Hey Gang,

I've been on the site for about a year, and I've learned an incredible amount from all of you. I don't know where I'd be without lumenlab! The forums have been an invaluable resource over my last year of projector building shenanigans.

My project last summer was a straight shooter 14.1 wxga build, using a 14.1" digipix lcd, standard LL optics, and a 400w MH.

I finished it early last fall, and have been enjoying it ever since. Most first projects aren't without some complaints though. Specifically, I never really finished the enclosure, the throw was too short for me, and I didn't have any inputs other than VGA, so as awesome as 720p was, I rarely got to use it outside of apple HD movie trailers since my only HD source was a ps3 which I couldn't connect (no VGA, and I had a really bad experience throwing money away on a bogus transcoder that refused to accept progressive signals!). With all that in mind, I decided to set aside some money to re-build the projector this summer.


Here is my current parts list for the conversion. Most of my new parts are from other forum members in the trading post:

-Semi-Finished straight shooter enclosure made of out 3/4" MDF (Good lord, it is heavy!!!)

-400w MH

-Magnetic Ballast

-12v 120mm Fan

-LL Pro Reflector

-220mm Pro Fresnel (in the mail) - $10 (Disparu)

-550mm Fresnel - ~$40 shipped (3Dlens) That shipping cost was painful!

-18" beseler - $57 (simp1yamazn) has some minor damage, but I knew about it already. Seeing the price beselers are going for on ebay, I wish I'd been a little more patient, and gotten a lens in better condition.. we'll see if it ends up being an issue.

-15.4" Sharp WUXGA (in the mail) - $115 (Disparu)

-MST Controller (in the mail) - $100 (Disparu)

Total cost for1080p upgrade (so far): $327. It should stay that way unless I break something.


And here's what I need to do to have this bad boy up and running:

-Strip LCD
-Extend and finish the case.
-Build fresnel and lcd frames.
-FINALLY build a focus mechanism. (the last one was laughable)
-Figure out a way to access all the inputs on the MST board.
-Maybe install a thermostat for the fan? (currently it just runs whenever the pj is plugged in)

-Last but not least CALIBRATE, CALIBRATE, CALIBRATE!!! I was way too lazy about this last time.=

Thats all I've got for right now. I'll post a progress update with pics tomorrow since I got some good work done today. I just can't find the card reader for my camera.

Thanks for looking!

Ok, quick update:

My lcd, controller and fresnel all arrived yesterday, and are in great shape. Thanks disparu!

I threw together a quick mock up, and everything is looking really good. I don't seem to have any noticeable focus issues with the beseler and 15.4" lcd. I'm experiencing some vignetting, but I think most of it can be fixed with a little calibration. I haven't messed around with any of that yet.

I'm going out of town tomorrow until sunday, but I'm going to measure everything more carefully and build the fresnel and lcd frames early next week.

After that, all I need to do it extend the enclosure (AGAIN). I made a big goof, by designing the enclosure for exactly the focal length of the beseler without actually calculating how far away it would need to be. I totally forgot there was a difference =/.. It won't be a big inconvenience though, and everything should be coming together soon.

(Sorry for not having pictures yet, I've taken a ton, but I still can't find my CF card reader. I might just go buy a new one next week.)