I seem to have a problem with my ballast. Wired it up and tried testing the bulb. The bulb doesn't turn on. Checking the Mogul socket with a voltmeter shows an average of 72 volts. I'm confused. Isn't it supposed to crank all the way up?

Or do I need to have LL send me a replacement?

A word of caution. Someone in a forum post I read said that the ballast creates a spark in the thousand(s) volt range to start the light. It may shock you so your meter may not protect you from that much voltage. Don't hold on to it I'd say.

Just stop everything that you are doing and start over from scratch. Start reading the guide from page 1.

I'm not trying to be an asshole, but christ, if you put a VM across the terminals of a powered ballast then you really just need to start over because it is likely there are several mistakes along the way.

Try to post pictures of what you have so far (close ups of wiring......)

I have done just that. In performing a bulb test before cramming everything into my projector box I did a test start and nothing worked. So I pulled out the ballast and socket, re-wired everything directly to a wall outlet and nothing happens.

I obtained a a spare ballast which is an F-Can 400W MH, its 18 inches long and just as heavy as my projector box. http://www.1000bulbs.com/product.php?product=961 I tested with that and it did work. I however cannot keep the ballast nor would I want to, given its size and weight.