After two weekends of work with my Dad we finally finished my new Lumenlab Projector. I used the Techbench 15" Samsung tv/pc Monitor and I'm very pleased with the results. Let me know what you think.

Right hand side controls.

Front.

Left hand side.

Left hand side controls.

Back.

Image removed by MMc because this is a gallery of results, not a PLOG.

Image removed by MMc because this is a gallery of results, not a PLOG.

Image removed by MMc because this is a gallery of results, not a PLOG.

Nice, very clean (The spray paint around the controls could be cleaned up a slight bit though) im not sure if youre finished posting as it says you are on teh same topic I am. Will you be posting results soon?

looks like a clean design, i like it. how does it look on the wall?

LOTR, Fellowship Of The Rings.

Beautiful , I see you werent finished posting. What camera did you use to take the pictures? Also what components did you use?

LOTR, Fellowship Of The Rings.
Gandolf. I took this picture while it was playing so that is why his mouth is a little blurry. If anyone is curious I'm usung an Olympus 2.1MP digital camera.

PS2 using a PS2 S-Video cable. This game is called "Beyond Good And Evil".

Ok, my last picture. This is from the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" with the kitchen lights on.

Looks great, man!

Yes, that is a bedsheet that I have used for all of the pictures. My girlfriend said it was her best sheets........as I stapled it to the molding . The only thing that I'm trying to figure out is that it seems to look a little yellow compaired to the laptop (small picture). Is this normal?

As far as parts.

Lumenlab; Bulb, Basic lens kit, Mogul socket.
Techbench; Monitor with TV inputs and wireless remote.
Home depot/Lowes; Alot of misc stuff.
The cooling fan is by Evercool (100cfm and 23db).
The electronic balllast is from Ebay, Brain linked us to it.
I also used an AC to DC conversion board that powers the fan.

All in all it cost me arounf $630.00 but it's got all the bells and whistles. I will say that the N6 has a much better Cable picture from what I've seen here.

Nice job, it looks like you've been doing your homework. Have you been monitoring your panel temps at all?

Time for a DIY screen.

Get some BO cloth. The light is shining thru the thin sheet and that colored wall behind it is bouncing the light back thru the sheet and giving it a tint also.


peace

Man that thing is bright! Easely watchable during the day.
Good job.


peace

Nice work, inside and out. It's good to see the projected image and the computer monitor in the same frame. Gives a sense of reference.

[QUOTE=GLAPPE,Nov 3 2004, 08:51 PM] Yes, that is a bedsheet that I have used for all of the pictures. My girlfriend said it was her best sheets........as I stapled it to the molding . The only thing that I'm trying to figure out is that it seems to look a little yellow compaired to the laptop (small picture). Is this normal? =QUOTE]

The Ushio may be a little warm but I think that the color temp on your laptop may be a little too blue.

Solution: Stop looking at your laptop

DeathRay64,

Yes I did alot of research here in the forums before I started the work. Many thanks goes out to Brain all you guys on this forum for all the information that is available here. I have been monitoring the temp and that one fan just BARLY doesn't make the cut. Using a grill thermometer like the one Brain used in the plans it reads in the mid 80's for about an hour the slowly climbs to the mid to high 90's. I have ordered another Evercool fan to take care of that problem. I will have to mount it vertically (to the left) of the current fan. Unless i totally redo the back and put them side by side at the top.

Oh BTW, the box is painted all black now.

Is the width of your cooling slot to spec? It looks a little narrow in the pics but I can't be sure.

The air intake for cooling is 1/4th wide and almost 13" long. I just read the PDF again it it says it should be 3/8th wide..........I'm 1/8th too short. Ill open it up a little more and see if that helps.

Looks really great. Your cooling slot is too narrow, try for 3/8 or 1/2. Should solve your problem. Also are you using the Ushio lamp?

Nice work. I love the clean layout! I started my first projections on a sheet as well. Get some black out cloth and it will really pump up your picture.

Brain,

Yes I'm using the Ushio that I purchased from you. I'll enlarge the slot this weekend to see if that helps with the temp.

You will also get better results if your screen (whatever material) is streched over a frame. Pick up some:
blackout cloth
some cheap wood from lows
picture hainging stuff

Also adding a black edge to the screen tricks you eye into thinking the contrast is better

Rick

Hey GLAPPE, nice job. I love the idea of taking the picture with the laptop screen in view. Gives you a real perspective on the brightness and colors. Someone could cheat and leave their camera on a long exposure making the screen look bright when it isn't so the laptop gives a good reference. I figured that I would do something similar when I finish my projector. I may just have a tv or monitor in the picture for reference.

P.S. I suggest more people do a similar thing for reference as a newcomer I was very curious as to what kind of brightness I could expect.

Posted deleted by JJ - E-ballasts are in the store
Thanks
John

I think a shot with the laptop screen with direct frontal view might be a better reference. As we know, LCD's can look dim if viewed from an angle.

Nothing but beautiful images. Great job with your Projector. And the input about the digital camara was very helpful. I need to get one. Now I know what the are capable of I can make a better decision. My advantix camara sucks, you can tell by my pics I took of my projector. I had it since 1998.

Yea good point. My whole thought behind pointing it out is that there is a reference. So yea having the laptop screen point toward the camera and have the camera more in line with the big screen to get the full brightness of that as well.

Another thing people could do is have a screen shot during the day also to show how bright it is.


peace

SIMJEDI/TuxLux,

I'll see what I can do to get a comparison picture between the laptop and the projection from directly in front for you guys (Daylight picture included).

One thing that you have to do is make sure you calibrate your picture to what you throw onto.

For doing this you should use AVIA and Digital Video Essentials.


peace

I also love it. I can't wait to start on mine. I know this whole site is about having to only spend around $500, but looks like you spent less than I thought I wud have to and still got an awesome picture. I have been reading the forums for about a month now(still haven't bought the guide ). All these pics make me more and more excited to start!

AVIA is amazing. It did wonders for my image, without making any internal ajdustments to the projector.

Hi, Would it be possible to see a picture of your focusing mechanism. Excelent build on your projector, just how I hope mine will look!

Tricky,

Here are some picures of my 2 sided focus box.

pic 2

pic 3

pic 4

Hey man..just want to say that im starting my project soon...and there is one single thing that made me buy the guide and go ahead with this...not the ads, not the 'consumer satisfaction', but that picture of Fellowship on the first page...that looks simply and utterly beautiful...great job...basically I'm gonna try and build your EXACT projecter..thanks for the pics..peace man

Hey I just want to ask you...uhh so your lcd was that samsung one you mentioned...the contrast ratio was like half what is recommended...you didnt run into any quality issues there...apparently...or did you?...any help would be great.

First of all, great job on your projector, it looks great.

I was reading through this whole thread and was wondering if you could update us on whether widening the cooling slot was enough to solve the heat problem? I'm looking at an Evercool as well and was hoping to be able to get by with one rather than two fans.

Thanks and congrats again,

-Greg

Dude i hope you dont get like p'ed off at all these questions..but I just want to know how you set the fresnels and the lcd...like how did you physically place them so they would stay placed...any help would be great...thanks again

Hyphin',

Not P’ed off at all. I love the praise that my monitor is getting. Thank you for your complements. I bought the Samsung because it had the yellow coaxial (RCA), s-video-, and TV tuner built in to the monitor and I was trying to get around buying a N6 for an extra $160.00. The contrast ratio is 300:1 or 330:1 for this monitor and this is the lowest contrast ratio the Guide would recommend. The colors are bright and sharp as you can see from the pictures. The only think that I have noticed is that the whites get washed out when there is ALOT of white on the screen due to the low contrast ratio. I’m VERY PLEASED with this screen but the BENQ in superior that most use here. This was the pre stripped monitor with all the inputs and no FCC issues at all for about $280.00 including shipping. If you can I would recommend using a monitor with a higher contrast ratio but as you can see from my pictures 330:1 is not bad!