Well....

After reading, reading, reading, reading and reading, then reading some more I finally finished the reflection thread. Then I continued on with the rest of the threads in IVPD, then off to the Help and PLOG topics reading every thread until there was nothing left to read. Wow... my head is going to explode... that was no easy task...

I won't even begin to name everyone who had a hand in what I'm about to create, but when you see something familiar; it is; and I Thank You for it !

All parts are purchased and in house...

The Projector:

Basic 15" Design w/ LL optics and electrics (S400DD).
Going with the CMV-520D
Ikea Reflector (napkin thingy)

Basic Layout (side view):

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After thinking I was going with the standard square box, i've just today choosen to add some curve appeal to this thing. (really it's pun15her and druid's PLOG that guilted me into something other than a square box, and i'm sure to be the better for it) Don't know what it looks like, but it's strange, and that's a good thing.

-gs

Firstly I decided to create an optics sled. This will allow me to fix the position of the lamp and adjust the sled position in order to tweek.

General view:

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Based on my changes to the box, I will have to cut some corners on the sled in order for it to fit and allow the 10mm of adjustment.

The fresnels and LCD are mounted in slots cut into pieces of MDF. The slots are about 2mm in width, and the depth allows for 0.5 - 1.0mm of clearance once installed. I'm not sure if the expansion of the fresnels or LCD will exceed this, but I can always make these a bit deeper. I'm trying to keep tolerances tight in order to give good results right from the begining... we'll see if it works.

I glued pieces of MDF to help support the bottom of the LCD between the FFC's. I also created small angled blocks of wood so that I was able to secure the thin circuit board, which eliminates any strain the on the FFC connections going to the LCD.

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In order to mount the circuit boards for the LCD, I wanted to use the original nuts that were mounted in the steel casing for the backlight. The circuit boards are not completely flush with each other so by using the original nuts I could get a very good alignment of the boards in relation to each other. Using a hammer and giving a nice hard whack, I was able to knock the nuts out of the backlight section of the monitor. I used small spacer blocks out of MDF to get the correct height. (high enought so the circuitry didn't hit the bottom of the sled, and low enough so I wouldn't have to cut the field fresnel, even if I add keystoning later on)

Worked out perfectly. (much to my surprise)

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Here is the view of the condenser side of the sled. You can clearly see the support blocks used for the LCD. I plan to use aluminum tape between the bottom of the LCD and the bottom of the sled to make a light/air seal.

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As with all projects, DIY or otherwise, it's not so much about the project as the tools necessary to finish it.

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Amazing that after creating a deck, addition to my shed, various bookshelves, a large home entertainment center and my home office furniture, it is not until now (creating this very cool projector) did I finally break down and buy a table saw. I don't know what I'm more excited about, the projector or the saw !

Just an endnote:

Today was the begining of my PLOG, which as you can see is not the begining of my build. After about a month of reading, designing and toiling over the design, and the interruptions of baby, wife, life and a FL vacation, I am ready to make this a third priority. Get this projector built !

Things go slow here in gadetville. I am a stay-at-home dad (of a recently turned one-year old) trying to run a small part-time business out of the home, while trying to maintain some time with the "neato" stuff in life, which basically means I get about an hour a day to work on this project.

However; sometimes good things do come to those who wait... My wife informed me that she is taking the child to her sister's this weekend and I have the house, and at least a day to myself !

There is a god.

-gs

Ah, yes. My first of many questions.

I noticed that when I screwed the lamp into the mogul base, there was a distinct "crunching sound" coming from the base of the lamp. (where the threads are) There is now a "rattling" sound coming from the base of the lamp, and I can see pieces of what appears to be ceramic material in the bottom of the lamp. All I can figure is that there was ceramic material on the inside of the metal part of the lamp, and with it being a tight fit into the mogul, it cracked and now there are pieces "floating around" down there.

I've read peoples concerns on the small "sand" type material in the actual arc chamber and know that that is nothing to worry about, but never something like this.


I have not test fired the lamp yet. Does anyone have any idea's on this ? Has this happened to anyone else? Is it safe to test fire ?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

-gs

See if you can remove the lamp and inspect it further. It's unsafe to test fire if there are any cracks or fractures. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. You've done some very fine craftsmanship. I'm sure the end result will be excellent.

I had the same thing happen with mine...using some maybe over cautious discretion, I fired it up and walked to the other side of the room with a fire extinquisher in hand (safety first) but everything is fine.
Spock

Hyper S,
There doesn't appear to be any cracks to the outer bulb housing or anything that would jeopordize the integrity of the bulb... at least from the outside... we'll see what happens...

In terms of my "craftsman"ship ( nice one, my mother-in-law would be proud of that one); i haven't even used the saw yet... I just got it for doing the box. I used my makeshift table saw for the LCD sled. A circular saw mounted on the bottom side of the piece of 2x4ft MDF panel. Created a T-square for use as a fence. Works pretty good, but the shaft end play in circular saw bearings are much greater than tablesaw and radial arm saw bearings... hence not as good tolerances. (that's my justification and i'm sticking to it )


Spock,
I'm thinking of doing the same. Try it out and keep a fire extinquisher at the ready in case something goes wrong

Thanks for the help guys.

-gs

Another question ?

I'm going to be doing a 10' projection, which means the triplet to screen distance will be about 9.5'

Can someone with approximately the same projection distance/screen size give me the distance from the LCD to the first lens of the triplet ? I want to use this as a starting point for any focusing adjustment I will need to do. (Right now my design shows the distance as 344mm)

Thanks in advance.

-gs

Gadgetsmith,I too get a horrible grinding noise when screwing in the bulb,I think its going to break everytime I do it.It does rattle a bit too!
I do not have any "particles" at all anywhere within the glass of the bulb.
If I were you I would fire it up.However I am not you.You cannot be too careful when it comes to these monsters.
In other words don't blame me if it goes bang!
Looks like a good design,and you have made a very good start with your sled,it looks very well constructed,good luck.

Thanks pun15her.

I don't think i'm going to have trouble. The debris appears only at the base of the bulb where the wires enter the vacuum chamber of the bulb (I believe there is still a vacuum in these bulbs). A couple of pics showing what i'm talking about.

with debris (i need to turn the bulb upside down, then right-side up until debis finds it's way into this cavity so that I can see it)
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without debris (turn the bulb right side up and it all falls to the bottom)
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puzzling, but I'm going to fire it up tonight or tomorrow... extinquisher at the ready!

Success. Bulb works just fine. At least for the 5 minutes that I tested. Hopefully nothing wrong in the long run.

first fired
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5 minutes in
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I took several shots of the bulb during this 5 minutes. Put together a "time lapse" type sequence. Interesting how the color starts white, moves to green, then back to white.

In this sequence all shots were color corrected to 5200K, that's why the first frame (unlit condition) looks on the red (warm) side.

http://members.toast.net/chasjr/PLOG/ignite.avi


-gs

Real nice job so far. The lcd sled idea works well, I used it and have now shipped a couple out to other people.
I relate to your life story too!! I have two kids (son 5, lucky if he makes 6 and daughter 1, lucky if I make it past 16). So, when you hear those magical words,
"I think I will take the kids..........(you hear nothing for a bit......wait for it......fingers crossed......here it comes) for a couple days." Bingo!
Love that, in fact mine are going to Buffalo for a couple days very soon!! I will have some fun with my pj.

I don't even have kids (yet). I also have the kit from Haasman. I still find it very hard to get time to work on my projector!!

It always amazes me when I read about the people who must time manage with their whole family!! Hats off you you!!

Good luck! Everytime I'm at HD, I stare longingly at the table saws. I can imagine your happiness at having one.

There is a little piece of glass that rattles around inside my bulb.....doesn't bother it in the least...I probably have 20 hours on my bulb and works perfectly.

I got the Ryobi BT3100 with the accessory kit from Home Depot. It was around $420 after taxes. It's a really well built and designed table.

Good luck, GS!! Say, you are grounding those circuit boards, aren't you? That's pretty much a must do if you are mounting them sans metal case.

Thanks Mr.B
Summer is coming and my wife loves to visit her family in Maine... I may have to stay behind a weekend or two just to have some time alone with projects around the house... oh yea, and the LOR Return of the King extended edition that I haven't watched yet ! (got the darn DVD for christmas... ugghhh)

Unfortunately, this is one of the cheaper models from Sears, I pd $179 and it shows. The mitre gauge slot is somewhat sloppy, and the right table extension doesn't line up with the table so if the fence is located near the joint, the fence goes cockeyed ! ... which of course turns out to be the very first cut I make on the darn thing. I just could bring myself to drop $500 for something that was really a much nicer machine. On the positive side I really like the Craftsman stuff too, anything goes wrong, you can order parts from Sears and fix it yourself.

Thanks for the info. Hope to put some hours on my bulb by the weekend !

(maybe )

I didn't plan to do any grounding. I thought it was kind of a moot point as any metal parts are mounted to plastic. I was thinking grounding would only be required on LCD's that have an internal power supply? This one has an external power supply.

Anybody else with thoughts on this ??

Thanks.
-gs

Well, time for an update...

After considering many options for the box design, i've finally choosen to make a standard box that can be easily altered for experimenting with new designs. Using this box will allow me to "tweek" easily, so that for my next box I can build with minimal adjustment. I, like many people here, am interested in doing a 15 or 17" with long throw capabilites, so i'm keeping an eye on the progress of the pro lens development. In the meantime I want to get "learning" with a 15" box now.

I choose to go with an electrical box below the PJ box, that way the PJ box is super-clean on the inside for easy adjustments. One design I am most interested in is the "firewall" or "hot box" idea. Same design that Brain is now using on his 8" hami project. My feeling is this will really keep cooling under control without having to run air between the fresnel and LCD.

Anyway, here are some pics.

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Very nice! Your detailed planning shows. The electrical box idea is very interesting. I don't know if I'd want the added bulk to the pj (mine's too damn big as it is), but it sure does make it a lot more neat and organized.

Thanks for the kind words... I think ? ... It's funny, I told my wife the other day that i've turned into my Dad. This occured to me after offically clocking more hours planning and designing and browsing around home depot than actually working on the project at hand !!

If i were going for the worlds smallest PJ, i'd certainly be in last place !

Until all the bugs are worked out of the Pro Triplet (ie. long throw), I plan to use this PJ which sits on a "table". This table will be roughly the same footprint as the electrical box and will contain the HTPC. In going with the electrical box idea, the only thing i'm giving up is a table which is a few inches shorter, which is no big deal...

My other thought was to have the table contain a large fan which could be hooked to the PJ via duct work (dryer vent maybe) in order to reduce the noise level (and clean up the light area even further)... but that will be a project for a later date.

nice clean layout and build! looks good. As long as your wife doesn't mind the size, what the heck, build it as big as you want! plus hidden in a table is additional bonus. Seriously, it looks like the pains to pursue accuracy will pay dividends in a nice immage! looking forward to your posts on screen shots.

Very nice! I too await your results.

P.S. My Usio had the same debris, I think they are shards of glass from the base of the bulb that break off when the metal base is applied. Mine seems to be working OK though.

Thanks to all who had nice words to say about my build. Frankly my project is nothing special, especially compared to some of the guys around here, and Haas should probably be knighted or something. I thank them all for their gifted ideas.

This whole project has been about getting things as accurate as I could to try and get a good starting projection. I'm hoping "fine" tuning will be just that, fine, not scratching my head wondering what the heck is going on ? It hasn't been easy, many morning waking early trying to figure things out, and of course the desperate desire to get this thing running, so tonight, final assembly begins... and the verdict will be delivered soon.

Paint is dry.
Final assembly begins in 25 minutes (little guy going to bed :-)

Hope to have an operational PJ by tomorrow night. Will post some screen shots if everythings works out.

-gs

Best of luck! We'll be here waiting for the pics!

Nice work, your done some nice cuts there for a improvised table, i use (used) a Triton table for years with a circular saw and your right about the blade play .... it's disgusting

One thing i've discovered over the years is to never trust tools out of the box.

With your table saw i'd have a look at modifying mount points for your extension table etc to improve accuracy etc. Looks like a great table tho ... is it 3hp (by the letter 3 printed on it?)

I brought a cheap drop saw a year or 2 ago and out of the box it was hopless, spent a afternoon and a few beers filing out adjusting holes and things like that and it's dead true now and a builder mate reckons it cuts as good as his 10 times the value saw, don't know about it's life .... but i'm only a hobbyist anyway.

Keep up the great work ..

cheers

UNBELIEVABLE ! I'm so happy. Success ! Thanks to Brain and all of the people who post on this site... couldn't have done it without you all.

First screenshot.

Nikon D100; ISO 200; 1.8sec at f/2.8 using a 36mm lens setting.

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screenshot above shows the tip of the thermometer. right now (about 2 hours running) can control the tempertaure anywhere from 88F to 95F+ by varying the speed on the single Evercool fan... these things pump alot of air... just have to be sure to everything is air/light tight in order to get a good flow through the gap between the LCD and collimating fresnel.

There has been no tweeking whatsoever. Just fired it up, dialed in the focus and this is what I got. Couldn't be happier. Already starting to see what I need to tweek, but that's for another day... tonight I just enjoy.


I dont think I mentioned this earlier in my plog, but this was a total suprise to my wife. I told her I was working on the "secret project" so she shouldn't go snooping around. Well, just before dinner tonight I told her that if she wanted to see the "secret project" then she should go downstairs. Upon seeing the movie playing (LOR ROTK) all she said was "WoW" ! (dramatic pause...) "Did you build this !?" About a minute later she said, "We really need a surround sound system for this; like the one we have upstairs"... at this point my jaw hits the floor... SHE wants another surround sound system for our "movie theater" (as she keeps calling it through dinner). ... the weels are already turning.

Well, gotta go. Have a date with my wife. We're going to the "movie theater"

cheers,
gs

Great story and great projector! I must say that I was a little conscerned that you wouldn't get enough cooling as some people have been running hot with two evercools. I guess it is in the build quality but also some may be hot due to lamp/reflector alignment. Nice job; I want to see more if you can drag yourself away from your "movie theater".

You should get the surround system before she changes her mind

congrats,GS! I love it when the build goes well for somebody and they get those kinda results right off the bat. Nice that your wife is really into it, too! My missus is already complaining that this project has me brooding and pacing like I used to when we got our first computer and something would go wrong that I couldn't fix.

she hates it when I brood and pace....I think it distracts her from her knitting

I think you have done everything just about perfectly Gs.
Everything about your build is clean and neat.I think the box underneath makes perfect sense,it only adds extra bulk to the smallest area of the box,and therefore doesnt add significantly to the overall feel.
I am glad that your results reflect the preciseness of your work.
Congrats!!

thanks DRay.

well, i'm finally back after about a week or so of errands, chores, and work that I was ignoring while finishing the PJ.

One night while doing some tweeking I noticed the temp had increased to 99-100F... I was a bit concerned until I saw that the thermometer had moved and was actually touching the LCD. As some people have already seen, the temperature measurement of a thermometer touching the LCD will be higher than one that is sitting between the collimating fresnel and LCD, and not touching anything. Once I repositioned the thermometer the reading dropped down to 86-88F.

... however, while tweeking some flashing I removed the lexan heat sheild and forgot to put it back in for about 4-5 mintues ! The collimating fresnel has warped some, but I don't think it is ruined. I now notice that the corners of my projection are not as sharply focused as they used to be. (only noticable when viewing the desktop, movies are unaffected)

I have now dissambled the PJ to make the following modifications:

1) Install an aluminum plate firewall with a piece of tempered UV glass from a shop light I use in my basement. (similar to what Brain did in his recent 8" project) I'm hoping I can control the LCD temp without the need to channel air between the collimating fresnel and LCD. (My feeling is the PCAC is actually starved for air using this gap)

2) Add 2nd fan (80mm) in the area of the box between the firewall and the collimating fresnel. This will be necessary (i think) when using a firewall.

3) Rework the LCD sled and secure the collimating fresnel to a piece of Lexan to keep it flat. I'm going to try one piece of lexan and see if this works, if not, I may need to "sandwich" the fresnel to keep is flat.

4) Think about installing a reflector... I don't know, purhaps it's my very dark basement, but at the moment I don't even see a need for a reflector ! I've taken some screen shots using the pixel buddy of black, white, red, green and blue screens. They all show signs of dark corners, but when watching a projected image, I don't see them at all... perhaps I'm just not "tuned in" to see it is all. I'm interested to see what effect a reflector will have on the colored screen shots that I took. I'll post pics showing what i'm talking about.

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