Hey all, I'm pretty sure I'll be alone in this one for a wee bit, but if there are any of you out there I though it would be handy to discuss parts locations etc, similar to the other forums.
Managed to find some compatible monitors on trade me, still in the bidding process but will let you know how much I managed to score em for.
As for lamps etc I have really good discounts through my electrical wholesaler VIA my work.

As a fellow New Zealander I thought I had better respond. I haven't decided if I will go with this project but I am certainly giving it much thought. Of course finding the bits at the right price may be a problem but I am looking like you.

I have found a CMV CT529A or CT522 monitor available for NZD299+GST which is not a bad price. Interested?

Cool, there are a couple of us in here
I Managed to score a Dell E153FP off trade me for $320, actually dont think thats much less than the *New* price but its not very old anyhow. Going to make a start this weekend, will be awaiting Lens's for a little while me thinks. Where abouts in NZ are you guys? Im in Auckland -> Takanini if anyone wants to come take part, witness the project fall underway

(If i F*$K this monitor I will definitly buy one off you)
hopefully I wont be that careless/stoned

I am in Nth Shore Auckand. I am not trying to sell you an LCD , I have just recently found one from the listed "Compatible monitor list" posted in these forums that were available locally. For the last few months I haven't been able to track anything down that was listed or at anything like the right price. Lets keep in touch and when I am a little less busy workwise I may be able to launch into this project.

Dont forget me, Im up in Whangaparaoa, Im going with a BenQ FP567 V2 for $670 (new) which im getting from my brother, waiting for the lenses to be back in stock to get them shipped over. And my mates an electrician, he says he can get me a ballast and bulb at a decent price for me.

Do either of you have any ideas for a reflector? Looks like those norpros will be out of stock for a while.

If its not too expensive I'm gonna be real lazy and have my mdf cut to spec by computer, so the finished product looks a bit nicer, and everything fits properly.

I really want to get my hands on a couple of evercool pcacs, but the closest/cheapest place I can find them is www.pccasegear.com.au but they dont ship internationally, gutted.

I've lowered my smoko intake recently so hopefully that cant f*ck things up for me

Hehe, sweet. Man those benq's are heaps aye! bet its worth the price though. Ive got my lamp, control gear, LCD, dont know about reflector? They have some good ones at JA Russels - the electrical wholesaler, may have to try some of theirs and see what results i get (we use them for work so I am able to try products out and bring them back if they are not what I'm after)
My brother in law works at Mitre 10 so he can get cheap MDF, lemme know what the price of having it machine cut costs if you manage to get a quote for it, sounds like not a bad idea.
I hope to have it up and running by Xmas, but at this rate it doesnt look too hopefull, oh wells, only time will tell.
Maybe I will haul a bit of ass this weekend and start on the box/LCD stripping?
Will keep posted

I wouldnt think cnc cutting is that expensive, as it can be done releatively fast, especially if your able to put togethor the cad files yourself.

www.routec.co.nz

I havent contacted them yet, I want to wait till I have most of my parts so I can sort out some dimensions.

If you really want them and can't find somewhere that can ship directly to NZ I could order some and ship them on to you.. I'm in Sydney, Australia.. When I last ordered PCACs from them it cost me $11AUD for delivery and Australia Post seems to think it will cost around ~$10 to ship them from here to NZ by air mail..

PM me if you're interested..

Cheers, I might just take you up on that offer, will probably send a pm tommorow, and thanks, I really appreciate it

Set back, broke my wrist today, flew off the front of a dirt bike at woodhill today, gutted

hi there I am also in New Zealand nice to see i am not by myself doing this.
I got a 12" top vision LCD, the main prob I have with it is that can't fold circiut board back on it.
I am also making one with a 7" LCD but have to get a new ribbon for it.
How have you lot found buying items over seas?

I havent bought anything from overseas, but am waiting for the australian store to have in stock the lens kits. Hopefully they are not too far away, as i'm off to Dubai in Feb, kinda wanted to have the project up and running by then but who knows lol
Where did you get the 7" LCD out of??

(I have bought other things off the internet from overseas before, usually through Paypal, never been a problem yet??)

I got it on ebay, all other parts from people on diy audio, I'm having problems with the light I got it wouldn't fire and the person (had a store on line) wasn't much help so i contacted osram and his supplier osram got in contact with impell imports here in NZ for osram, and the supplier has asked me to send the bulb as its what is stuffed, problem is cost to send to germany.
Impell donated a bulb as this is part of my school project.
other that that its been pretty good but trying to find the ribbon one place says the ribbon is $6 us but delivery $28 us has to be a cheaper way?

you would think it would be cheaper! just for a ribbon! pretty slim item really.
Pity about the lamp, has your replacement arrived? let me know how you go.
Where abouts in NZ are you?? If you are reasonably close to me we could compare results in person if we get that far lol.

I am in palmerston north

Hey guys, I'm from the North Shore. Any recommendations for someone in NZ who wants to start out on a DIY Projector project?

You can get a decent bulb and ballast from rexel in albany. I'm using the same setup as oztang65 and would highly recommend it.

Thanks for the reply Dr Lazy, what parts did you buy from Lumenlab, and what parts did you buy locally?

From lumenlab I just got the standard lens kit. Everything else you can get locally.

Hey guys, I got this reply after sending an email to Rexel...
Did any of you buy an electronic ballast from New Zealand? If so, where? If not, what did you use?

Hey all, this forum hasnt been active in a while, and Im really interested in gettin my own PJ built, but the big problem is sourcing parts. Im starting to think that NZ is not the place to be when it comes to DIY, funny that, seen as were pretty much a DIY nation. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone knew of anywhere I could source any parts from, triplet lens, fresnel lens, light source, I have a 17" LCD stripped and mdf, just need the rest!! PLEASE HELP! I live in Auckland so it should be easy enough to source parts to some extent. Thanks.

Hi NoXiouS, you're really going to have to get the fresnel lenses form the lumenlab store... that's what other NZers have done I'm pretty sure... you possibly could get a projector lens somewhere in NZ but I bought that from lumenlab too.

As for a light source I got a bulb form www.hydroponics.co.nz - I'm gonna start the project in the New Year so I'll let you know how this goes.

Hi all,

Ordered my standard lenses from LL (which are likely to be spending some time in Sunnyvale, CA - hope the weather is nice ).

Now, on to the LCD. Looking on trademe, having been to most of the computer recycling / 2nd hand places in Chch. No luck yet.

Lights - A trip to Rexel is planned, probably once my lenses start moving again. Will compare to http://www.hydroponics.co.nz/lighting.html. Does anyone think that the 175w MH will be bright enough? I'd kinda like to be able to run this off a generator

Hey Swanny, I was thinking of getting my lenses through Carpow, because he can do those and the 10.6" he also can do condensor lenses too. Im so keen keen for the smaller screen, he quoted it would be $265 US shipped (about $340 NZD), so isnt that expensive for a high def screen. As for lighting, Ive seen 400W MH control gear on trademe
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Building-renovati...on-96529947.htm
auction closes on wednesday, I dont really know if their good. Im still looking at other options, theres also this site, which has 250W bulbs for $60 and 250W ballasts for $120. Which is pretty cheap as far as I can find.
I hope all of this will be of any help.
I wouldnt know if 175W would be bright enough, I would just say youd have to check the forums and the results, Im sure theres a few with 150W setups that are pretty good, but i think it would have to have alot of tweaking.

Mark.

That one on trademe looks pretty cheap. If it's what's required. Wonder what bulbs for that would cost.

Gee with all these hydroponic suppliers for bulbs - maybe nz could produce the first projector that grows it's own tomoatoes

250w still sounds ok to me.

lol. 250W would be a better option, brightness wise, but if its power draining youre concerned about, I wouldnt have a clue I dont know a thing about wattages and amps and voltages and current and ohms, we need some tech electrician in here. Any luck finding any LCD's on trademe? I bought one off there, the guy said it had a broken backlight so I was keen, when I got it home, the backlight was fine, it was the inverter board that was stuffed, and I wouldnt have a clue where to get that fixed or where to find another controller board, oh well, it was only $50 wasted, still, could of been spent on something better.

Well after looking at the new price (sometimes more than a 19 inch) I'm going to have to work at it.

There have been a couple that would fit the bill quite nicely but I keep getting out-bid. I guess I'm going to have to up my expected price in order to get one. I'm sure that there are some broken ones out there somewhere.

Most definitely, If your really keen, I reckon if you check out some internet cafes, they might have some lying around that they couldnt be bothered to throw out or fix, there was one that closed down across the road or something, and I just saw all their stuff in a big skip, but I was too "shame" to have a look in there, Im sure I have a little dignity

Pah! - Nothing that a disguise wouldn't fix. I'd've been in there like a homeless guy

Hmmmm..... Internet cafe's. Might be worth a look.

As for trademe, there's this one but the guy wont help as to what is wrong with it:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=97346588

I went around a few places at lunch time. It seems that most internet cafes here in Chch are still using CRT monitors.... I did strike it lucky (well, maybe) at a local computer retailer. He said "here, have this. I don't know what's wrong with it."

It's a Proview 14 inch lcd that requires a 12v, 3A psu. I'll give it a test using a 12v battery when I get home tonight. Fingers crossed.

I just checked it out, he sounds like a bit of an idiot, how can you know whats wrong. It either turns on or it doesn't! It still only has a dollar on it and theres only a couple of hours to go, If you get it for $20 or less Id take a chance, even I'm keen to get in! If I don't see you bidding, I might dive in.

I plugged it in and it went bang, followed by some smoke coming out.

Probably should have checked the polarity first The polarity was wrong and the supply 220uF cap exploded. I replaced it but there doesn't seem much life in it (the standby light does go). I might have a quick go at ripping the backlight out and seeing if there's anything to be seen when shining a light thru. Otherwise it's back to the drawing board.

I know I said I know nothing about all that power stuff, but Im sure id be able to connect two positives and two negatives together! lol. Just kidding, what a bummer! Hopefully the screen still does go, If not, you could try just use it to practice removing the AG off. And then turn it into a nice little glass table.

There was no polarity indicator on the outside of the monitor. It wasn't until I took it apart I could figure it out from the polarity of the ex-capacitor.

I will attach a picture of the ex-cap when I get home.

What can happen when you hook up with the wrong polarity (no, I didn't unravel it, that was the bang sound!)
Click to view attachment

Oh yeah, that chi mei panel wasn't the best anyway as one controller board connected to two sides of the panel (meaning an adapter would be neccessary).

That would've given me a hell of a fright! So its back to the drawing board again. Real bummer, at least your getting somewhere, I'm a long way off before I can commit to building a P.J, I have a few major setbacks, 1 being I'm poor, and 2, I live in an apartment, and I have no space to build except for our little balcony, and since its getting towards winter, its wet most of the time. Oh the pains of living in the big smoke! I miss my small country town.

Hey Swanny, I don't know if you've seen this site or been to this store, but I just found it while I was browsing around for cheaper alternatives, looks like it could be a good place, never know, they might be able to order something specific in for you

www.petandgarden.co.nz

Edit: Forgot to say its located in ChCh

Thanks for the link. It looks like they only sell HPS (High pressure sodium) lamps. I'm not sure which is better, them or metal halide (I've got a small MH for mountain biking and it's white and very bright).

Im pretty sure that ive seen people using MH bulbs on HPS ballast, and I was also thinking that they must use the conversion bulbs (MH that work with HPS ballasts)

Hey Swanny, are you trying to go cheap cheap? Because I'm "trying" to go cheap, but once I have enough money, I'm going to go ahead with the 15.4" wuxga, 1080P would be heaven, especially when you look at commercial projectors that can do true 1080P, and then see their prices, it just makes me laugh, knowing I could do something just as good, and pretty much be pennies compared to the thousands that they cost.

Heres what Im hopefully going to be able to get:
Theres that guy on Trademe with the 400W control gear $90
Then theres the bulbs about $60-80 each
Then theres the 15.4" panel depending on where I get it, $400 on trademe, but the one from Carpow should be much cheaper.
Then theres the controller, which can do HDCP, but thats another issue as a guy from aussie is still trying to check this out, but he said that would cost $300 AUD which would be about $340 with shipping.
And then theres all the other random things like fressies, lens etc etc, but hopefully, it will still come in at under a grand. (WOAH) Still quite a bit of cash for the likes of me! Thats me trying to go cheap, but I dont really want a "basic" projector.

Hmmmmm...
(I think there's a thread somewhere around here that talks covers this)
(and here it is http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20426)
I *cough* already have a commercial projector. It's not 1080p tho....

Maybe if I could make a 1080p projector cheap enough..... I don't know. At this stage I plan to make a cheap cheap proj, just to see what is possible. I'm heading away, probably in a month or so. If I can stop by Singapore then I'll certainly see what is around there, although time would be a bit limited.

So far all I've got is the standard LL lenses (still stuck in Sunnyvale, hopefully picked up next week). They owe me about $105 so far.

Is that a laptop panel?

Yeah. Small Panel, High Res. Beautiful... Geeze, I sound like a "Projector Phile" or something of the sort.

Well, my mule (aka my boss) has collected the lenses. Still no LCD

For those of you interested in the 1080p controller - I am the one organizing the group buy for it - go to the Official 15.4" thread (http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15405) to find out more about it. 1080p and HDCP!

I'm in Australia - so shipping shouldn't be too much of a problem to NZ. (I'm originally from Hamilton too!)

Attention Wellington forum members:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4145831a28.html

Hmmm... 29 Sept, wonder if I could be "in the area" around then....

Picked up a Benq 15 inch panel (1024x768) yesterday on trademe, $20. It's amazing what people pay for stuff that doesn't even work properly!

Right - to lamps!

Hmmm... Just as well there's a spot close to CHCH!

http://www.eday.org.nz/how-can-i-get-involved.asp

hey swanny, long time no see, ive been inactive for a while, good ol restore my computer and internet browsr had site passwords stored so they went when i restored, tried to use the lost password but I kept getting an error, anyway long story short Im back online, still in the same place as I was before. Ive got some fans and a OHP triplet, still havent acquired a screen or light sources yet, but Im getting there. I saw that youve acquired a screen off trademe, prices for screens are slowly getting cheaper Ive noticed. So hows your screen? was there a fault with it why you got it so cheap?

cheers,
Mark