SO. I am posting this mainly for everyone's amusement, and also as a sort of introduction before I start my own PLOG. I have been using a used overhead projector I bought over the summer as a projector now for a few months. This worked great, except for the strange electrical problems I have been having recently. New bulbs were sometimes burning out the first time I turned them on! I decided that I wouldn't pay for bulbs like that anymore, and it was time to find another alternative.
The end result was that I bought the lumenlab electronic ballast and bulb. I have been testing it out, let it run for a while and get to its full brightness, but I was not happy with the result. Far to dim. What I decided was the problem was that the light path needed to be fixed. So I began trying to find the optimal bulb position. After a few minutes I thought about perhaps just placing the bulb on the bottom of the projector. Thought to myself that I might be able to save myself a lot of trouble that way. I stepped out of the room with the bulb running, still clamped in place where I last had it positioned. I came back after about 5 minutes when I had looked up the distance the lamp was supposed to be from the collimator fresnel. Can you imagine what happened in the mean time?
During the few minutes I was away the hot lamp had preceded to begin melting the fresnel! LL 400w lamp 1, OHP 0. Game over. So I now get to build a new projector from scratch, something I was planning to do anyway but NOT while I am up at college! So for those who sat through this short story, I have a question. Do you think my bulb might still be saved? I think I might be able to turn it on and then wipe off the melted fresnel with a cloth. Any suggestions? This place still smells pretty bad, I think I might wait a few hours before trying anything new.
P.S- And what does it mean by advanced members only can start PLOG's? Because I will start building my projector now. I have come to love my old one too much. I have been doing research since I built the first one, once I figure out what I am going to do to construct the box up here I think I this thing will be set.
-ZJ