Well, I’ve been lurking here at the ‘Lab for almost a year now. Finally buying the guide was a good first step… plunking down several hundred dollars for parts was the real commitment. After reading several hundred posts over the last few months, I got started this weekend, and so far it’s been fun, exciting and educational. As much as I hope to get spectacular results, at this point my motivation is more about seeing if I can actually pull it off.

So without further ado, my shopping list:

Ebay: ($201.00)
Samsung 150MP 15” LCD Monitor (VGA, S-Video, Composite, Coax / 1024x768 25ms)

Lumenlab: ($313.34)
Ultimate Light Kit (E-ballast, mogul base, S400DD Metal Halide Lamp)
120V Wiring kit (Circuit breaker, entry module, power cord)
12V adapter
2 Evercool PCAC fans
S15 Lens Kit – (triplet, collector & condenser fresnels)

Directron: ($47.32)
2 Power Switches w/LEDs (I forgot the 120V Wiring kit already had a switch)
Anti-Static Gloves
4 large anti-static bags (made a cheap anti-static mat)
Computer Tool Kit (w/soldering iron)

Radio Shack ($14.99):
18-Gauge Wire (Black, Red, Green)
Quick release & eye-hole connectors
2 Terminal strips

Ikea ($4.32):
“Napkin Holder” Reflector

Home Depot: ($124.40)
½” Oak Plywood (Case)
¼” Particle Board (LCD / Fresnel Frames)
High Temp black paint
Red Oak Wood Stain
Various Brushes
Various Screws / Nails / Hinges
Silicon 2 Caulk
Protractor / Compass / Ruler
Aluminum Flashing
Sandpaper
Electrical Tape & Friction Tape (for taping & gaskets)
AC filter cloth

Sears ($86.59):
Craftsman Jigsaw (Orbital w/45 degree tilt & laser sight)
Safety Glasses

Gardena Glass ($20):
Tempered Glass heat shield


TOTAL……$821.96 (8/9/05 Note: total's closer to $1000 with screen. I've stopped counting )

I spent more than I wanted on tools, but they’ll be well worth it in the long run. I’ve already got a power drill and a dremel, so I think I’m pretty well equipped for this.

I’ve drawn up some rough sketches of my design, loosely based on Leemu23's box

I decided to start by stripping the LCD and making a frame, since all my measurements will be derived from that. Once I’ve assembled it, I’ll sketch out a new box design with Photoshop and post it here.

Please excuse my ghetto pics… all I’ve got right now is a cheap little $40 camera.

It's kinda fun to lay out all the parts (took me about a month to assemble them all). My checkbook let out a little squeal, but I'm ignoring it as best I can.

My first victim: a Samsung 150MP LCD TV

The response rate is less than stellar (25ms), but I played Halo 2 on it for a while before I stripped it and didn't have any problems. Hopefully gaming will hold up on the big screen. I just couldn't resist the component and S-video inputs. If it turns out as well as I hope, I'll pick up an N6 or some kind of HD cable down the road.

My “before” picture. I’ll have to break up my entertainment center and push the rack of decks to the left, push my DVD library to the right, mount my center speaker higher and build a screen. Eh, that's way down the road.

The aftermath. A (hopefully) successful strip.

Teaerwen, I can't thank you enough. If you want to strip a 150MP, look no further than his guide.

I didn't time myself, but even taking it slow it couldn't have been more than 45 minutes. There are a couple tiny, tiny screws on the last step that I had to get out with my pocket knife, but otherwise it was cake.

I won’t reassemble and test it until it’s mounted. It's tough waiting and wondering...

The leftovers. I’ll need to dremel out the control buttons eventually. I may decide to mount the speakers and IR receiver in the box too, but since I’ve already got a killer surround setup and the monitor didn’t come with the remote, I’ll just set them aside for now.

The LCD panel. These things really are fun to work with. Scary, but fun. I’ve got it in an anti-static bag right now, and I use anti-static gloves and much care every time I touch it, but it still scares the heck out of me. I’ll feel much better once it’s securely mounted and I can test it to make sure I didn’t kill it.

The control, TV tuner and power boards. I don’t know if I need to re-mount the small power board (it was only connected to the backlight). Is there any harm in keeping it in anyway?

Lots ‘o boards. It’s gonna be a little tricky to mount them in my design, but I’ve got some ideas.

The LCD frame. Since I don't own a router (and it's a weird shape anyway), I'm building the frame in three layers out of 1/8" particle board. It lets me cut to the exact shape of the panel and includes space for the edge connectors. Those bigger blocks of wood are supports for the circuit boards made from 1/2" plywood.

I painted it black yesterday (with the same high-heat paint I'm using on the rest of the interior) and am giving it 24 hours to completely dry.

One question about the edge connectors. Is there a maximum "angle" you can bend them to? The long green board on the left side of the panel is attached to black FFC's that are pre-bent to 90 degrees. But I'm going to have to bend the green board another 90 degrees away from the panel to make it perpendicular and then screw it into the mount. Will that be okay?

Just a note of caution antistatic mats are rubber, an insulator and try to avoid the buildup of static, they have a ground strap to ground to blead off any static charge. Antistatic bags are conductive on the out side (the boards being on the inside) to let the charge flow so it doesn't build up and is conducted to another charge sink (ground). You'll probably be fine but know what you're doing. As the bags are conductive you don't want to power up the boards while on the bags or you can get shorts.

Other than that congrats on getting started I've been dreaming since Nov and hope to get started soon pregnant wife and premature baby limit ones free time

Its good to see someone getting started. I lurked around for about a year, reading everything I saw, before I started building also. I am glad that I did, becasue I felt a lot more confident that I could pull it off after learning so much from those that went before.
Looks like you have a good start and have picked an excellent model to follow.

Thanks for the support and the heads up. I won't power on the boards until they're all mounted on wood. I'm extra paranoid right now since I've painted the frames with a paint that contains lead. I know I'm probably worrying for nothing, but just in case I thought I'd cover the painted wood with electrical tape at any points where the LCD & boards will come into contact with it.

I had my first moment of sheer panic last night when I assembled my frame and tried to test the LCD. I reconnected the boards, buttons and power supply, plugged it in, turned it on, and...

Nothing.

Moment of panic.

Instead of freaking out, I unplugged the PSU and reseated all the connections. Tried it again -- still nothing. After pacing for a moment, torn between despair or throwing the LCD out the window, I decided to look it all over one more time.

I noticed I had plugged the FFC's back in upside down! After a moment of thinking that *must* have fried the screen, I flipped and re-connected it.

Houston, we have a picture!

I can't explain how cool it is to see that image hanging in mid-air (if you haven't done it yourself). Now I know this can work, and I'm very excited.

The only problem now is that it's gonna be hard to build a "tray" for all those boards, mainly since I've got to mount the square controller board upside-down. Since my box isn't going to be rectangular, I'm thinking I'll build a tray that juts out from the front of the LCD sled so that all the electronics can be set inside the box at one (and removed in one piece if necessary). If I connect it with a hinge (where the focal point is at the base of the LCD), I should be able to adjust it to fit into my box design without putting stress on the FFC's.

I'm literally back to the drawing boards. I know I'll need to take my time designing this box, but at least I've got "proof of concept" now.

I'll post some pictures of my LCD sled soon.

Congratulations, you've just taken another step into a bigger picture world.

To mount the boards upside down, I used 1/2" standoffs, which give enough space to allow the board to be there, but still screwed down securely. Works wonders.

It's been a little busy lately... hence, no updates. Thankfully I've got a couple weeks of vacation now. This project's officially in high gear.

---------------------------------

First pic: my LCD sled. I had to whittle away at those 1/8th inch frames to allow for a little "wiggle room" on the LCD. It's a pretty good fit -- bonded in with Silicon caulking -- but loose enough so minor heat expansion and tension won't break the screen. In retrospect, I wish I'd extended the bottom piece of wood -- I had to jury rig a little extension plate to hold the control board that attaches to the FFC's. They've got a little "wiggle room" too, but I don't want to put *any* stress on them.

The Samsung 150MP is a great little monitor, and I'll be curious to see how it holds up on the big screen. However, because it's an LCD TV there are a LOT more circuit boards to deal with (a control board, 2 TV tuner boards, and the power board). After trying to plug everything in without properly mounting it (and watching in horror as boards began sliding around), I decided it would be wise to build a removable tray to hold everything. Here's what it looked like after I painted it but before I mounted the boards.

I hit my first major design roadblock when I measured the circuit boards. Originally I planned on mounting to boards in front on the LCD, angled up toward the lens. It would have put all of my video inputs on the front of the box, which was less than ideal, but I could live with it. But after I built the board tray, I realized it was too long (would've gone PAST the lens). The cable from the control board to the TV tuner also wasn't long enough.

My solution: I decided to build a small "base" under the projector and mount the boards backwards under the LCD. It solved a few problems: the boards fit, the cable between the control and tuner boards has plenty of room, and it orients my video inputs toward the back of the box. Yay!

NOTE: this was a quick Photoshop sketch I did at work. It's WAY out of proportion. Yellow = bulb & reflector, Blue = Fans. The black box outside is the ballast. I wanted to keep it inside the box, but everybody's said it throws off enough heat by itself that it might be wise to keep it outside for cooling purposes.

Here's the base I built to mount the boards. It's pretty hard to cut straight lines with a handheld jigsaw, but I'm doing the best I can.

The base completed (again, sorry 'bout the fuzzy pics). The boards sit on that black base within this box. There will be a hole in the bottom of the main enclosure for the control board cable and the power supply cord.

I dremeled out the control board and electrical taped it. I'm pretty happy with the look. I also dremeled the speakers and mounted them on the front of the box. I'll run this projector through my surround sound setup, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have built in sound for the heck of it.

I'm using a "Red Oak" varnish on the box. I'm really happy with the looks of it so far. This project is really fun!

The back of the "base." I'm going to cut some pieces of 1/8th inch particle board to make a grill around the buttons. I couldn't place the inputs flush with the back of the box because the speaker cables wouldn't stretch that far, but I don't think it should be too much of a hassle.

Here's how the LCD will sit over the base. Luckily, it all lines up perfectly for that white cable to plug in underneath. Tonight I'm gonna make some new measurements for the enclosure... I'll start building it tomorrow.

I love it when a plan comes together...

My enclosure is progressing quite nicely... I'd forgotten how woodworking can be both rewarding *and* frustrating. It took a while to get everything lined up properly. I used my Dremel sander attachment to get the angles right (caulking should take care of most of my "mistakes").

My biggest frustration is the fact that both my power drill and Dremel are cordless. That's fine for the power drill, but the Dremel only lasts for about ten minutes of heavy use. Eh, it's enough for now.

Another pic... the hole in the bottom is for the cable between the controller board and the TV tuner (which sits in the base unit).

Mainly for my own benefit - a list of what I need to do next:

1) trim those LCD supports & make sure all screws are flush
2) final sanding, wipedown
3) caulk inside joints
4) paint inside black, stain outside
5) build frame for rear fresnel, mount for front fresnel, order tempered glass
6) wire power & light kit
7) test fire light, build triplet lens mount
8) finish lid parts, tweak for cooling
8) TEST! Align optics, secure fresnels

whew... got a ways to go

That is so sweet looking, damn you guys are so talented!!

That really does look like a sweet setup.
Halo2.Havn't played that for months!But it was one of the reasons for building the pj in the first place!!!
I am sure I'll get back to it!

Thanks mediazclan & pun15her... coming from the two of you, that means a lot.

So I feel like I've gotten a lot accomplished in the last 48 hours. I did my last minute shopping for odds and ends today. Picked up a dowel to hang the front fresnel, my AC filter cloth (finally found black), and some assorted screws & paint tarps.

Now that I have exact measurements, I ordered my tempered glass. A pleasant surprise -- it's only gonna cost $20 and they'll have it by tomorrow! Guess that's what you get for dealing with an actual glass company in a big city (LA).

I double-caulked all the joints last night and widened the hole for the triplet focusing mechanism. Here's what I've got so far:

I had to recut one of the top panels because it was too short (it's the one in the front), so it's not sanded yet. This'll give you an idea of what this beast will look like all sealed up...

One thing I couldn't find on my shopping trip today: a digital thermometer. I'd like to find something small and black... just a little low-profile doo-dad for the side of the box. Any ideas? (I'm gonna check a few computer mod sites and see what I can find).

I'm working on the focusing box right now. I figured I'd wait to cut the hole for the triplet until I can test fire the lights and make sure I've got the alignment right. Once my dremel is recharged I'll work on making all four sides flush so it'll slide well.

Woah! You're projector is coming along very neatly. It looks completely professional. Good job and keep up the good work!

Yesterday was spent mostly painting and staining the box. This morning I worked on my lid, taped up the inputs on the base, and attached the base to the box. I'm really happy with the color of the stain, though I think I'll need to apply some clear laquer at some point.

I went ahead and threw in the bulb, fans and switches. I'm working on a wiring diagram, which I'd really appreciate feedback on.

... and another...

... and yet another.

(at some point I'll appropriate a better camera so you can actually see some detail inside)

... and the back.

I don't know where I should mount the ballast -- on the bottom behind the inputs, or on the side. Would it get too hot on the bottom? I don't think it'll get in the way of the inputs. If I mounted it on the side, would it get too hot for the wiring mounted on the other side (it's 1/2" oak plywood)?

More importantly -- with the ballast mounted on the outside, is there any risk of electrocution by touching it? Should I still wire my "ground" lines to the bolt on the side of the ballast when it's external?

Sorry... I know this wiring diagram is kinda hard to follow. Could somebody help verify that I'm about to do this right?

Questions:

1) Are the toggle buttons wired properly? (I'm concerned that the "neutral" immediately goes to the fans, ballast and LCD, though the "live" only goes to the fans - the switch cuts it off from the other two)

2) Are my grounds wired properly?

3) Is it okay to have my "live" and "ground" on the same barrier strip?

4) Everyone says to remove the fuse before working on this stuff. Since I'm using a circuit breaker, do I need to "remove" it?

Thanks... any help would be appreciated. I won't wire it up until I get some feedback / confirmation.

My college roommate was a computer science major who dabbles in building robots (i.e. he knows WAY more about things electrical than I do). I owed him a call, and we ended up chatting for over two hours about this stuff. He answered most of my questions, and was nice enough to make me a real diagram:

1) Wiring diagram is okay (with suggestions/explanations of concepts)

2) Grounds are okay, though I'll want to tape up / enclose the contacts on the ballast

3) He recommended switching the grounds over to the neutral strip, just in case

4) Circuit breaker doesn't need to be removed

The two biggest things he noticed was that my toggle switch is only 12V (silly me was about to send 120V through it!). He found a relay at Radio Shack that has a 12V coil but passes 125V, so I'm gonna go pick one of those up this morning. He also suggested some ways to make my wiring itself a little more elegant.

Here's his schematic with the relay -- the grounds aren't shown:

Proof is in the pudding - screenies??

PS: Awesome looking pj!!

*sigh*

3 things keeping me from building right now:

- my vacation ended
- my girlfriend appropriated me for the weekend (don't get me wrong... I wasn't complaining)
- I pulled a muscle in my back lifting some things yesterday

Despite the minor personal injuries, I pushed on last night, finished my electrical wiring, jury-rigged the fresnels and mounted my triplet.

I'VE GOT A PICTURE!

I'll get some screens up as soon I can. It's not nearly as bright as I'd like, but I've got light leaks everywhere, I've got the fresnel placement mixed up, and I was testing from a really crappy source (but when I hit the menu button on the LCD, the menu itself looked great, and I could get it in perfect focus). My test image was about 10 feet diagonal. I was gonna go smaller, but now that I've seen it that big I want to keep it. Hopefully I can tweak up the brightness to a point I'm happy with.

Yeah Lumenlab!

We hurry up and get thinks tweaked and post pictures. Congrats on getting your projector working!!!

Well, I was a little hesitant to post this pic, but I'll be out of town for a week and it's the only one I've got right now.

My girlfriend was nice enough to take this with her cameraphone. It's daytime outside with the blinds closed. The picture is much, much brighter in real life, though I've still got a lot of tweaking to do (the fresnels are backwards and aren't mounted yet, no light leaks sealed, etc.). Still, considering this picture you're seeing is only the center third of the image, being projected onto a sofa cushion, I'm pretty happy (total image is about 10 feet diagonal, though you can't see it all).

I gotta grab me a decent camera!

lol nice sceen u have there i may have to try that one

I took the liberty of correcting the brightness/contrast of your pic for ya.

The good news is - I'm going to Hawaii for a week on a paid company "retreat." The bad... well, heck, I'm going to Hawaii. The PJ can wait.

(Sorry PJ... hope I didn't hurt your feelings)

On another impulsive whim (this happens to me a lot), I went out and bought a Canon Powershot A95. Really nice camera, from what little I've played with it. I took a couple more pics for ya:

The completed case, pre-stained. I need to add the AC filter, mask some light leaks and add some gasketing around the lid.

The light chamber. You can see my lenses aren't mounted at all. I'll probably redo some of the wiring to make it a little safer (at least for my own peace of mind)

In the front... all this needs is a little cover for the cables that go down into the base unit and a cowling for the triplet assembly (to block light leaks). I'll probably stick to manual focus for now... once it finds a place to live, it'll probably stay in one position.

Here's a new "test shot." You can see how much ambient light I've got (it's broad daylight outside). Definately a "night-time" projector, but it's nice to know it's still a somewhat watchable image during the day (since this may very well replace my TV).

When I get back I need to *not* fire up the projector... I should finish my painting, frames & mounting, and move some furniture so I can project against an empty wall. I promise I'll get around to it... it's been a blast so far.

Well, I'm back... unfortunately back to work as well. Luckily I'm in the tweaking stage, so finding an hour here and there to noodle around should be enough to get this box in shape.

I've built a frame for my rear fresnel and mounted it along with my tempered glass. I had my fresnels backwards for those other pictures... swapping rear for front and vice versa gave me a nice boost in brightness.

For the last two nights I've run the projector three hours at a time. The temperature peaked at 88-90 degrees (which I'm pretty happy with considering how many light leaks I've still got).

I'm not as happy with the brightness and color. As you can see from the following pictures, I've got a distinct green tint to the image. I don't know if this is caused by the brand new bulb (as some other posts have suggested) or by my tempered glass. I'm guessing it's mainly the glass -- the edge of the glass looks green, even though I asked for "no tint." I might try swapping it out for a piece of Lexan and see if that does the trick (hopefully without causing the temperature to rise).

As for the brightness, well... I don't have a screen yet! (Duh). I'm ordering enough material to build a screen roughly 10 feet diagonal, as well as 25 foot SVGA, RCA and Toslink cables (for my HTPC and stereo receiver).

The pics below show some of my progress. Please keep in mind these shots are from the TV tuner on my LCD (the VGA input looks MUCH better... I'll probably want to pick up an N6 at some point to watch TV via component video).

My first pic is from Battlestar Galactica. The projector was still warming up, so the green tint is way more obvious:

Return of the Jedi (composite video)