Parts list:

Standard Triplet
Beseler 18 (I actually think it says buhl on it)
220/330 fresnels
400watt mh ballast
400w bulb and mogul(gold-blue, silver-white just a note that i am making for myself on hooking up the mogul)
x2gen MW15A widescreen 15 inch lcd (1280x800 res)
ffc extension for the lcd
1/2 inch birch plywood for the enclosure
2 120mm quiet case fans
various switches, power input modules, terminal blocks
ikea stabil boiler reflector
attic thermostat

Total cost for initial build (including the small trips to home depot): $545


I am still in the planning stages but I am just about ready to build my enclosure. I am doing a standard rectangular box. My focusing mechanism will be a box within a box method that will be on sliders with a way to adjust it easily using threaded rod. I am not sure on how I want to mount my fresnels and lcd yet. I am thinking threaded rod but that does not seem like the easiest way available. I may simply take 2 small rectangular pieces of wood and use a router to make channels to hold each within its frame. Hopefully I get some time this weekend to begin the enclosure, but it might be a good idea to wait until I have my lcd delivered and stripped so I can build the smallest size enclosure to fit the components. Once these last few parts arrive I will be starting my build and moving fast (as long as this pledging a fraternity stuff doesnt get in the way). I am an avid photographer so expect many pictures to come cheers

where did you got the 15,4" lcd from ? how much was it ?

I ordered it from amazon who got it from dealstop.com which is based off of legendmicro.com. It was 109 dollars for mine.

Sounds good so far.

Just remember that if you go with the 18" Beseler the box will need to be about 10" longer. You might want to account for that when building it

indeed!

Wired up my ballast, lamp, switch, fans and fan power supply, and lcd power supply. It all runs great I checked the lcd for stuck pixels and it all looks good. I began stripping the lcd but have to wait to test it more due to digikey not having my female zif connector in stock yet. So next on my list of things to do is build frames for my fresnels and lcd. I think I might stick with the beseler and deal with a smaller screen. My camera is back at the dorm so I will update this with pictures soon. All I need to pick up is some lexan and begin to build my enclosure. I am using 1/2 inch birch plywood, it looks really nice and will stain really well in the end. Cheers

I got some hardboard from the depot. It will be pretty simple to cut two rectanglular frames, put the fresnel in between them and bolt them tightly closed. This is how I plan to do each fresnel. For the lcd I will do something similar although I will make a small place for the circuit boards to sit so the ffcs arent stressed.

I built a bracket similar to fly crj's to hold to lamp horizontal with easy adjustments.

Once I get my fresnels and lcd framed I will measure everything and begin cutting for the enclosure. I also got drawer sliders today to use with my focusing mechanism. I will edit my posts with pictures soon.

So is there an issue with me using a standard spst light switch and then running that to everything? Or do I need a dpst for sure. Any suggestions on where I can get a thermostat for my fans? Neither home depot or lowes had DTK-SP Single Pole thermostats or attic fan thermostats that I saw. Do I need the dpst to complete the circuit strictly for the fans and thermostat? I just dont see why I can't attach multiple leads to the same switch. Thanks

SPST should work fine.
If you want, you can buy the Power Entry Module from LL that includes the DPST and a Power Entry Port: http://www.lumenlab.com/estore/home.php?ca...on=0&page=2
If you can't find a thermostat locally, you can purchase one from TESCORP's website. Just Google using the keywords TESCORP and thermostat.
If you can't get a thermostat, then you might want to use two SPST switches so that you can turn off the lamp and LCD while continuing to let the fans run to cool down the box after using it.

tescorp said shipping was like 28 dollars :/ but I found one on ebay and ordered it. Neat-o

So I cut my 550 and 220 fresnel lenses to the proper size, slightly larger than the lcd and framed them with hardboard. I then extended the ffc on my lcd using the 8 inch extension and zif connector from digikey. I will begin to build the enclosure as soon as this week of classes are over. I also have all of my wiring done, messy, but done. The thermostat and fans work great. I couldnt resist propping everything up and testing:D





The picture was readable and focused, it was just a google page because I didnt have the lcd properly framed yet for a real test seeing as how stuff wasnt aligned properly.



Apparently my dog didn't really care that I was making progress.

I am not sure how I am going to frame the lcd. I am thinking about a similar frame that holds the lcd with pressure but I dont know about that. Any suggestions? Also, is there any way to extend the cord that connects the controller and the panel?

Ill let you know when my enclosure is built

Enclosure is cut and ready to assemble, I will hop on that and my focus box on friday. Then it is just fitting everything in the box and aligning. I know that I will have to make a few trips to home depot for random screws and such. Any suggestions on getting the best alignment with the fresnels, triplet, panel, and arc? Its all straight down the middle correct?

Yep - everything needs to be centered for best results.
You can maybe put some scotch tape on your fresnels and LCD (corner to corner) with a line drawn on it in marker and use a laser lever to sight through the triplet to the arc. If you do this, you might want to draw the line on the tape prior to placing it one the LCD/fresnels. Hmmm... or maybe use thread? I dunno - it was just an idea.

is there a disadvantage to having the fresnel be to big compared to the lcd? I know its supposed to be slightly bigger but is an inch on each side, top and bottom, to big?

And can I just use any heat resistant black paint for the inside? spray paint or brush on? just checking

Went to lowes got some screws, a countersink bit, a looooong brass hinge for the top along with a friction holder thing and some heat resistant spray paint. Also got some wood filler and english chestnut stain. It should look real nice once shes finished. Time to go back to studying differential equations...More work will be done after this test tomorrow

So I think the reflector I have is to small, I guess I wil have to go bowl shopping sometime this weekend to, that can always be added later.


I was wondering if the distance between the lcd and the projection lense was to the middle of the lense or the back edge or the front edge? Thanks for any input!

Ok, got it "finished" just need to seal a few light leaks and figure out how to solve my dark corner problem :/ Any suggestions for dark corners? I noticed my buhl 18 triplet is inset about 3 inches in the lens body on the back. Is this normal? It seems like it would restrict the light but I am not sure.

I don't have a reflector yet, this will just increase brightness, right? not the dark corners?

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I will post some I took with my dslr finally once my brother is done with the card reader computer.

The lcd looks great and 720pish. Plays xbox well and I got a nice component to vga transcoder so that I can hook up my my wii.

Here are some shots...







Wiring mess?








And finally...




So I have darkcorners...Is this because of my lamp being mounted vertical?

I need to get some felt to seal off light leaks and then I am pretty much finished once I get the corners fixed. Cheers!

Adjust , adjust , adjust.

Try moving the lamp forwards/backwards. Then the fresnels.

It's a matter of spending some time and fine tuning everything.

dark corners are improved. I ordered a norpro reflector so that should definately help.




Sorry but I dont have a tripod here :/ maybe I can work on a way to hold it steadier


Hmm so I just noticed my 220 fresnel is spaced an inch away from the lcd, would decreasing this distance be a good idea?

Looks good!

The rear fresnel should be no less than 10mm from the LCD.
I would recommend having it no further than 30cm away. Typically, 15 - 20mm is the sweet spot.

Maybe I will just wait to tweak it until my norpro comes I got the 1.5 qt norpro to fit my big bulbbbb. I am going to have to cut a notch in this I believe, is this correct?

Thanks for the support! I can't get my topic description to change haha. Editing the first post does not give me the option haha. Atleast its not a lie, my parts are ordered and received and put together.

Shame on you for thinking that a vertical bulb would be the cause of your dark corners They actually help quite a bit in my opinion and I see further in your plog you found the right distance for the lamp. A reflector would be a great addition as you will soon find out.

its currently being stained and polyd, will post a finished picture once its all dry and back together and then when I get my reflector

If I were to change to unsplit setup, would any of the distances change? If the benefit is not that great or if it would be a pain I will leave it but I realized that I do not need keystone correction and heard that unsplit is better. Is it better lighting, sharper? Also, the picture is sharp but difficult to focus to be perfectly sharp, what could come into play with focus and sharpness.

Unsplit should be a little sharper. But yes you would need to "tweak" the distances a bit.

I had to move my lamp a bit and of course the fresnels get moved.

What contributes to the focus and sharpness. It seems to be off by a hair but if I can fix it I will

also is there a chance my lamp is a few millimeters low? I will try raising it up with a washer or two as well and see how that looks.

Added the washers (nuts) and it looks pretty much the same, maybe slightly improved. Now I am thinking about the screen. I am thinking stretched blackout cloth with a black border. I am not sure if I want to do this or simply purchase a cheap screen from tigerdirect. The price may be a little more but the quality and ease will be on par with the boc. Is this right of me to assume? If my monitor does 16:10 should I take that into consideration because most manual pulldown screens are 16:9. This would leave some blank space on the sides of the screen, would this effect anything? If I built my own I could make it 16:!0. Any suggestions are welcome and encouraged Thanks in advance

What really determines the size of your projected screen is how far away the projector can be.
If your projector will always remain in the same spot, set it up and measure the size of the projection. If it fits within the border of a retail screen, go ahead and buy it. If not, build.
If you have the ability to move the projector around, then you can buy the screen (or make one) for whatever size you desire.

Is it ok if there is some empty space on the screen? I don't want the screen to be less useful with the lack of borders directly on the edge of the screen


PS: Im glad to see people click view new posts as much as i do. Damn I need more people to post so I have more to read! If someone told me I couldnt go on lumenlab right now I would cry and be so bored.

The screen won't be less useful if it's lacking black borders. The reason for the black borders is to help absorb stray light at the edges. This causes to colors (and blacks) to have more "pop".

bah so frustrated! my Norpro 1.5 qt mixing bowl came....flat bottom with about a 3 inch diameter. Does anyone have an extra norpro I can buy from them? I am frustrated haha. They must have changed their model

I happen to be driving to long island tomorrow and apparently there is an ikea there so maybe I will just pick up the Blanda bowl for now. Woo. The 8 inch one would be ideal right?

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50057254

Just swapped the fresnel and lcd so I am now unsplit. It didnt require much adjusting, my focus box is big enough to work with either setup. The light looks better now, not sure why but the corners seem less noticable. The sharpness was improved I think (could always be a case of the this is how it should work so of course it looks better all in my head syndrome). Is cooling similar for unsplit? I have the air channel on the top going between the fresnels now so hopefully the lcd is still kept cool. We will see. Moved my thermostat so that its reflector ready. I think there are more pieces of electrical tape in there than I would hope but thats only until I am done adjusting (like that will end). I think I just need to take some time and enjoy it

So I got a transcoder that supports sync on green? All I know is that it will work with all components that I throw at it.



I went to ikea yesterday and got a perfect reflector. Here is a shot with it installed...




It is a perfect half sphere, just had to cut the notch and it works great. I can easily see the image with all of the lights in my basement on, which is many in ceiling lights.

Here is my current unsplit setup:




I am already planning on a vertical build. The area it is going to be in will be small for the size it is now and a vertical will be perfect. I simply need a mirror and to flip her vertical right The lcd would be oriented differently but everything else would be the same correct? Also, what should temps be like near my lcd?

My fuse just popped for the first time, it was in front of the reflector so it was getting some serious heat. If I move this to somewhere cooler (in front of a fan) will all be ok? What exactly is this fuse for, to keep the electricals safe from a surge or heat?

where did you get the transcoder from and how much did it cost.

I got a KD-VTCA3 Transcoder from ebay. MSRP used to be around 300 dollars. I got it for 60. It is a great transcoder because of the sync on green support which some devices might have a problem with for other transcoders. If you are simply using a game console, any cheap transcoder should work and support most resolutions

So the steel bowl worked for you, that's good. I suspect though that your heat also went up. The issue with these steel reflectors is that it acts as a heat sink when placed around the arc and when not cooled properly contains more heat that could affect everything around it. Just my opinion, I noticed you placed your fans on the lower area of the box with the air running thru your fresz's and the lcd down to the lower area as well. This is missing the source of the heat altogether which is the arc and in this case your reflector as well. You could plan to add 2 more fans higher at the rear for air to draw pass the lamp engine but this will add to more light leaks…or…. you could place some sort of deflector behind the engine to channel the air at least pass the lamp. Again, just a suggestion.

See a quick drawing below to see what I was describing.

BTW, as the steel bowl heats up so does it tarnish faster which you will find yourself loosing reflection requiring you to remove and polish it often.

Click to view attachment

Thanks! I should figure something out that is simple, just adding another fan up top will help cooling obviously and shouldnt be to hard. I think the breaker was just in the ray of heat opposed to being properly mounted.


So I already placed my 3dlens order for a large 330fl fresnel and got a standard triplet off of the trading post. I am going to cut my box down and use this setup in a coffee table much like mooses. This is the most practical use of my projector and I cant wait to get started/finished. Not to many modifications have to be made other than a shorter box. I think I will just jigsaw it because it will be inside a table anyways.

After spending the last several weeks researching this stuff, I just picked up the same 15.4" monitor off eBay for my first attempted projector build.

I too was looking at getting the FFC extension from digi-key.
The cable I am currently looking at is: http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dk...e=HFF-20U-06-ND
Which part numbers did you end up purchasing?

Also, would you mind measuring the size of the actual lcd screen for me?

WM10242-ND this is the extension ffc
WM7710CT-ND this is the zif clamp


Sorry but I cant measure the panel due to it being at my house and me being at school. Just wait to receive it to build a frame for it then go off of that for the enclosure I havent had any problems with the monitor yet and am very happy! Stripping of it was very simple, just more tape in there than I would expect. I used the metal frame it was in along with a wooden frame to hold the lcd. Its held in with glue on the edges and the ffcs are supported with a bunch of hot glue. Any questions just ask!

I am converting FROM a pro setup to a standard setup which is funny to me but for the coffee table to work this is what I have to do. I am simply going to cut down the front and put in the new front panel with shower drain triplet holder, and the standard triplet. Then replace the front fresnel with one hanging on a dowel and it will be good to go!

Heh,, I got the cheap screen from tiger direct on sale for 110 ,,check my plog and you will see it.. pics. suck,, I go 16-9 all the time and it fits perfectly in screen ,, when they broadcast 16-9 I flip it to 4-3 then it fills screen up again.That ikea bowl does it have a flat abottom , i got one from there and it was flat bottom , i have been looking for a new one .. i have same bulb (or close to it) as you.. I also had to put fan on side to draw more air out both 120v.

The reflector I am using does not have a flat bottom and is a "double boiler insert". My other option was the popular blanda bowl which has a slight flat spot if I remember correctly.

Thanks! That 8" cable is going to work better than the 6"

Now I just have to find another $20 worth of stuff to not have to pay the $5 handling fee.

Thanks,, I have been to Ikea numerous times and I cant stand following those arrows to get to the general area , I will try and look again , this weekend maybe ,, , I have been looking for those double ones ,but havent really found one , keep up the build , you will be satisfied with end result..

Yea that store drove me nuts haha, I found it in cookwares in with other stainless steel pots, it had its own space for it. Just snapped the handle off and made my notch. The picture is already amazing, I need to post recent screen shots...

That is one cool (and disturbing) avatar image, serisman.
Did you put that together yourself?

Unfortunately my Photoshop skills are no where near good enough to put something like that together.

Instead, I shamelessly stole this image from www.humandescent.com

I do have a dog whose face/head looks almost identical, however, which is part of the reason why I like the image so much.

By the way, the animal in the picture is called a 'Pengolf'