Well, with the pro lens debacle my 17 incher has been put on hold indefinitely. I'm beginning to like having the 17" monitor anyway. Will probably have to buy another monitor for the Pro projector. Anyway...back on topic.

I am finally in the process of building a projector. I'm using the 8 inch Hami for this one. I'm going too be using Lexan as the heat shield. Hopefully it will hold up. It was $9, so no big loss if it doesn't.

I have both the small vari-focal lens and the standard lens. I will try them both out and see which I like better. I still need to get some FS mirrors.

I have the monitor stripped and tested already. I need to properly frame it yet. It was pretty painless to strip. Took me about 25 minutes. As mentioned elsewhere, this panel requires a FFC extension. I have that in place already.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do for lighting yet. I am probably going to start with an OHP bulb. I'm trying to keep the cost on this projector to a minimum. Also, instant-on would be nice. If I'm not satisfied with it then I'll go with a ballast setup.

Anyway, wish me luck. I'll post pictures if I ever find the usb cable for my camera.

-- jaydilyo

Welp, the panel is mounted to a wood frame and is ready to be installed. Tomorrow I'm going to frame up my lexan and cut and frame the fresnels.

I bought some plastic suspended ceiling track to use for framing them. The lexan fits into it perfectly as do the fresnels. I don't have a table saw, and don't feel like notching wood with my dremel. Hopefully this plastic will stand up to the heat. We'll see.

Oh yeah, be extra careful when working with your panel and work on it on a CLEAN surface. I thought the surface I used was clean, but I still managed to scratch my panel a little bit. I don't think it will be too noticable when projected.

-- jaydillyo

Your girlfreiend told me it is closer to 5".

Ten points for the eye catching title!

Well, I cut my lexan and framed it with the suspended ceiling track. I think this is going to be a perfect solution. I'm going to staple the track to a small wood frame. The staple gun I bought didn't have staples in the package like its supposed to, so I have to make another trip to Home Depot.

I didn't cut and frame the fresnels today, like I had planned. Oh well, leaves me something to do tomorrow. Right now I'm going to order some FS Mirror.

-- jaydillyo

pictures??

As soon as I find the USB cable for my camera. Its a $40 replacement cable for a $99 digital camera. :angry:

Or I may just buy a new camera.

-- jaydillyo

Quick, Quick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay...I'm finally updating this PLOG to reflect the fact that I've done absolutely NOTHING for a LONG time now. I am basically starting from scratch with my LL parts. The good news, is that I finally have a place to build this sucker! My boss said I could use the basement at the office building.

So...here's what I've got.

Standard LL kit (the old fresnels).
Varifocal lens
8" Hami (already stripped)
Front surface mirror.
400w EVCTech electronic balllast
400w Ushio (the big round one)
Mogul base
Norpro mixing bowl. (Don't ask. It's not for sale.)
2 Evercool PCACs
Lexan
UV Filter

Obviously, I won't be using everything. This is just what I've collected so far.

If all goes according to plan (and I'm sure it won't), this is going to be a vertical projector.

I'm hoping that cooling this sucker with a 400w bulb in it won't be TOO terrible. I plan on trying out both the varifocal and the standard lens to see how much of a difference there is between them. I'll try to get screenshots.

Tomorrow morning, the madness begins! Yaay!
-- jaydillyo

Well, I went to Loewes to pick up some things that I would need and did some other misc. shopping so I got a late start on the PJ. Now, my first obstacle hits. My battery just died on my cordless drill.

I did get a lot figured out though.

The basic design:

-- Threaded rod construction so I can tweak.
-- Unsplit fresnels before the LCD. pjgibbs did this and it seems to help avoid some circuitry on the hami, which would otherwise require some creative fresnel mounting that I don't want to deal with. I was going to make this projector a vertical one, but that would require me to flip the LCD the other way. The LCD circuitry would then be in the way. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

-- jaydillyo

I got a little bit done this weekend.

-- I cut the norpro. I hope I cut it right.
-- I have the reflector mounted. Even if I screw up, I could mount an ikea napkin holder in its place easy enough.
-- I'm almost done with the fresnel holder. Waiting for some JB Weld to finish setting.

Left on the list:
-- Cut and mount the lexan. I think I'm just going to drill some holes and mount the lexan bare, without a frame. Any reasons I shouldn't?
-- Cut and mount fresnels.
-- Build the LCD Panel holder and then mount the LCD Panel.
-- Mount the lamp.
-- Decide wether to make it vertical or not. This has implications as I mentioned earlier.
-- Finish the box.
-- Mount the triplet.
-- Install the fan(s).

Things are progressing about as expected. Slowly.

I got a bit more done, thought its going slow.  All I did today was mount the lexan ad and cut the fresnels down to size.  Cutting the fresnels was much easier than I anticipated.  I just used a plastic cutting knife that I picked up at a Chase-Pitkin (which are all going out of business, so keep an eye out for sales).

Next:  Mount the panel.

-- jaydillyo

On a side note, I'm looking forward to the new pro lens! I can't wait! This one has been a good learning experience so far. I have to say, that I'm not as thrilled with the threaded rod system as I thought I would be. Maybe I'll like it more when construction is done and its time to tweak.

-- jaydillyo