Well, I took a quick look at my plans and I am now 65% sure I will not have enough space to comfortably make the mount...But I think I figured out a way to save the sled.
I can use the table saw and remove a section of the forward plate for the sled and give myself another 3/4 inch of space.

So I guess its a little early to rip the plastic off the fresnels...

Tonight will be table saw surgery.

Forceps...check
Clamp...check

TABLESAW!...yeehaw!

Yes thats right were going to get "medievil on the apparatus' buttocks!"

Im not going to make the electronics without a little fight, so I figured I could cut away a little and be okay...Problem is the sled is oak held together with gorilla glue....hmmmm. Not an easy job.

So we do it like so:

First mark off the area that you want to remove. Better to measure a few times here.

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Then, cut the grooves on either side to free the grain. Use the table saw stop to keep you from trimming too much...

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Now heres the very delicate surgery part, to save you endless sawing. Take your favorite old screwdriver, or a chisel if you have one, and break out the section to be removed. Dont go too far. There!
All the precision of the finest swiss watches and all the subtlety of a fine "Boones Farm 2005, week32, vat 26, Made by Earl"...

ahhh, the bliss...

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To be continued....

Now that most of the wood is gone, return to the tablesaw and trim off the loose bits. With the table saw set to the right depth, it will take all the wood off...

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Then a little paint to seal the deal.

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Now its off to celebrate the "oakectomy" with the nurse/wife and a glass of Fresca and orange juice!

Night All!

Nicely done.

I had envisioned ripping the top 3/8" or so off of the top of the sled, making the base in front thinner, and leaving room for the electronics.

But this is good, too.

Thanks!

I figured this would be just as easy. It should be okay for the boards. Now I just have to get in there and cut out the spaces for the FCC's. Since I cant break the bond of the Gorilla glue, I guess I will have to do it the old fashioned way. Hope I can find one of my woodworking chisels...

Im getting dangerously close to having to strip that monitor...

Just don't let killer kitty near the stripped monitor. I was always worried about the edge connectors, but the corners of the glass are very brittle too! I haven't tried powering up the LCD since the incident. I suppose that I should see how bad the damage is. Maybe it'll just affect the pixels in-line with the damage. That's still a write-off, but it may be useful for the "Lumens theory" thread for testing purposes.

Oh, and before stripping the monitor, make sure that you DO let killer kitty act as a bouncer for any unwanted rodents. You certainly don't want a repeat performance of your first sled build with the LCD panel in there!

A late night rodent
Glass shatters, then silence falls
Oh no, not again!

Well, substitute "kitty" for "rodent" and that's my story.

Well, not much going on tonight. I spent a little bit looking for the ideal handles for the focus box. I had some in mind, but they were VERY expensive...

So I went with these instead...

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I think I got the look for the front that I want. Although one of the handles looks bigger than the other because its shaded a little darker.

I like them though. Floral accents were common in the Art deco period.

So what is the answer to the pop quiz? Give me an F. I can't figure it out.

supra is your cat a bowl of petunias,, by any chance
sounds more like a whale to me,,,,,

edit,,

sam I luc the touch of the elegant handles

makes me think of HG wells time machine,,,

and ps,, like your construction too,, elegant,, very much so

Heh. Though I'll admit to being something of a Douglas Adams fan, my cat is neither the whale nor the bowl or petunias. Perhaps more akin to the missile pre-improbability encounter.

I definitely like those handles, they suit the style of the projector very well.

Rivets... Railroad spikes, perhaps? They also look very appropriate.

So let's see. You're practically done the light engine, the front focusing assembly, and now the LCD/fresnel sled is well underway. Looks to me like it's getting close to screenshot time! I gotta say that I'm really looking forward to it!

They are abstract birds!

Thanks SupraGuy!, and Thanks to you too Elken2004!

To tell the truth, Im scared to death it will look like crap, but I made a commitment to the logging of the whole experience, so if it sucks, then it sucks...

PS. Jurassic Kitty is a little shy of the garage right now. He got locked in there for about 6 hours last weekend and didnt like it. Accident.

with the amount of effort and attention to detail you've put in, i'm sure the results will be wonderful

Thats a really nice thing to say. Thanks!
Im kind of hoping for test run of the lens system tonight...
Not sure though. Works been a little hectic lately.

Samurai: I agree like the others, the amount of effort your putting into the art of building this pj amazes me. Makes me feel like revamping mine. Thanks for presenting every little detail you post, it will help alot for us should we design ours like yours. Do I hear another model called Samuraijack join the ranks of Haas and Puni5her? And this is just the box! Eagerly waiting the results and the final box assembly.
sim

Nahh ... you'll just keep tweaking it till it rocks! Your craftsmanship is impeccable, can't wait to see projections.

Gosh guys...Im not even really sure what to say to the last few comments. I never would have presumed to have someone actually want to copy my work. I'm just trying to make something "shiny". ( reference anyone? )

Thanks for the compliments ( keep em coming......kidding...)
After I got over the intial shock I was very happy that someone might be getting something out of this log.

SJ

PS. Heres a radical idea; Lets see if it works first!

You truly are the Last Samurai!

So the sled needs a little work and I have an unlikely ally in the fight for time for the PJ. Meet "Jenny"...

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The kids had a really good time making her a house and watching her. I liked that they were so gentle. Makes me feel better about things... Kids dont seem as nice as they were when I was growing up in the early part of my life.

So the sled needed a little modding to fit the CMV520D. Following Gadgetsmiths diagram ( Thanks for posting that!) for the 520D, I measured out the cutholes for the FCC ribbons. He had already tested the spacing and it was good.

Sorry, but I have to do this freehand. Watch out! It could get ugly...

Initial shaping...

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and still more shaping...Using a dremel tool with a rough sand drum 1/2 inch. Im using the drum as a gauge to estimate depth. Wish I could use the router tool freehand...

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A close up so you can see how rough this really is...

And the final product. I finished off using a 1/4 medium grit sand with the dremel...

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Looks a little rough because I rounded all the edges . I figure less chance of something tearing...sort of...maybe.

A slightly different angle. Once again...kinda rough, but it should work okay.

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BLOW ME! Blow me away? Blow it away? Hmmm...I think I blew it... No seriously... Just take that can and blast away. It will remove almost all of the fine feathery pine dust in about a second. Its particularly nice when you need to remove fine dust from things and cant use tack rags or the like.

Canned Air....Mmmmmm.

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EDIT: For some reason this shot reminds me of DukeNukem 3-D. (?)

and last an angled shot of the sled after cleaning and painting. I think it looks okay. next time, I wont perma-bond the sled together...

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Gotta let it dry....shhhhhhh....

If you listen closely, you can hear the paint dry.

( Thats what I told the kids. I got 5 whole minutes of silence from them... )

Well....look what was on my doorstep today when I got home. I got three of these behemoths...

Even if I cant use these babies for the PJ, you can bet at least some of the lenses will end up in a refractor telescope...hehehehheeeee

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From the side...

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They are actually double adjustable lenses. The have adjustments in both front and back. I seriously gotta finish my rig so I can play with these!

Holy Magnification Batman!

Got any specifications on those regarding focal length and FOV?

It ought to be a cinch to capture all of the available light with those -- no dim corner problems for you!

Dont have a clue! Used the "Force" when I bought them...still....

...whoa!.....

I also have three of those they are delta II big screen PJ lenes the lenes are plastic it is a triplet design with a rear FL of about .5" they won't work for our PJ but the front lens can be removed by removing the three small screws and adding a round piece of wood it would make a great focus adjuster.
got mine for $5.50 pluse shiping.

After examining this one, I can say that these lenses are coated glass. The outer case seems to be made of fibrolite. Still even if it doesnt work with our PJ, its a nice piece to play with. I imagine that a PSOne/small dvd screen in front of one of the would make a pretty good projection.

No kidding. I'd think that you could probably project a PSOne screen with that with no collector fresnel needed. You could almost do so with an 8" screen!

Yep, I seem to remember someone making a 7 inch screen....heheheheeee!

My GAWD that's big ...

I'll have to give my therapist a call; I think I might be suffering from lens envy ...

Samurai,
Wow, I find you design to be more and more interesting, can't wait to see your final product, it looks to be fun.
I hope my PJ will be "shiny" too, but my my coat is brown so, I figure I'll probably be needin' to work it over a bit ''fore it'll be ready for polite society.

Grundel Wanderer

P.S. saw it last weekend

Been following your plog since day one, great story about the rodent. Here is a photo of the delta II. I have dissected one and measured the FL of all the lenses I don't know how to measure a negative lens other than to add a positive lens until it goes positive. The front lens has a FL of 20" the second was 6" and the third lens is a very strong concave lens.
The one that I have weighs 3 pounds. Are you looking to try to increase the throw of your PJ?
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In the astronomay world they call it "Apeture Fever".....baby did a bad bad thing....!

Glad to see you enjoy the PLOG. Yep Im a Browncoat from a ways back. I was one of the 500 people to flip Nathan Fillion off at DC last year...
as far as the design of the PJ goes, Well, "I aim to misbehave"

Maybe, but Im also just tinkering and thinking outside the box. Its fun and stimulating and I really enjoy it.

Lately, as of Saturday AM, we have had a new visitor in the house, who has since become a very permanent fixture...Hence the total lack of PJ Progress....

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Spent most of the weekend making sure the 2 year old was being gentle with her. We had to take her at 6 weeks which is a little young, but she is making out just fine.

Awww, She's so CUTE!

How's Jurassic Kitty taking the company? The rule of thumb that I've heard is to allow a cat one month for every year of age that they are to get used to another cat in the house, but sometimes with a very young kitten even an older cat will accept them straight off.

I'll bet your daughter is absolutely enchanted. I know mine would be.

Jurassic Kitty is not very happy with us and has even gone so far as to snub us. But Im thinking he will get over it. Just this AM, he let her climb on him and only gave a mild look of disgust...

So out of the realization that I had drilled two of the holes "off angle" for the LCD sled comes two, possibly new, Ideas.

1. I finally figured out how to do the variable resistance hinges for the lightgate. so simple....

Knock the center pin out and replace it with a 1,1/2 inch 3/16 bolt. Then tighten to the point where it still moves but stays where you want it. Adjust and then tighten it down a little more.

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2. A slightly better method ( for me anyway) of keystoning by gravity, which should enable adjustment ( MAYBE) of the fresnel on the fly

Well, after a few days of screwing around with various configurations and playing, I think I have come up with a design that will allow for 3way adjustment of the front fresnel lens.
I wanted it to be simple, so that just about anybody could make it and I wanted to be able to align the front fresnel on the fly and still preserve the gravity based keystone mechanism.

I dont know why this suddenly became an obsession, but Im hoping to start building it tonight. If my cost estimates are correct, it will cost about 5.00 to build, and only need a drill, a few bits and some glue.
SJ.

Cool. I look forward to it.

3 way adjustment of front fresnel... which three ways?

Forward/backward
Up/down
Side to side

It should ( have faith here...) allow for easy adjustment of the FF while the pj is running

...and it will still keystone by gravity.

Gotcha. I thought you might have figured out how to keystone up/down and side/side with minimal fuss. That would certainly be unique.

Actually, If I put a slide in, it could keystone from side to side easily. but with this design you basically have only the choice of one direction to keystone or maybe just a smidge of a verticle and side to side...maybe just a few degress.

Remember I am trying to make this accessible to everybody...

...otherwise, it would be some crazy hydraulic thingymajig that can bounce up and down during commercials!
( "Lowrider" playing in the background...)

Actually I think I can figure this out. What we are basically talking about is a keystone adjustment that can take care of side to side and bottom/top keystone and all angles and combinations in between?

If we are, I already designed one... It just lacks the ability to center, so you have to get it right when you install it...

and the tolerances can shift as much as 2 mm...

This actually sounds awesome! That is one of my biggest worries with this project. Since I want to be able to mount the pj on the ceiling, I thought keystoning would be a big issue for me to config.

This would definately help a lot! Thanks for all of the great work!!

I assume that all of this will be published in time?

Cute Kitty BTW, I have a little Pug-Chihuahua mix at the moment, I wonder if he would get along with a new little kitty? LOL

Well if you are going to point the PJ directly at the screen, then you only need side to side and up and down. That is the true bent of the first one I mentioned. The second one is more versatile in terms of adjustment, but it all has to be done by hand. No gravity keystone here, but it makes up for it by being able to adjust the keystone at compound angles. IE you could do a few degrees to the right and a few degrees up at the same time.

That would actually make the fresnel do a planar tilt, but the combinations of usable adjustments could be worth the adjustment.

I figured it would be overkill for mine.

Gasp! I didn't know that word existed in sj's vocabulary!

LOL

Seriously though, he's gotten me more exited about building my pj than anyone else so far, but then again I have a short attention span forum topic disorder.

Thanks for the info SJ!

Hey Now!
Failure, dissapointment, bad spelling, its all been visited onto me!

But I really cant help it. My heritage is Celt. We are wanderers and explorers. I spend my entire life going "Hey!, Whats that? What can I do with it? and where can I find more things to do things with it?"

and following the "Call of the "Celts":

Hmmmmm....I wonder whats on the other side of that ridge?

Its the best life I could ever imagine! My entire life has been flavored with the same feeling that kids feel when they look under a stone...

"Whoa! Cool!"

I wish that on everyone.
Thats why this group is so cool. Everyone here has asked themselves the same thing:CAN I REALLY DO THIS?

and the reward is pure joy and satifaction!
( and big honking screenies, am I right?!!!!)

Cheers to you all!

But no bad poetry.

Failure is what makes you appreciate inspiration even more. The determination to try again and make improvements is where the average becomes the exceptional.