I just wanted to thank all of you who have posted your projectors. Your help, ideas, and advice are greatly appreciated.

I have built a few based on regular (straight thru) 15" LCDs and have enjoyed them immensely. Never really had the desire to post them though. I think there are enough straight 15" builds for anyone to learn from. But lurk no more. Wanting a challenge, I decided to try a vertical 17".

Parts gathered , stolen , borrowed , found , and reluctantly purchased are as follows:

- NEC 17" from 2003....Found in dumpster with no model number visible on housing. Backlight fried, scratch on AG layer.
- Bought 400W LL Bulb (spare), 400W HIDHUT Bulb and Ballast, LL reflector, LL 650 Fresnel, LL Pro Triplet, 3dLens 200 Fresnel
- Laminated safety glass taken from old CNC machine (100% UV blocking, protection from exploding bulb).
- 4"x6" First surface mirror with built in 45 degree lens holder salvaged from old rear projection TV.
- Various scraps of wood from my neighbors back shed (he'll never miss it... JK, he said it was okay as long as he got to watch movies too).
- Bought four pieces of 2' x 4' x 1/4" MDF for enclosure
- Bought Tremclad paint "Ferrari Red", Tremclad grey hammered finish paint for trim pieces.
- Five 12 volt fans salvaged out of old computers at work.
- Salvaged one PSU from my old computer.
- Drawer slides from my kitchen for lens focus. (My wife says one drawer isn't working smoothly anymore... wonder why?)

Having built projectors before, the wife has given up on me and doesn't sweat the small stuff anymore. Yay, no more WAF to worry about! Although I did catch her one time watching some crappy girly show when she thought I was gone. Ha, I knew she liked my projector. I did open up my projector just to make sure her stupid movie didn't screw something up. This projector has been purpose built for action/sci fi/kung fu movies. God only knows what damage she caused by playing Sense and Sensibilities through it.

Being bored with the usual black varnish I have used in the past, I decided to liven things up. I took inspiration from the new Ferrari P4/5. What a car!

With the pro lenses, I decided that the projector would sit behind the couches and shoot over my head. Since it is out of the way, I did not concern myself with minimizing the size of the box. I sized it so that a 19" LCD could go into it in the future. Height wise, it is tall. The top mirror is 58" from the floor.

I kept the wiring simple. No thermostats. Two swtiches control the fans and bulb. I just leave the fans on after I turn the bulb off.

I am using an old 667 Mhz pentium as a HTPC with an old Nvidia Geforce MX400 vid card. PowerDVD XP is the software I use. May try FFDshow later with a newer faster computer. What I have now works awesome.

I'll be posting pics later tonight from home. I am at work right now and all we have is dial-up. You all remember what dial-up is, right?

Your friendly neighborhood ferrari projector builder,

Ken

I am new to this forum thing, so if I am not adding posts to my topic properly, let me know. Thanks.

Also trying out posting images for the first time...so here it goes.

Whole thing with front access panel off:

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And here is the top lens/mirror assembly:

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The two angled top edges are vents for hot air to escape plus they hide a mistake I made and they look good IMO.

Here is a shot of the lens assembly looking in the direction of the projection. I really like how the vents turned out. Very car like.

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It is also fully lowered down for transport. Ignore the light on the wall, its just the room lights shining on the wall.

LCD control panel transplanted into projector. Side grills for air intakes. The top intake cools the LCD the bottom cools the fresnels.

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View from underneath looking up at triplet. The drawer slides do not block any light.

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Any more pics and I'll have to start a plog instead. Which is probably not a bad idea.

[bad news]

My ballast just fried and a warranty replacement is now on the way. I'll have screen shots for you all next week some time.

I did have the chance to watch The Matrix and for a dark movie, Big Red was plenty bright. Colors were excellent. I removed the AG and didn't bother with "before" shots because there were scratches all over the AG.

I do have slightly dark corners but they are hardly noticeable. The only time I see them is when the LCD is off and a white screen is projected. In 4:3 size using my computer, The desktop is clean and clear. The start button on XP is still very clear. Dimness is not noticeable.

Wow thats awesome. I like the way youve enabled the lens to be adjusted, i was wondering how i would do it on my projector, youve just given me an idea

From your 'underneath triplet' view, it vaguely looks like the triplet flange is on the side away from the bulb - the flange should be near the bulb.

Just wondering.

Thanks Ed. It was fun making it and not having to worry about minimizing the enclosure. And I'm glad I could give you ideas for lens movement. That's exactly how I learned to build mine...other peoples ideas.

Nin: I messed around with the lens and reversed them. That way the flange could be used to hold the lens to the assembly.

Tip to share: to open the pro triplet easily I used two flat blade screwdriver bits held in a vice in the shape of a V. I just angled the bits until they just fit into the two grooves on the retainer ring. Be real careful when placing lens down so you don't touch the glass. I actually dropped the triplet onto the bits once when it slipped. Luckily no damage. Just turn the triplet until the retainer ring is loose, then turn it out the rest of the way by hand. Wear gloves and do not breathe on the lenses when they come out. The stack of lenses is very wobbly.

got any screen shots from "Big Red"

As soon as I have my warranty ballast in , I'll be taking lots of pics.

Of course, just when I wanted to takes those shots, my ballast fried.



Edit: My ballast in now somewhere in Canada. Should be any day now!

While waiting on the ballast, I have started to prepare my basement wall for projection. I've decided to use PB maxx's formula for low lumens. I've only ever used white primer for a screen so this will be exciting to see.

I use the screen for computer 4:3 and DVDs at 16:9 so I am painting the whole wall which is 12 feet wide by 7 feet high.

I have put down 5 coats of semi gloss UPW as a base, sanding between each one. It would have been 3 coats except I put too much paint on during the 3rd coat that ran and sagged all over. I literally cried when I saw that the next day. It looked so nice and smooth and shiny when I sprayed it on. I put it on too thick. But I learned my lesson after 5 hours with a power sander

In the next few days I will be spraying the special mixture onto the wall. I will upload pics of spraying later tonight.

My ballasts have cleared Canada Customs! Shouldn't be long now.


Ken

Okay. Here are some bad shots of my basement room. Its from my camera phone. I'll have a better camera for screen shots.

Here is the sprayer I used:

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Here is the incredible mess I made from spraying and the dehumidifier I used to accelerate the drying process.

It used to be a dark blue tarp.

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I actually used to be a "boy-in-the-bubble" when I was a kid. This brings back bad memories.

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And one last shot from inside the bubble. I gotta stop and get some fresh air. The hospital flash backs are stronger than ever.

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(kidding about the flash backs...not kidding about being the "boy-in-the-bubble")

I got a notice in my mail box that a package is waiting for me at the post office!

Yahoo, my ballast is here. I'll be picking it up tomorrow and hopefully we'll have screen shots by this weekend.

Later,

Ken

very nice build how long did it take to build it

Hi Deckhead2,

It took me about 2 weeks of concentrated work. Some really long nights. I just couldn't bring myself to quit working on it. I think I even fell asleep at my work bench once or twice.

Well worth the effort.

Of course, I said I would have pics that last weekend, but of course, life and family have a way of distracting me.

As an update, I have finished decorating my theatre with black velvet drapes on either side of the 12 foot screen (whole wall).

I'll have pics soon. Yeah I know, I said that before.

Later,

Kenny2

While I am awaiting the camera gods to bestow upon me some digital goodness, I have to get some actual film developed. My camera phone just doesn't cut it.

In the mean time, I have purchased a Kworld TVBOX 1680ex

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I'll let you all know how it works with a Nintendo Wii and maybe a 360 if I can get a chance.

Later,

Ken

What is with electronic ballasts? First I had a HIDhut ballast go bad under warranty. That got replaced right away and has been working fine since.

I bought a LL eballast (Vue) for another projector build and now it has fried. Maybe used 20 hours total. I have sent an email to LL support asking about warranty.

From a cold start, the ballast made some vibrating/sizzling sounds, the bulb flickered for 2 seconds and then nothing. Now there's no clicking, buzzing, or any sound from the ballast and the bulb will not light up at all.

I had a fan blowing over the ballast so I don't think heat was an issue. The wiring is heavy gauge and quite short so I don't think bad wiring was an issue.

Argh.

I think they use bad capacitors. When the capacitor goes bad, it probably makes other parts fail

Mine was close to going bad, when I took the cover off, and found out that some parts inside are not heatsinked when they should be. Also the capacitor in mine is puffed at the top, indicating that it is bad. I'll have to replace that before I attempt to resell it. I'll probably also test it for a while to make sure it's OK afterwards.

Look in my 15" PLOG here for pics of the inside if you want.

I actually spent an hour searching through the forums for eballast problems and found your post earlier this morning. Thanks for the insight.

Hopefully, I'll find out soon if I have to send it to Vue or LL for warranty.

Someone should cover it, if you only used it for a short time, my problem is I bought it used, so can't get an exchange..