IT BEGINS!! Well that is if u dont count the weeks of staying up late and reading every new post.. So far i just have the box and the lay out of where everything will be going.. The reason i dont have the front on is cause im going to use Ookpic's focus setup..i hope to have some more stuff mounted today.. when i do i will be putting up more pics.. Sorry if they are hard to see but its the best my camera phone can do..

I like the way you have marked the center lines on the sides and bottom. This should help when it comes time to get every thing aligned. Did you do it on the end also?

Good day

Yes i did mark the ends too.. i have lines all over the endside of the box as my next few pics will show.. comming up in a wood working family i live by the old saying "measure twice and cut once".. i hope to find a countdown timer or atleast specs to put one togather soon so i can figure out all the wires and where they need to be run..but here are a few more pics

more lines

lamp spacer

some more work i got done today still need to find a delay timer.. also need to find a fan.. injoy

pic

pic

Very nice! Keep going and take your time.

Looks great, I can't wait to begin mine.

Aren't you just a teensy weensy bit tempted to build a light box? If your not familiar with the light box topic see this and this.

voxel, you aren't just egging yamaha on a teensy weensy bit are u? j/k. Go and check it out. I'm starting to look for these parts too. Wish my lamp, base and ballast would arrive....

Yes, I guess I am. I'm also waiting for my lamp socket and ballast. The lamp arrived what seems like over a week ago. I don't want to start building before I have all of the parts in hand. I'm also waiting for my fan.

i still need a fan.. not sure what one i want to use but i left space behind my ballast so when i get one it will have a nice home i hope lol

i just read up on the light box.. that looks like it could really work out good.. im not going to add it to this one but i may use it in my next one.. figure i will get a good test bed with this one and go from there..

okay u guys won im going to start to get the stuff to build the light box this weekend.. im going to make mine more like Joe's though it looks cleaner and seems to work better..

not going to use the light box.. going with brains idea.. will work out better and i wont have some guy thinking he can sue me.. win win in my book thanx everyone

well i have been doing alot of testing and i have come up with a timer that uses the 555 chip.. i will post pics when i get the led board done.. i think its going to turn out great..

pic

I am glad to see I am not the only one who is making it harder than it needs to be, by building custom circuits .

Jammor when i read about u doing it and asked some questions it got me wanting to do it.. i talked about it in the "power delay" post somewhere on here.. im going to work on it some more this weekend and try to get some pics up by monday..finished or not.. thanks again Jammor for the inspiration to start this circut..

I've been designing some boards for this for while now. You can find my first post in think the fans, lamps, and ballast topic. I can't really remember and don't feel like finding it. What I've got thus far is a timer that engages after a temp switch latches, this temp switch turns on the fan (if they are off) and keeps them on till the temp switch toggles it. The timer is used to keep the lamp off for 15 mins, then it can come back on.

I have yet to implement this design but wanted to tell it to everyone say that they may say yay or nay to it's design.

Once I do implement it and get a stable design, I will probably start selling them (maybe from this site Brainchild?).

Fine with me.

I had thought about using a temp switch also... I have a 20 char FL display with programmable eprom, so I was considering building a temp monitor circuit that would output a reading to that display, and then incorporate a circuit to shut off everything but the fan in the event of an overheat. I think this would be time well spent, that way you are not having to monitor your temp constantly, or worse trying to listen for an alarm on the all-in-one radio shack temp monitors while watching a movie in blown eardrum mode.

just a quick question here but i read somewhere about not getting glass that is stamped? i cant find where i read that but what are u talking about? is it just lettering or something? any one who can help let me know thanx

Stamped that it is tempered glass. If they stamp it that could show up on your projected image, or as a distortion I believe.

When you order your glass, you must specify that you want it unstamped even if they don't ask me (which they most likely wont)...

I got stamped glass, all I think it will do is take away some of the light going into the fresnel... But after thinking about it, if the stamp is at the bottom corner (left), then this shouldn't interfere at all with the amount of light, right? I mean the fresnel only takes the point source light. So this isn't that big of a problem right?

thanx for the reply.. i was thinking the same thing if its in the bottom corner why would it matter since it only takes from the point of the light.. the rest of the glass is just there to keep the heat from getting to the LCD and lenses.. but i might be worng.. anyways i will get it unstamped all the same..i will be putting up some more pics tonight i hope if i get off my butt and get some stuff done today..

The light originates from the point source but spreads out to cover nearly the entire glass. You definitely don't want the stamp.

did not get much done this weekend but i promice i will get some more pics up

going to get started on the PJ lens and its moving mount today.. here is a pic of what i have done this morring

pic of lens

wow looked at the date today its been a day over a month since i joined this site.. there has been so much new info just since i joined and im sure more great ideas to come keep up the good work everyone..

How do you figure a day over a month? Today is the 5th and you joined last 8th.

picked up the cake pan today.. going to work on the polishing tonight and tomorrow after work.. im going to start with 800 paper.. i did not want to make a guess till i saw the bowl but its really smooth as it is..

been really hard to find time to work on my PJ.. i have more free time now so i will get to working on it alot more.. i have picked up a few things though.. i have all my glass and also my fan.. im still working on my light control.. i do have the readout done though..

yamaha711,

Did you finish polishing the cake pan? can you take pics of it like to see what it looks like when polished up...

Joe

yes i did get it all done.. this is a pic of what i started with.. the next one is after a bit of work.. i also did the cut out to go around the bulb.. it turned out really nice.. i still have to paint the back of it black but im going to do that when i do the the box..

after some work

the other day i was just playing around testing out some stuff and i ended up projecting this onto my wall.. nice inside view of my box..

what did you use to polish it with? tools and that compound?

i started with 800 grit to remove the coating.. then i worked my way down to 1500 grit.. after that i went over it with steel wool.. i then used my dremmel with a felt polishing wheel.. the compound i used was Columbian Tripoli compound.. u can pick it up at home depot.. it is good for all non-ferrous metals, plastics, wood and so on.. the pic does not do it justice.. but its the best my little camera can do..

this is the fan that i went with.. its an Enermax uc-12fab-b.. its is adjustable froom 1500 RPM to 2300 RPM..