17" lcd 15.4" wsxga
400w sylvania bulb 400w LL 6500k bulb
sylvania 400w Magnetic ballast 400w LL Electronic Ballast
makeshift reflector LL pro reflector
S15 LL triplet lens
LL pro 220 collimator fresnel
3dLabs HighRes 330 field fresnel
angle iron frame with sheet metal siding 3/4" plywood angular hass
-

I've been browsing this site for a while now and have wanted to make my own projector, at first I was aiming for full 1080P but the cost was just too great, so I decided to just make something as cheap as possible while keeping my options open for future upgrades.

My bro put an ad into a local online recycling group looking for a lcd around 15", 2 days later (today) we got a bite, a 17" lcd with what she believes is a dead backlight! Awesome! It's only 10mins away so we went and picked it up.


Benq T705

I hooked it up to the laptop to test if i could get a dim image or anything, no luck, no picture at all, but the power light did glow green.

Here's a rear view, only 5 phillip screws on the edges, 2 for the stand, the stand takes quite a bit of effort to slide out.


Took a butter knife to the edge to pop the case open.

The power input board and vga board came apart and out very easy.


Here's a looksy at the lcd, as you can see the FCC circuit board thing is very flexible.

Shot of the button panel.


LCD face down.

Next we hooked it all back up to the laptop to test if it even worked, i was worried from the earlier test.
It works!

Ill add a post to the compatibility thread saying this monitor strips perfectly!

Next I'm gonna order some Fresnel's and a light+ballast, then I need to figure out what Triplet Lens I need.
Tomorrow I think I'm gonna buy some wood and start planning some cuts

Thanks for reading, more coming soon

Im thinking about the anti-glare on my lcd, should i buff it to a shine? or should i strip it?
Any insight would rock.

IF I were you I would definitely go with the AG strip. I tried it and it was simple. I used normal tap water and bounty paper towel. Kept it moist by drizzling a little water on it every 1/2 hour. In 2 1/2 hours I just placed a knife at the side and pressed inwards the edge popped up and it came off in one pull. It was actually the easiest think i did so far. It helps to remember that there are a few layers on top of the LCD screen so be careful you don't want to pull up any besides the first layer. Again I must re-iterate this was so simple that my initial fears were unjustified.

I used sketchup to make my designs I cannot really express how much sketchup helps to virtualise the projector especially if you use custom parts. It really helps in lining up the parts and ensuring that the lenghts are correct. If I didn't use it i am sure that my bulbs arc would have been off center.

thanks for the reply
i may just try that ag removal now, ill have to see how peoples experiences were with BenQ panels
oh yes i love sketchup and have been using it for this, maybe ill post a shot later today

sketchup pic
only thing correct in this pic is the frame, will be made from angle iron

As is often recommended, it's best to wait until your projector is finished before trying an AG strip or polish.
However, there is a reflective layer (also seen here) on the back (backlight side) of a lot of LCD panels that may have to be removed to allow more light through. If your LCD has the layer(s), it would be a good idea to remove it.

i just tried some really expensive aluminum/mag wheel polishing compound on the screen, it seemed to work pretty good so ill leave it now till i get this thing together
there was no reflective layer on the panel fortunately

im a little worried about damaging the polarizer or having one of the unlucky non-permeable AG layers, so im gonna avoid water soaking

did more sketchup tonight, i have to wait till monday to buy stuff for the case from town


all to scale now, 1.5" border around the lcd may shrink after i figure out a better way to mount

found a 400watt sylvania ballast( $80 ) and lamp ( $25 ), really good deal i think (Canadian)
also grabbed some angle iron for the frame and hope to start making it tomorrow

i test fired the bulb and it seemed to work fine, looks very white even though its rated 4000K color

1 Questions though, the ballast Capacitor holds a huge charge i would guess, how am i suppose to deal with that when im fiddling with it? should i ground it or what? just a little worried about working in a case with a giant charged capacitor

oh another question, heres the lamp http://www.goodmart.com/products/33378.htm

it says its universal burn, but also seems to say it will perform better positioned Vertically, how should i position it?

edit: i found some info, looks like vertical provides best performance so ill try and work that into the design

finished the frame, its quite rough but should be fine, it also weighs a ton, maybe ill drill some holes out

camera is unavailable atm, ill try and get a pic soon though

You mentioned angle iron - why not use angled aluminum?
You should be able to find it at Home Depot.

yeah aluminum would be ideal, im actually used to working with it anyways, but i couldn't find any very cheap, the angle iron was cheap

Its steve holy! I know this guy. What a coincidental happening we both have fresh plogs!

finished most of the lcd mount today, was more of a pain than i thought it was gonna be

received my field fresnel today from 3dlens, 8 days from Taiwan to Canada, pretty fast!
its the high resolution #F330, i tried to burn some stuff outside(couldnt find any ants) once i found the distance and correct side i could start a fire on dry wood nearly instantly..

just ordered a lens from LL, cant wait!

all the parts have now arrived, i quickly threw it all together and it seems like most of my distances are very close.
in a half lighten room i could get a faint 150" ish projection, seems like a good sign
also i got ahold of some misc metal halides for free, one ended up being an EYE 400w, it lit nearly instant and was crazy bright compared to my current bulb, i may have to use it, haha

right now its basically held together with tape, so next i have to put it together correctly
ill try to get some pics going asap

i have the mock up pretty well tuned now, and the room quite dark
im trying to get my sis to take a pic right now

sin city

Fifth Element

Iron Man

300

Misc

the pictures seem right color wise brightness etc.. other than the blurriness, they are actually really sharp, ill have to try some different settings to capture the true quality

oh and yes the image is spilling over the sides of the screen by about a foot on each side right now, ill fix that later

also i still have some light leaking from the projector itself washing out the image slightly

EDIT: also also: these were 720p sources

i think i lucked out with this sylvania bulb, the color is pretty awesome, the Lilu shots seem a bit blue though even though its rated 4000k

to bad its raining today, i was stoked to do more work

slowly refining this thing, partly painted black on the inside, and now roof mounted

sorry for the lack of pics of the projector itself, its so freaking fing ugly i think im subconsciously avoiding it, lol

ouch i think i just killed my lcd
i was fiddling the controller board and ribbon cable that connects to the lcd and the screen suddenly turned off, i may have shorted something or i dunno, lame

guess im looking for a new panel..

i found the problem, i somehow knocked off a small resistor or something from the controller board, it was only about 1mm long so i couldnt find it, but i tried shorting the gap to see if it would work anyway, didnt work

so my lcd is definitely dead

sorry to hear about your lcd. how was the eveness of the lighting? can you tell us what distances you have between the fresnels and the lcd?

Also when you place the 220 fresnel did you place it at 220mm from the center of the arc?

i using non split and having uneven lighting on the left and right sides.

thanks for the reply, was getting slow in here

the light was very even, no noticeable darker corners/sides at all in person, i did have to move the lamp around a bit
i can measure and check tomorrow but i think i had the lamp just a bit further than 220mm from the fresnel

rear Fresnel to lcd was very short, 10-15mm
lcd to front Fresnel was around 30-40mm

i would recommend making your bulb position adjustable so you can adjust it and get rid or any dark spots

i had my lamp loosely bolted in place so i could actually slide it backwards and forward while the projector was still on

I just did another test this time i held the lamp in my hand vertically and floaded it around until i got the most even lighting. The setup test for this was split with the field fresnel about 60mm from the lcd. I immediately noticed a darker overall image and bluryness in general. I could not get a sharp image as in unsplit configuration. I think perhaps 60mm is too far from the lcd. But to my surprise i still could not get perfect eveness. I also did the test unsplit and hand holding the lamp vertically i moved it around slowly and carefully trying to get the most even image but it never got there. Im convinced now that this is as good as it gets.

image sharpness is quite different from dark spots

try flipping your triplet/fresnel

so i got some new parts shipping, including a new lcd panel

15.4" Samsung LTN154P1-L02 wsxga panel, 16:10 1680x1050
MST controller
LL pro reflector to add some lumens (i was running without any reflector)
LL E-ballast and T15 Lamp (i had a generic bulb/magnetic ballast, gonna try LL setup and see if it improves)

Not sure what you mean but i have flipped the triplet with no improvement. Flipping the fresnel? You mean making the rings face the lamp? Thats not going to work is it? I thought the groves need to face each other? That is the only way they work is it not?

Actually, since i hand held the lamp and moved it around im certain its not fresnel positioning and more the uneveness of the lamp and the inverse square law light falloff. That is, the arc is to colimator fresnel is 220mm in the center but on the sides its about 250mm. this calculates to very little about 1/3 stop loss. I`m seeing about 1/2 to 3/4 stop loss.

The previous projector I build I did not have this uneven problem and i think what helped was the 6 inch salad bowl i used.
I cut the shaft of the lamp out on either side so the bulb drops into it. I think I remember not only more light (and much more heat) but also more eveness. I think the 6 inch span turns the arc into a a 6 inch wide arc more or less instead of the 35mm it is now. So, i think im going to hunt one of these bowls down again and try it. If i can`t find the bowl, I may just do entire back with a shiny aluminum curve ramp sort of thing. The sliced coke can might try first actually.

I know people already mentioned the smaller arc the better but if the light hits the fresnel darker on the sides nothing in hell is going to make it more even unless you play with this somehow.
I realize now the best way to do this is just using a longer FL fresnel. I wish i could test this theory . I would pop the 330 as the colimator but my other 220mm fresnel would probably not work with the 320 triplet

yeah groves facing towards the lcd, just suggesting in case you had not checked

building a new enclosure out of some 5/8" plywood i found in perfect shape

something like that, kinda like an angular Hass


Cut side panels, im taking my time this try, i hope this case will be more permanent
45 degree cuts to make it more slick

progress! damn it was nice today

i cut up all the parts before i even knew how i was gonna assemble it together, i had to get the correct angles for all the cuts from sketchup, they turned out perfect. everything is just falling perfectly into place, i wont need much filler on the edges to block light

i think for the removable top im gonna use those little angle brackets but with bolts on the lid so i can just unscrew and take it off, with some soft foam around the edges to seal up the light

im so happy with how this is turning out

edit: i cut those sexy fan holes with a dremel+ circle attachment, dremels pwn!

lol, in the 4'th image you can see the old box, ugly heavy pos

been reading up more on pre-condensers for the light engine.
anyone know how they work with 15.4" widescreen panels, and or what specific lens works well?
or is the 15.4 too large to really benefit from condensing?

got more stuff done, it looks like ill have everything finished by the time the lcd and controller arrives

got some high heat paint for the inside of the case

also i grabbed some nice drawer slides for 10bucks, they are really smooth

with them i got a nice focus slide going, it can be moved up-down vertically, rotated for keystone and slides in and out, it is a very tight friction fit, but still quite smooth, i hope it works well because i hated my other solutions
cut the triplet hole with the dremel again, and test mounted it

still need to make fresnel and lcd frames
cut air intake
cut switch, power and video input slots
paint inside
mount bulb and ballast
figure out how and mount reflector once it arrives
mount fans, shroud and intake filter

recieved all my new parts, tested the lcd, all working

now i just gotta get this together in the new case, i think ill skip the paint for now and slap it together tomorrow

also ill get some pics of the new parts

so stoked, posting from the projector right now

the untuned brightness level seems as bright as my previous setup, the panel still has antiglare and a reflective layer intact, reflector is not inside and the box is pissing alot of light
this panel must be very transparent and or, this new LL t15 bulb pumps more lumens

pics asap