DJ - BellyBottom? Now if you had said "DownUnder" I would have understood!!

No need for stealth. My wife actually TRUSTS me....

Rare yes, but true.

SJ

If the structure of this hide-a-bed is like the ones I've seen, it doesn't seem like attaching the shakers to the rear wall of it would transmit the vibrations to the couch's occupants very well.
If you could build something to attach the bass shakers to the fold away frame part, so it shakes the mattress, it seems like that would transfer optimal rumblings to the seat of the viewers' pants.

Thats a good observation. Personally, I would just rather loose the bed, but mom sleeps on it sometimes. Im a thinking I might use a plate system that will drop in under the mattress, but it has to be bolted very firmly to the frame. Im also toying with a stinger mount but that will be a last resort.

SJ

Well I couldnt wait any longer so I broke out the 25 foot svideo cable and wired my Sat box to the Svideo input of the capture card...
...Sweet!
A good healthy 9x12 foot picture with no lines and no fuzz. The wife was very impressed. We watched a few minutes of a TLC special and it was quite nice. Its not HD, but I think I can squeak up the picture by using a different capture software. I have a few ideas that might work.
All in all, Im quite pleased that the addition of a 12.00 dollar cable made such a nice difference.
Next thing I have to do is fix the soundstage. I had to drop it a few feet for experimental reasons and the fact that I probably bought too much screen....maybe!

DScaler
DScaler 4 is the one you want.

Im currently running this app that I think a lot of people will like it. Its designed to interface directly with many different video cards. The best part about it is that it offers many different options for de-interlacing and cleaning up pictures from a TV capture card. Quite a decent piece of work. It was made by the same folks who make the Dscaler decoders for dvd.
If you own a tv card and are looking for something with a little more power to it, then this might be just the thing for you. I took it on and after some adjustments saw about ( this is a guess mind you...) a 25% improvement in broadcast quality picture.

Seriously. If you are into watching TV on your PJ, then this app might be just the ticket for you.

SJ

For most TV, I have found the Greedy 2 Frame or the slightly better Greedy High Motion deinterlacers to work best. For the filters I am running Adaptive Noise Filter, with a slight boost in stability and Fast Memory Access turned off.

samuraijack...baby...buddy... Is there a picture in the 73 pages of PLOG of the finished project?

Which product are you referring to?

The nerve of that guy! Asking for help sifting through your teeny-tiny plog!

bobtannica,
You can find end results here in the
The Public Gallery.

Cheers!
SJ

PS. More pics to come soon, I just need to run a few wires and such. Seems like there is always something more to do.

Funny, I thought that's what the Index in post 1 was for...

Page seventy-four
Where Can I find the Pictures?
Index On Page One.

Hmmmmmm....My Plog is getting away from me. Guess I should finish up that index sometime soon.

So In my travels this weekend I was served up to be called in for a national system that had crashed and burned. Long story short PS had to be replaced, but there is a bright side to it. I have been looking for a fan to incorporate into a new gate design for a vertical to 45 degree burn. The PS had one in it....150MM! Just the right size.

Really looking foreward to that one,SJ.
Should be interesting,have you got anything down on paper yet???
Cheers P

Yep. Lots of semi shadow sketches and a few diagrams. It should be easy for folks to duplicate. Im designing it so that its really more of a fancy bulb holder and vent. The final goal is control of straylight. IR/UV filtering and cool operation. Im planning on using this one for my pro folded. But Im still trying to decide the folded/non-folded scheme of things. If I dont fold, its going to look like the cannon array from the death star...


...which might not be a bad thing...

I love this fan. Its SO quiet and it seems to do the trick. The odd thing is, if you spin it, it literally goes for about 30 seconds before it stops. Its a Nidec Beta V.

I've had the network boys here scouring their drawers (?) for me and I've scored a few CPU fans that do that as well.

You flick 'em wit yer finger and they just spin and spin and spin.

Do they have some super bearings or what???

is that this one:
http://www.skycraftsurplus.com/index.asp?P...PROD&ProdID=573
quiet? 350CFM? seriously?

:

12 VDC Fan, Nidec Beta V TA600DC SK2023
12 V.D.C. 1.85 Amps, Model # A34456-77, Nidec TA600DC, Part # 956527


Qty In Stock Your Price Qty
23 $19.95

Detailed Description
Dimensions: 6" X 7" X 2" 350 C.F.M

Hey SJ. Sorry to intrude on your PLOG (Like THAT's never happened before) but I'd like to relate to an earlier experience that you had with your projector...

Long story short... My 5 year old got that Barbie Mermadia DVD for her birthday. I held out as long as I could (Over 2 weeks!) but it finally made it to "the big screen" at our house.

I will 100% agree with your earlier statement. A life-sized digital Barbie Mermaid is indeed most disturbing. I wasn't even permitted to leave the room, so I got to witness the whole thing.

The Horror....
Yeah I had to draw the line at Tom and Jerry on the bigscreen. Those frying pans look like they hurt!
Original Scooby Doo looks pretty cool on the big screen, but nothing beats Pink Panther....

mikyd1954:
Thats not the one I got. I got one thats about 5 inches square. Three blades. Barely hear it running. For my design its about 40 times the fan I need, but Im going to combine it with another resource.

SJ

MikyD1954
I just got a twin to the other fan. It is a Nidec Beta V C34262-34 12vdc, .9amp. I think its about 5 inches square.

SJ

thanks, I'll look it up, my current fan is making me nuts... I had a nice quiet fan but somehow one of my fingers got stuck in it... ;-)

Hey Samurai I was looking at your results amazing !!!very bright

Any tips to improve brightness??

focus?

Any tip(all the tips u can)


I see you using standar lenz correct?

And what kind of screen are u using?

sorry.

Thanx

Hi Trofeo99!

Most of my design was based around trying to control stray and waste light. I also wanted to isolate the heat source and save on multiple layers of thermal glass etc.

Tips to improve brightness?
Well lets see...

I guess the thing I did that helped me the most was to control the amount of light that hit the fresnel. Using a gate was the easiest way to do it. It makes it behave closer to a single point light source. It also eliminates a lot of crossed paths for light.

Pay close attention to your alignments, just a small shift can drop lumens off a lot. My bulb shifted when I moved it into the house. I didnt notice at first but it was much better after adjusting. If you can design your enclosure around one straight line which is the triplet,lcd/fresnel centers and the center of the arc for the bulb. That seem to be the surest way to get a good picture.

The screen Im using is a Dalite 9x12 foot Model C with the Hi-Power fabric. Its supposed to be a 2.8 gain. My camera hates it ( Cheap Camera... ) If you go for one that big, get the Controlled Screen Return option. Its a real bonus and it helps keep your screen neat.

Everything I used in this build was standard LL equipment. It was just the 15 inch kit.
I still have some improvements to make on the triplet, but its an easy improvement.
I just havent got around to it yet.

Focus?
Having everything in alignment is the best way to get good focus. I find that I am focusing a lot and I use a spot between the center of the screen and the edge to get an average focus. I almost always use either faces or letters to do it. Just a quirk but it seems to work for me.

Thanks for dropping by!

SamuraiJack

Is good to see the results you can get with the lumenlabs standar lens

Thanks for the help

Focus--I focus on the screen door effect of the LCD. When I am focused right, I can see a sharp screen door from corner to corner. Since my focus is manual, that means walking between the projector and the screen. (I can't see the screen door of the LCD unless I am close to the projection screen) Once I focus it stays focused unless I move the projector. Once the projector is mounted on the ceiling, I don't expect to focus again until I have to replace the lamp or make some mod.

Since mine occupies a table, it gets moved around a lot. Focus is just one of those things you have to when you set it up. I have to admit I dont mind it. Especially when I have to put the table lamp on the floor because its in the way of the picture.

sj - all througout this plog you have said that 'i hope that this helps someone else' ... i'm sure that i speak for many newbies to the diy pj forums when i say that youhave...

you along with many of the other 'seasoned' posters really are the base of the community...

Just wanted to say thanks, and let you know that my pj will have incorporated elments of your experiments and many others (ie pun15er, etc.)

keep it up! you are an ispiration for us all!

-kaltec


EDIT: err inspiration

Thanks kaltec!,
I have a lot of fun with the PLOG so hopefully its not boring. Feel free to take ideas and modify, deconstruct etc. I posted it mostly for the process and the fun of it. Plus it makes it easy to reference it at work...
Never can tell when you are going to get an interesting idea!

Havent had a whole lot of time recently. My daughter pulled a "joewerb2000" on her thumb (except she used a door instead of a saw...CRUNCH!)
...so I am now "her right hand man"....Literally.


SJ

Wow,I bet the neighbours heard the scream!
I hope it wasn't too bad a squashing.
P

It actually happened when she was playing at a friends house. Her friends dad was seriously freaked when he brought her home. Its pretty bad. Definitely going to lose the nail and she cant write. The worst part was that her gymnastics final show is today.
Maddie aint happy...

Ouch. Sorry to hear about your daughter's finger. I hope it heals as fast as possible.

I'd like to add that I've learned a lot from your plog too, SJ. Possibly the most important thing I've learned is to look carefully at the toothpaste tube before you use it.

She will be fine. She 's a lot tougher than she realizes.

As for the toothpaste...well, we all have our more "interesting" moments...

You should also watch for cans of Ether hiding in tall grass...

Okay so I have gotten seriously lazy in the early portion of this summer. I actually have a few mini experiments going on.
1. Found a Delta EMI filter for 120v that seems promising.
2. Working on a stage 2 for the lightgate
3. Still debating on where to place the thumpers for the stereo.
4. Trying to clean up the house from the wettest beginning of summer EVER...

Will try to post some pictures soon. Not sure If I want to start a new plog or keep it in this one since the new gate will be for 15-19 inch monitors, and SHOULD fit in the same space as my original.

Must be nice. We havn't got very much rain at all this year.
Last month alone we were 4 inches below normal. SO far none this month. And for the year we are already ~7-10" below normal.

With Summer around the corner it is possible that we have seen our last rain until Sept.

Why don't you box up some rain and send it down here.

We nearly set a record earlier this year with 28 days straight with rain. It didn't rain the whole time, but it rained at least some each day. It's true that it rains often in Seattle, but at least we don't get the sheer volume of rain that other places get. It's very rare to get an inch of rain in a day here.

Okay...
admittedly its been kind of a lazy start to the summer, but things are getting better all the time. Last night I had a chance to do a little experimenting with the Aura Bass Shakers. Got a few snaps in and decided it might be a good time to post a mini tutorial on how to install them for the home.

Originally, the Aura Bass Shakers were designed for cars. This presents a couple of unique problems, but nothing that cant be overcome. They were designed to be mounted on surfaces of the car floor and under seats in areas where panels had a mild amount of flex. Car stereo installers will remember searching for these areas and listening for the "Thummmm" sound. The ABS also are designed to take car stereo wire plugs and come in a 4 ohm flavor. Unless you have a receiver that will run at 4 ohms, You will want to wire these in series to increase the ohm rating to 8.
The ABS are designed to reproduce subsonic sound that would result from heavy bass in a small space. As such, they dont make sound, only vibration. These make them ideal for mounting into furniture. Heavy wooden frames make the perfect transmission material for the vibrations these make.

So on with the show...

First thing you need to do is check them out.

Click to view attachment

As you can see they are not very large, but they are designed to handle 25 watts comfortably and their smaller size gives you more placement options. They are sold in pairs and can be had for about 30.00 dollars US.

Click to view attachment

The first thing you will want to do is remove the kick cover from the shakers. This is done by removing the four long screws at the top of the shakers. Since these are long screws and there is a magnet right next to them, they can be a hassle to get back on, which is why we are modifying these a little bit...


Click to view attachment

This is the inside unit of the ABS. You might be tempted to leave the cover off and try to use these as is. Dont. They are not bonded to their case. The contacts are designed for car audio so we will have to attach the speaker wire with a slightly better solution.

Click to view attachment

A slightly clearer picture showing the inside of the ABS.

Now we are ready to attach the wiring. Since this is going into a couch, we want the wiring to be as tight as possible. Once its in, you dont want to fuss with it. Its a pain to crawl under your couch to puch a wire clip back on so we will solder the wires onto the contacts.

TIP: If you dont have one of those really expensive solder iron holders, a wine bottle or any bottle with a heavy base will do...
Click to view attachment


Thread your speaker wire through the hole in the side of the ABS cover. This will save you the hassle of having to drag 30 feet of cable through that hole.
Click to view attachment


Now your ready to solder. See the solder already on the contacts? Dont use that. Dont heat up the metal tabs either.
Click to view attachment

Make good use of the rosin flux designed for electrical connections. Twist the wire into the contacts and fold over then put a tiny drop of flux on it. Then touch it with the soldering iron. It will bubble and smoke and the flow onto the wire. The flux helps the solder adhere to the wire. I use the copperish wire for the + terminals and the silver for the - terminals. Now place the end of your solder on the wires and place the solder iron on top of the solder. When it heats up, it will flow into the wire and quickly cool down. They key to it is to not heat up the metal its going to bond, but to heat the solder and then flow it onto the posts.

Click to view attachment

Now we are ready to reassemble...

Assembly for these little bumpers is the reverse of taking them apart...
Except for one thing.
You will want to bend the tabs with the solder joints inward just a little to make sure they dont contact the kick cover.

Click to view attachment

It can be tough to find the screwholes sometimes so line the cover holes up with the mount holes and try it that way. If that fails lift the cover slightly and sight in the holes.

Now they are set to mount to your couch, chair, bed headboard, whatever...

Click to view attachment



Mounting these babies is a really simple job. For couches and chairs you want to mount them closer to joints than away. If you put them in the middle of a long board, they tend to rattle. For the best bump, you want to mount them in a sturdy spot. They have four holes that take deck screws quite well. Choose a few good spots and mount up. Run your wires and then tack a few cable holders over them. Its best if you do this so you dont vacuum them up while cleaning...trust me on this...

Once you are mounted, you have to connect them to an amp and adjust them. Right now mine are connected in 4ohm mode to a small amp taking output directly from my subwoofer output. If you can try to get the amp for the ABS's next to your couch so you can adjust the levels.

These are odd little creatures and it will take a little time to get them tuned right. Its a cute trick at first, and it feels cool but eventually you will be looking for them to be as unobtrusive as possible. Set your levels low at first and then play with some of your favorite movies. I tested using The Matrix and Jurrassic Park. Dont expect to hear any noise from them, its all vibration designed to augment the feel of lower bass impact. You will know you have it tuned right when you get the impact from the T-Rex , when the water in the glass moves, you should feel it.

Boooooommmmmm......

The hair on the back of my neck just stood up.

If you mount a pair of them on the same piece of furniture, is the phasing important?

Good question!
Yes. Thats why I specified the copper and silver wires. If they are out of phase it exagerates the vibration and sometimes gets very jumpy. Besides that effect, it just feels wrong and will become irritating very quickly. Its the difference between a vibration and a buzzing effect. If they are in phase the vibrations are more subtle and more realistic.

SJ

What are you powering them with? Do you use a seperate amplifier for them ?

Right now I am powering with a seperate amp, an old hitachi, i believe. If your receiver has powered sub outs, you can use those and adjust for either 4 or 8 ohm by wiring in series or using the ohm selector switch on the back of the receiver. The only need 25 watts.

SJ

Very nice, SJ.

One note about soldering the contacts, the method that you used there should be fine for indoor usage, but is a very bad thing to do in a car. The solder must flow to the speaker tab if you're doing this in conditions where temperature variations will occur, or else the joint will weaken and fail over time. (Ask me how I know...)

This has been a PSA from your (probably not so) local Mobile Electronics Certified Professional. (I got the certification so that I could install my own car starter/alarm and still have a warranty. The exam was cheaper than paying someone to do the install work.)

Nice tutorial overall though.

SJ,
You picked these up from partsexpress ?

cheers,
gs

SupraGuy; The solder connection is for convenience more than anything else. Two of my mounts are right next to a fold out bed. I wanted a nice snug connection! dont think I have ever soldered a car connection...just doesnt seem right.

GadgetSmith.
Yep Picked them up from partsexpress for very little cash. I love partsexpress. I have never had a bad experience with them.

SJ

Well the verdict is in...I dont know how I lived without these before. Seriously.

For the expense of a few wires on the floor I am experiencing truly good vibrations. The secret to the whole thing is tuning them. You will want to have them up for the novelty of it, but soon they become too noticable so drop the volume down to just barely noticable, then drop a little more.
Its a very interesting sensation. Sitting on the couch, bass thrumming and cars exploding, then you get up and move a few feet away from the couch and you can feel the lower end "Melt away". Normal audio, but no boomy bass.
In terms of "Bang for Your Buck" this little barkers just cannot be beat. Im in love with my system all over again!

SJ

Someones a happy camper I must admit it does interest me but I will have to test those waters a bit later getting ahead of myself with some projects. Next thing you know someone will instal one of thost full immersion theater rooms if the movies hot the room get's hot, house burning you smell smoke, rainstorm well you get the idea. I've been to one of those theaters and it was fun yet creepy at the same time. The special effect of rats running past your feet on the floor didn't go so well with some people

Now I know why people hunt deer...

I was just minding my own business, driving into work and there is a deer in the top of the road leading into the main route I was on. Fairly uncommon since we had a coy dog pack a few years back. She just sits there. I beep. She stares and then proceeds to to walk to the side of the road. Normally they bolt, so I figure 'Hey alright. Smart deer.' I start to drive by and then she decides she needs to be on the other side of the road. Apparently she is late for some meeting too.
So she bolts for the other side...
(Totally ignoring the stop sign, by the way.)

...and heads directly into the side of my car! @&^$!

If you have ever hit a deer, the only thing your really remember is the eyes. Thats what I remember anyway. This cute set of eyes coming to a distinct halt and then bulging slightly as the rest of her body caught up with her...resting quite nicely against my door and mirror. sigh.

Like any good organism who has had their physics interrupted, she jumps off the car and heads over the road, still determined to get to the other side. Apparently this meeting she was late for was really important.
She dashes off into the woods and I get out of the car and go around to survey the damage.

Typical...
I run into some chick who bangs me, messes up my car and my routine, costs me lots of money and then runs off leaving me with the mess...

Now I know why people hunt deer...

Its a vengeance thing.

No dude . . . they're great to eat too. Honest!

(Hmmm . . . there's something there about eating and banging and chicks . . . but I won't go there.)

My run-ins have been at much higher speeds but have yet to result in much damage - thankfully.

That's why you should always carry your knife (and some olive oil) so you can get the tenderloins and proceed IMMEDIATELY to the nearest grill.

Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard.

(Sorry for your encounter with nature. I hear the moose are much worse to tangle with though?)

Yes. Moose are terrific ways to die. The funny thing is ( if this kind of thing is funny to you...) is that the actual collision with moose rarely kills anyone. Its when they fall on top of your car that does the most damage. They frequently crush in the roof and break upper important things like heads and necks.

Bullwinkle is not your friend when you are in a small car.
Although I do love to watch the out of state leaf peepers try to take pictures of them...So much fun to see them run screaming back to their Lincolns....