, Dang! 4x100 watt CF Day Light bulbs are Bright! It was like looking into the sun.

One other thing I need to mention about my build, is that I placed a 6" Focal Length Fres. infront of the Screen, to narrow the image going into the TV lens. So far it looks like it's going to work with the 7" LCD.
(Wonder if it would also work with the LL Varifocal Lens. I have one of those, but that's for another build. )

I also did some 3D work in Google Sketchup to fine tune what will be my final build.

At this point I'm going to try and work in a gravity driven Keystone mechanism attached to the Fres. Can't keep watching movies on the ceiling, my neck can't take it.

Here are some pic's of my Sketchup 3D version.

Later, Movie Freak

Hello, I'm back online.

Work has been keeping me busy.

Just to update the progress of my project.

1. Tried the whole negative fresnel approach to reducing the size of a 7" lcd to fit the Delta 5" input lense.

2. It works to some degree, but is very difficult to focus.

3. Disassembled the 7" rig, and will save the lcd for another build.

4. Returning to the PS1 screen and have worked out a new layout for the control drawing.

5. Goal for this continuing project: Too finally finish it soon

6. Have a question for those interested.

7. What is the voltage for the light tube that originally lit the PS1 screen?

8. Would it be possible to power a small computer fan for cooling or circulating the air through out the case of the projector?

9. I thought this would be a good idea for powering the fan and also reducing the heat being thrown off by different current adaptors positioned in the case.

10. Any one have any thoughts? Will it work.

11. I guess I could just try it, but I don't want to mess up the pc-board for the screen.

Thanks in advance,

Movie Freak

I wouldn't try running a fan off of the light circuit without checking the voltage and current first. If you have a volt meter that shouldent be that hard. The PS1 sceen is different from most others in that instead of useing a cold cathode (which useually run on 400 volts so a fan on that would be a no no) the ps1 screen uses a custom compact florescent light. When you strip the psone screen two things you should do are the brightness mod and remove the anti glare. It makes an incredible difference.

THX x_25,

I'll have to check with my meter. Duh, didn't think of that, but my brain is tired. Like I said work's been keeping me busy.

Another thought . . ..

What if I just spliced a connector for the fan (which is a 5v to 12v, 80mm computer fan) to the power supply cable for the screen itself. You know, the Sony power brick/AC adaptor.

I thought it was a 7 volt adaptor for the main power. If so, then the PC fan should work.

One other note though, about the lcd light power supply on the main board. I've seen people do an LED mod to light the screen when they use it as is (not in a projector) and they run the power right off the main board.

If what your suggesting x_25 is correct, wouldn't the LEDs just blow out instantly?

Thoughts any one?


Thanks,

Movie Freak

I know haw being tired can affect our brains, sometime the most obvious solution is over looked (talking about the volt meeter).

For the led backlighting, what is to say they didnt just take the lamp out and then drive the LED's off a different power supply?

My solution to driving the fans was to use an old AT style power supply (the kind that does not need to be conected to a mother board to be easily turned on.) I had several laying arround so i just figured ide use that. If you cant find an AT power supply it is possible to modify an ATX power supply to turn on without the motherboard. Just do a google search for it.

THX for the tip x_25.

I'll look into the AT power supply, and the ATX power mod. I've got about 7 ATX power supplies that I pulled for salvage. Never now what you'll find on the sidewalk on trash day. Man, I love trash day.

TTYL,

Movie Freak

I've got a question for everyone.

I just about have the LCD/Delta Lense rig done for my projector.

So I hooked everything back up to the mainboard and powered the screen on.

I sent a video signal to the screen, and I'm getting thick dark horizontal lines running up through the image.

Almost like the V-hold is screwed up or something.

My video signal is clean, cause I sent it to my regular TV, no problems.

Is my screen dead now? Anyone else experiance this too? If so how did you fix it.

I'm really bummed out now. Was almost done, and I don't have the cash to shell out and by a new screen.

Thanks in advance.

Movie Freak

Can you get a picture?

Dark lines would most likely indicate that some kind of signal is getting to the panel, because it is (probably) normally clear when off. In my experience, when a panel dies, you would either get random colored/white lines, or just a blank screen.

As for a fix, just try reconnecting the cables to the panel, maybe seat them differently, in my 15" panel, the cable to the LCD was just an FFC, and the end got worn from many insertions. I just had to seat the FFC slightly pulled out of the connector, and it worked again.

Also maybe try a different source? Maybe the LCD controller is not syncing correctly with the video source.

Thank's for the suggestions.

I've actually figured out what the problem is. The PSone screen really doesn't like you using a different AC/DC adaptor set to 7.5 volts.

There must be enough varience in the voltage that it causes interference with the video signal, or under powers the screen.

I couldn't find the original Sony Power supply last night, that had come with the screen, and used a switching AC/DC adaptor I had for a Cell Phone. Even though you can change the voltage to 7.5 with the little switch, the screen really didn't like it.

So I tore the apartment apart this morning (much to my wife's dismay) to find the Sony Power supply (found a lot of other things I had hidden away from my 2 year old ), found it, plugged everything back together, and the dark horizontal lines in the screen magically went away.

Word of advise to all using the PSone screen, only use the Sony Power supply (wall version, or car adaptor).

Piece,

Movie Freak

The current rating may have been too low on your substitute power supply.

Hey All,

I located a 5" TFT LCD with a 960 x 234 Pixel count.

It has VGA, S-Video, and AV input.

Link to Data Sheet: http://www.purdyelectronics.com/pdf/PC-TFT-5VX.pdf

It's only $51.00!

I know that the PS1 Screen has a Pixel count of 360 x 240. Question, would the picture on the 960 x 234 be clearer, there by reducing the screen door effect?

They also have a 5" 640 x 480 screen for a bit more.

Thanks,

Movie Freak

That horizontal resolution isn't really 960, it's 320. Those sneaky manufacturers are fudging the numbers by counting each individual color in each pixel, so they can market it as having three times as many pixels as it really does.

Yeah... that PDF you linked to was for a controller board. It states in the PDF that the board is for the AND-TFT-5VX color TFT display:

http://www.purdyelectronics.com/pdf/AND-TFT-5VX.pdf

Which has a resolution of 640 (H) x (RGB) x 480(V).

Sorry everyone. I was at work during my lunch break and posted quickly.

The site does have 5" LCDs with 640 x 480 spec.s but for a lot of cash. And yes the control board that I posted is what was $51.00.

Oh well thought I'd stumbled onto something great, yea in my dreams

Later,

Movie Freak

Wow it has been a long time since I have posted on here.

Hey MF how is this project going? I just saw you are from Boonton, NJ. That only about 30mi from me. I may have to swing by some time and see this when you get it done.

Hey X_25,

Nice to hear from you. I'm actually in the middle of moving to the Butler area this month.

On some of my down time from packing things in boxes, I've used this project to wind-down in the evenings.

I have a new enclosure, have switched back to the PSone Screen, and 'am putting the final touches on the wiring.

I'm hoping to have pictures up soon of my build and the process. I'll probably post sometime around the end of February, since most of the project is now packed for the move.

Regards,

MovieFreak

P.S. I'm also strongly considering saving to do a 3.5" or a 12.1" WXGA screen build.

Man this stuff is sooooooo addictive.

Oh yeah this is addictive. Once I save up some money I plan on doing a 12.1" build (need to redo all the plans I had for the 10.6"). I also plan on rebuilding my ps-one PJ. Still haven't gotten it out of that card board box. Although I think I am going to try using a car headlight bulb instead of CFLS. I think it will give more even lighting. Good luck with the move.

I've noticed a couple of people starting PSOne PJs. Their are a couple of things that should be done to the main board for the screen,

like removing the power converter coil for the backlight. This is a High Voltage component and should be removed to prevent accidental shock.

You can do a search on line about removing this part. You can simply snip the connectors with wire cutters, or de-solder it from the main board (that's what I did, much neater looking, and less chance of contact material left behind from touching/shorting out).

I have photos that I'll post, as soon as I get settled into my new location.

But, if you don't want to wait for my photos, and want to really jump into your project I suggest doing web search for stripping or mod-ding a PSOne screen for a PC. One of the posts has the info for removing the power converter mentioned above.

Note removing the power convert doesn't affect the function of the screen, mine worked perfectly fine after removal.

Play Safe.

Regards,

Move Freak

P.S.

Got to it sooner than I thought. Happy Building.
Click to view attachment

That is a good idea, maybe I should do that to mine. Oh, MF have you seen Weldonjb's plog? He is using Xenon car headlights. I think he is on to something to. The run cool, have good color and are small and relatively cheep ($75 for a kit that has the ballast and everything you need). I am starting to think that the CFLS may get a run for their money with these.

X-25,

Had been following that one, but hadn't reviewed it lately. Thanks for the suggestion. OMG my wife is going to kill me if I buy another set of lights. But that looks like a good competetor for the CFs.

Maybe I'll try those for my 7" build. Have a Car Seat LCD I stripped for my original build with the CFs.

Do you know exactly how cool they run? Or are they about the same as the CFs?

Thx.

Movie Freak

According to weldonjb, they get about as hot as a 40 to 60w regular light bulb. I really think i will use one for rebuilding my PS-One projector, I am still running at less than 10 lumens and the fade from top to bottom is driving me nuts. With this bulb it shouldn't be any dimmer, probably will be brighter even.