Welcome all to my PLOG!

This will be my first PJ, which I will be attempting afer pouring over this site for the last three months or so. Thank you all for providing such a great community around here, as I have really learned a lot by watch all of your achievements (and mistakes ).

I am currently in Germany, at the end of a 3 month rail trip through Europe. I will be back in Canada on July 31'st, and expect to be cutting wood on August 1'st! I have only two-three weeks to complete any woodworking, since I am moving out for school, and will lose use of my Dad's powertools.

Anyways, to the design.

I plan on positioning this PJ on a night table or something next to my bed (dorm room). I want the picture on the wall at the foot end of my bed. This PJ will feature both horizontal and vertical keystoning, as I will be changing rooms frequently over the next few years, I need the versatility.

I was going to go with the standard 15" PJ since I am unexperienced and this is my first attempt. However, I didn't like the shape of the PJ as it was (light coming from the long end). I think it would be a bit awkward to put on a night table next to my bed, since most bedside tables are wider rather than deeper. So I though to myself, I am pretty good with woodworking, and it's only one mirror. Therefor, I am folding the standard 15" PJ, which will reduce the length of the thing by about 10cm, plus let me orientate it to better sit on a night stand while still projecting to my desired wall.

Here is a to scale (1 pixel = 1 mm) image of my design:



Any comments? Major mistakes I've made? Things I've overlooked?

Now for the two way keystoning. My plan is to mount the collector fresnel inside a frame which is mounted inside another frame.

The outer frame will have pivots (probably dowels) centered in the top and bottom which will connect to the PJ box. On the left and right side of the top portion of this frame will be two threaded bolts. They will extend through the lid of the PJ, which will have +/- 15° circular cuts. When the PJ is closed and running, you can adjust horizontal keystone by turning the entire fresnel mounting system, then fastening it in place by tightening some nuts against the lid.

The vertical keystoning will work by gravity. The inner frame is connected to the outer frame by an identical set of pivots, but centered on the sides. The bottom if the inner frame will also have some weights on it. It will always be free to move. This way, gravity should keep the fresnel parallel to the wall/screen.

Here's my diagram (i love MS Paint!):



I haven't decided on the design for the focus box yet. I was thinking of going electrical, but time constraints may make me choose something simple. Besides, that is something I can always add later.

As for the light engine, I am still making some decisions here. I think I will not use an electric ballast. As far as I see, there is no advantage. They costs much more, must be mounted extrenally, and (based on info from the forums) are a little less reliable. I will probably choose an M59 Coil and Capacitor ballast. Too bad I missed my chance at one for $25 CDN last night on eBay :angry:.

I am also sourcing LCDs. There is a pretty good LIQUID VIDEO A150X1 on eBay I am bidding on tonight. 16ms response and 500:1 Contrast ration makes me really want this one. Now don't any of you compete with me on the bid just cause I told you about it

Well, that's about it. Oh yeah, I also got a nice stainless steel bowl at ikea that is the perfect size.

So please, provide comments, criticisms, questions, improvements, whatever. I want this to go well, and to be done in the time frame required.

Expect tons of updates when I get back home. Until then, good luck on your own projects!

-Pascal

Nice looking design I'm getting ready to start a similar folded design.

That is a very nice design.I think you have the bases covered.
Best of luck.
It is a journey!!
Enjoy the ride.Cheers P

Hey everyone,

Well, I'm a little behind on my plans (cutting wood on the 1'st.... didn't happen). However, I got started today.

I build the auto keystoning swivel frame for my front fresnel. It worked out wonderfully. As this is the largest part in the whole system, I can now determine the final size of the box.

I will spend the rest of today editing/finalizing the schematics, and should be cutting into the MDF tomorrow. Oh yeah, I also had fun lighting wood on fire with the giant magnifying glass that is my fresnel lens

Here are some pics of the construction, and a Quicktime video of the final product.

Enjoy!

The video (quicktime required)

My revised and final plan, with inner and outer dimensions using 19mm thick MDF wood.

I'm off to go cutting. Expect some result pics later today!

woohoo, projections!!!

Well, it's been a long day of cutting. I'm actually amazes how well things went. Due to the new positioning of the lens, and the fact that I want the top of the projector to slant down on each side from the middle, one piece (174mm in diagram) was incredibly hard to cut. So many different angles in so many different directions! Oh well, it worked out quite well. There are some small gaps that didn't line up just right, but that can be filled with wood filler, or silicon, or something. No biggie. There is one part I will have to remake though. I tried making it out of scrap. The piece had no straigh edge, so I tried to freehand it on the tablesaw. It looks good, but its just a bit too far off.

Here is my cut out base. It's a lot bigger than I imagined it would be... oh well. I'll trade some space for a massive screen at a good price any day!



This was a pleasant surprise. I put the base with the lens down on a chair, and the garage lights focused exactly on the area where the point light source will be! I know the front fresnel shouldn't focus there, but that was due to the weird angle of a ceiling light. However, look at how perfectly the light follows the diagramed light path!!!



And finally, some pics of all the walls cut out. Nothing is secured yet. I'm deciding what to do tomorrow. Maybe I will bolt it all together, but I will probably take it apart to install the glass and stuff. My LCD should be here any day now. Bad news though, I talked to the glass place in town, and they don't think they can get it until september 1'st!!! I won't even be living here anymore. I will have to wait until I move, then order. I want my PJ NOW!!!

Hmm.

I didn't get nearly as much done today as I would have hoped. I recut a piece I wasn't happy with, and glued/nail gunned the walls of the case together. All the pieces except for one.

I have a problem now. The 105 mm part where the lens goes. Originally, the triplet was supposed to be centered in there. I was simply going to cut out a focus box around it. However, it now seems that due to various inaccuracies throughout the construction, the lens is actually pretty far to the right, near the outer wall.

Here's a picture:


Does anybody have any ideas for a focusing mechanism. The only thing I can think of right now is ot go ahead with the focux box method, but not have a wall on the one side of the focus box. It shouldn't really affect it that much, should it? It's not like the little box has to bear load or anything, it's just holding the lens.

Perhaps if I'm not to have a complete box anyway's I will only have extensions on the top and botton, for symetry. Really, the weight of the lens is just resing on the bottom part anyways.

What do you guys think?

oh, by the way, for adjustment, I am stealing the awsome idea from the focusing mechanisms thread. The one with the screw mechanism from the deoderant stick. How simple and cool! I forgot who thought of it, and I'm too lazy to look, but thanks!

Well, the focusing mechanism more or less works. It needs some sanding to get it to slide a bit smoother, and maybe a rail to keep in horizontal, but nothing big.

I started on the wiring. I have the fans wired, all I need to do is cut holes for them now.

My tempered glass should be here by Friday. I got a mirror, but I don't think it's what I need, so I will probably just return it and order the one from the LL store. I described what a FS mirror is to the people at the glass shop, and they said that what I am looking for is what they use to cut mirrors for cars. Now when I look at it, it looks like front surface, but there is a major downside. If I hold it to a light, I CAN SEE THROUGH IT!!! That is just WAY too many lumens lost right there, so it's going back.

Now, my LCD (Samsung Syncmaster 150mp - TV Tuner baby!) got in today. I go to the post office to find a horribly abused cardboard box. When I open it, the screen's stand is cracked in half, which happened during shipping, since the eBay add shows it in tact. And the ad does show this exact monitor, I can tell by the SN. So, I'm wondering if it even still works, having been tossed about like that. I would love to plug it in and see, but the $%*&ers didn't pack the power brick into the box!!! I checked the auction, and it states "Everything pictured and described in this auction is included with the monitor." Well, I see a nice big picture of a power brick in the ad, SO WHERE IS IT???

Now I have to wait for them to ship it, which will be another week or so, which means I am DEFINATELY not going to be done with this PJ before I move out, and lose access to power tools. ARGH :angry:

So what do you think I should do. Should I go ahead and strip it, build the frame and install it, and just hope that it is functinoal? Or should I wait until the brick is here and confirm it's functionality BEFORE stripping it???

Please give me some advice! Lots of people are reading this PLOG, but no one writes anything!

Sucks that they forgot to include it. The postal service seems especially slow when it comes to getting your precious components in the mail.

While you're waiting for the power supply, you might want to seriously plan the LCD sled. I use the 150MP in my projector. It's really easy to strip, but the LCD and boards can be very tricky to lay out and mount. Since you're going for the smallest enclosure possible, it's gonna be a little tight.

I tested my LCD before I stripped it and after I mounted it (I'd strongly recommend anti-static bags to store it in between). I'm sure you'll want to test it out when you get the power supply. Just be careful if it's post-strip, pre-mount... the panel and boards are at their most vulnerable at this stage.

Good luck! Lemme know you have any other specific questions.

Yeah. Get this. They are now saying the power brick was never included in the auction, and don't want to send one, becasue it wasn't in a list. However, their ad said, auction icludes anything "PICTURED and described."

Well, this is from the auction, what do you call this:



I am threatening negative feedback, as well as filing a complaint with eBay. I'd better get a damned brick!

Anyways, Dweezilkid, I have read your whole PLOG many times. Good job! I really love the final projections, considering how green the originals were. I'm glad it all worked out for you.

I'm still not sure if I want to strip it before I even know it works. I don't want the eBay seller to be able to say I broke it. If it doesn't work, I want his crappy packaging jog to be at fault. Here is a pic of the box and the damaged stand on the LCD:





It must have bounced around HARD for that damage to happen, as it was surrounded by those air pockets. Not bubble wrap, the read thick air pillow things. This is really frustrating when all I wan't to do is finish this PJ and I'm going against the clock.

Oh well, on a lighter note, some progress!



Oh, and to anyone starting out. DON'T USE MDF! I hate this stuff. I'm using air filter masks and still I've been caughing for the last week. The sawdust this stuff produces is so fine, there is no chance a little filter will stop it. Unless you like wrecking your lungs by breathing wood, AVOID IT!

The dust is also carcenogenic so you should really use very good respirators or not use the product at all !

Well, most of the wood work is done. I won't be buying a respirator for the little bit I still have. Next time I will simply not use MDF

Was the value of it declared for insuarance?

File a claim with the shipper for the damage, they will want to see the broken monitor. You just might end up with a new LCD Monitor out of the deal.

You could use the damage as leverage with the seller, tell them if they send you the power supply and the monitor works you won't file a comlaint with Ebay/

Otherwise definitely dispute it with Ebay, you should get a 100% refund.

how did this projector work out..this is the same kind of design im looking for

It's exactly where I left off

Since I moved out from home and am in a dorm room now with no access to a garage, I haven't worked on it at all. And this dorm room is so poorly ventilated, my computer makes it seem like a sauna. I cound't even immagine running a 400w lamp in here.

I did realise one MAJOR flaw in my design though. It seems I built that cool swivel auto vertical keystone thingy for no reason at all! Since I am folding my design, it will not work. The swivel requires me to tilt my projector lengthwise, but I will be tilting it width wise! D'oh

Oh well. You can be sure I will post when I work on it again. There are a few minor things I could do, like install the electronics for the light.

Also, i've been lazy and haven't gotten a job since coming to uni. I have $0

Thanks for your interest though.

Good luck man. I'm also in a dorm and am using room fans to overcome the extra heat the PJ puts out. It never was a problem at home, but in this tiny, poorly ventilated room it can get pretty warm.

Luckily the PJ was built before I got here.

Well, after a year of sitting in my dorm room collecting dust, the old projector has been cannibalized for parts. I never intended to abandon the project, but I lost interest in finishing the old projector. Why? well:

1) The folded design rendered my swizel auto-vertical-keystoning lens mount useless! This is something that did not occur to me until quite late in the build stage.

2) I left the focus mechanism until the end, always saying "I'll figure something out". In the end, I had a crap-tacular, semi functional mechanism, crammed into an area too small to work properly, with light leaks so large you could drive a train through them. None of this was fixable without a major change to the box.

3) I no longer need a folded PJ, as I live somewhere else now (good bye, dorms!), so the extra expense of a mirror, the light loss, and having just one more possible place for errors was just not worth it.

Sooooooooo, I bought some new wood (never again MDF). I planned out every board, brought the sheet to a friends house who has powertools, and cut all the pieces. The tools were crap, so nothing is very square or smooth, but it is close enough that a bit of sanding, forcing, and gap filling will be enough.

This time around, I am going for a standard, straight projector. The biggest difference, something I wish I had done last time but didn't see until after I had started building, is that I am using rods to mount everything. See here:



The lens will not actually be mounted up there (obviously) - I was just checking the spacing of the rods. Anyways, this approach should allow me to easily adjust the position of the LCD, glass, and both fresnels, so fine tuning it should be a sinch. I am even going to have little access doors on the side, so it can be adjusted with the case almost completely closed, like while watch TV for example.

I learned a lot with the last PJ, and have reorganized my priorities this time around. Until the final stages, the PJ will remain like this, with only a front, back, and bottom. I will be focussing on getting everyting set up properly inside before I close it up.

So, I have wired up the fans, switches, and the ballast, which has also been sitting around for a year doing nothing. However, last time around, I had no bulb. Well, last week I ordered this bulb! I have it and, well, check it out:



Holy CRAP are these things bright! Wow! I mean, I knew they would be, but wow. Now, in the first picture, the light is nowhere near that green in real life. Also, I had the exposure pretty low - it was actually much brighter in real life.

The second one is after about 2.5 minutes of running. I went to the other side of the apartment (2 rooms away) and it still looked like daylight. Wow.

Anyways, I am really excited to FINALLY be working on my PJ again, and seeing the light just made me want to work on it more! Tomorrow I am mounting the lens, the mogul, and the reflector. By the end of the weekend, I hope to have the focus mechanism done, too, and to have initial positioning/tuning of the components complete. I probably won't get nearly that much done, as I still have tons of other, non PJ stuff to do, but I'll aim high.

Anyways, expect frequent updates again, as I plan to finish quickly from here on in.

Pascal.


PS: A quick side note on 1000bulbs.com
>> They ROCK! Especially for Canadians. The bulb was at my house very
>> quickly, no taxes or duties owed (ask for USPS Airmail ~$20) , and only
>> $50 Cdn after everything! This is by far the best deal I have found, and
>> boy did I look.

Yay,
Glad to see you are back in business,stoanhart.
Looks like you are making good progress on ver2.
This is such a great project,it is always a shame to see people stumble before the all encompassing WOW!

welcome back!!!
Cheers P

I'll second that! Sometimes its not a bad thing to just chuck and start from scratch. Im willing to be that all the observations you made while doing the first one will play in nicely with your second one. It should be a fine PJ.

Any ideas on how you will finish it off?

SJ

stoanhart's ". . . back from the dead. Holy crap!" (You familiar with Strong Bad?) Best of luck startin' over.

Yes, I am Back from the Dead...

Anywho, some more pics for you all. Here is how I am mounting my ballast. It is held on by 4 very long wood screws. At the bottom, I have a bunch of nuts and washers to keep the whole thing off of the wood so that it doesn't vibrate as much, and so the ballast doesn't rest on the coil - I don't know if that matters or not, but better safe. I also have some foam at the bottom. I can still here the hum - obviously it will never go completely away. However, it is much quieter now than when it was all just sitting on the wood.



I have also mounted the bowl/reflector now, and have done another light test with the reflector in place. It's hard to see a difference, but at this point, the whole case is open and there are no lenses, so that's to be expected. I was having some trouble finding the exact center of the bulb, but I got a great tip from ShamanDave. I just taped two rulers vertically to the threaded rods, put the bulb in the ballast behind the rulers, and then put a third ruler horizontally across the two, lining up mm markers on both rulers, and adjusting it until the ruler went through the center of the bulb. Perfect!




Oh, I do have one question. I am assuming that this nub is the center:



Am I correct in that assumption? Also, do I want this wire and nub facing the lenses, or will they interfere and block light?

Well that's it for now. I am going to go bolt down the mogul base now - the bulb should be cool.

Pascal

I've done some work, but I haven't exactly made any progress. Why? Because I'm dumb! I planned the whole thing out on computer (using the GIMP - 1 pixel = 1 mm). For some reason, I meant to draw a 220mm line for the focal length of the first fresnel, and somehow drew a 109 pixel line. So, my entire case was too short, so I had to go buy some hardware and extend the box. But that is done now:



This extension should be quite stable. It flexes a bit, but when the sides and top are on, it should be rock solid.

Oh, I also got my swivel, autokeystone fresnel lens mounted. Here is a picture of that (pre-extension):



I also have a picture of the side of the projector. Each side will have one of these access doors. They will be attached with one hinge at the bottom, and I will use weather stripping and a trim to keep it light-proof. A simple little deadbolt should be enough to keep it closed. This will allow me to access and adjust the spacing of the fresnels and lcd at anytime, even while watching, which should really make it a breeze to fine tune!



OK, that's it for today. I have my mount for my glass and other fresnel all planned out. I will be building that tomorrow, so expect the first test projection (hell - yeah). Making those mounts should also be good practice for making the LCD sled, which will be a task for the coming week. I am also going to black out the interior tomorrow.

If all goes well, I will be watching some big ass tv by next weekend! Finally! It's all coming together. I am so psyched!

See yous all,
Pascal

Today is about two things - My tempered glass and fresnel mount, and MY FIRST PROJECTION - in that order.

As I am mounting all of the components on a set of rods running the length of the PJ, I had decided at first to have each component be on its own mount, and independetly adjustable from the rest of the components. However, there is really no reason to adjust the tempered glass, so I decided to build a combo mount for the first fresnel and the glass.

The way I decided to do that, as I lack a table saw to cut grooves, was to make a sandwich style mount using lots of thing pieces of wood, glued together layer by layer. First, I drew up all of the components on the computer, centered and positioned them properly, and then made a parts list with dimensions. Then I cut all of the parts out of some 3mm thick particle board. Here are layer by layer shots of the mount being built:



Well, ok, there's pictures for most steps. Anyways, you get the idea. The 5 layers, starting from the bulb side, are:
-- First trim
-- Glass spacer
-- Middle trim
-- Fresnel spacer
-- Last trim

Once I had it glued together, I sanded the edges to make them smooth and so the whole thing would fit into the PJ. It fits beautifully - almost perfectly flush with the sides and top. The air gap is just the right size, too.

So, once I had that, I was dying to do a test projection, so I tried printing out a test image onto standard paper. I though it would shine through, because if it can shine through an LCD that blocks 80% (I think) of the light, it should be able to do paper too. Nope. Just a big black box. So, we (my GF and I) decided to use a zip lock bag instead. So, here it is... my first projection! For this projection, all of the lenses are placed by hand, not measured, and the triplet is actually being held by hand, so it is by no means an impresive image. Plus, the PJ is close to the wall, so it is small. But who cares? It projected!!!

note: ...hmm. Image limit... I will put the projection shot in the next post then.

i really like the doors on the sides for the lens adjustment.. having a similar setup with the treaded rods i can attest to the pain in the a-- that it is to have to pull everything out to make adjustments and not being able to adjust on-the-fly. this will definatly help with the fine tuning

OK,

I need to remove a small amount of glass from the edge of my piece of tempered glass. It is a little less than half of a 2mm radius circle. I was thinking of just using a grinding bit and my rotary tool to remove the bulk of it, and then using the sanding bit to smooth it a bit.

Will this work? I really don't want to wreck my glass. I tried googling, but I couldn't find any advice.

Thanks!

(I also posted this in the help section. I will be putting up pics in a little bit.)

The area marked in red is what I need to trim off. When inserted in the mounting frame, that part of the glass is in the same place as the whole you see, which is where the rods are to go.

I'm not sure it is wise to mess with tempered glass it will shatter. It's made just like your cars windshield glass. I dropped one from a outdoor spotlight and it broke into small little cubes. The people at the glass place wouldn't cut it either because it would just shatter.

Alright. Thanks.

It seems most sources are against modifying the glass.

Darkmeat, you said a glass shop wouldn't cut it for you? Who does then? I'm sure they don't custom make each individual piece for every customer, do they?

I'm still not sure whether sanding would cause any damage. It seems that you would need a fracture to cause any loss of structural integrity. If I just patiently sand away the glass, it should have little impact on the integrity.

But I am not going to risk it. I will probably be able to build around this by putting the lower guiding rods a bit lower. This will make it harder to adjust on the fly. However, if that doesn't work out, maybe I'll give sanding a shot. Just to see. Afterall, the glass is relatively cheap.

Thanks

I think they do make every piece individually, or in batches. The glass shop I visited wouldn't cut tempered glass either. They also said that they send out to have glass tempered, and that the smallest size this particular temperer could do would have to be 10" across.

I'd say, if the glass is too big, and it's cheap, just buy another piece of glass! If you need to, sell the larger piece in the trading section...

On the other hand, I agree with you about the sanding. Seems like if the glass can be scrached, it can be sanded. If it can be sanded by hand, it should be able to be sanded using power sanders.

They do make every piece of tempered glass to order. The way they make tempered glass is by heating it to the glass's Tg (glass transition tempature) and quickly cooling the outer skin, while allowing the inner layer to cool slowly. This puts the outer skin into tension. You can't cut tempered glass because if the outer "skin" gets damaged the glass will "crystalize" (i.e. break into a thousand pieces). For the same reason it's difficult to etch tempered glass, but it can be done. Just don't go too deep, and be prepared to replace the piece you're working on.

I suggest using a diamond cutter on a high speed tool like a Dremel. I've done it before with good results. As mentioned - there's always a risk though. Be prepared to replace it. And don't leave any corners in your cut - finish everything with a radius to avoid stress points where a thermal fracture might occur.

I will have to side with the "dont do it" side. Once the glass is compromised, it looses the ability to keep itself under even tension, greatly increasing the chance that it will shatter. Even if you get the notch in, it might still shatter when exposed to heat or just a little bump.

I had a friend who built a really neat stereo cabinet and decided that he wanted to float the handle on the glass door. So he took the door off and brought it out to the shop and very slowly with a drill press and a carbide grinder bit made two precise and accurate holes over the course of an hour. He mounted his handle with rubber grommets etc. It looked great.
The first time he closed it it stayed nice and pretty and the cabinet was a beautiful wood tower with a sea of black tempered glass with a leaf handle floating in the side. Very nice.
Then he opened it a few minutes later.
Needless to say, the look on JC's face as he stood there among a bazzillion tiny squares of black glass with a leaf handle in his hand was one of those "Wyle E. Coyote" moments that will never be forgotten.

I would say do a redesign or just a new cut from the shop, other wise it might shatter during a movie. That would be no fun.

SJ

Yep once again just don't do it. The glass shop I was in yesterday was telling a customer outright that they wouldn't cut down his tempered glass because if something happened to him as a result of it they would be liable, plus they said it would just shatter anyway.

It would be easier going to home depot or Lowes to get a piece, or just rip one from an outdoor worklight.

Finally, some time to work on the projector. And it will be finished. THIS WEEKEND! I am alone for the next 5 days (gf at the GrandPrix), and all (well, most) homework is predone, so I am going to go on a building spree. AND IT WILL GET DONE!

Since my last post, I have gotten around my glass problem by simply moving the holes down lower. This has the unfortunate side effect of making the rods less accessible once the PJ is closed, limiting on-the-go adjustment. However, with a nice thin mini wrench, it should still be possible.

Also, originally (as visible in previous images), the rods spanned the entire length of the box. This might have worked had I had access to better tools. However, this whole PJ is basically a hand cut job, which means nothing exactly lines up (except the lenses - I took painstakingly large amounts of time to make sure they are centered). So, I ended up with rods that were forced through two lens mounts and into two end holes, none of which lined up. The rods ended up in a subtle S shape, with nothing movable. So, I have decided to use the cutoff from the rods, as the only part that really needs them is the short middle section that actually has lenses.

Now, my lenses are mounted like this:



This has really improved things, and the system works more as I expected. I have also blacked the front (projecting side) of the pj, as you can see above. Here is a shot of the parts all sprayed and layed out:



I have also gotten around to building the lens mount. I don't have pictures yet, as I think I will just wait until I have it all set up, which will happen tomorrow. I still have to put in the guide rails, and sand the hole a bit bigger. Then I have to find the projection center and cut out the hole to install the triplet lens. That'll probably be the first thing tomorrow morning.

Here is another test shot i did - this time all of the lenses except for the triplet are solidly mounted, properly spaced, and at a perfect 90 degree angle to the bottom of the PJ:



Compare that to my previous shot (reposting it here for easy comparison):



That's it for now.

Pascal

Alright. I got a good chunk of work done today.

First, I finished my lens mount. The picture below shows the general idea of how it works. I have added the lens to it aswell, but I took this picture earlier. I have also added a guide like the metal L clip on the top to both sides. I need to sand a bit more so that it moves a bit smoother, but overall, it works quite well.



The other thing I got done was stripping the LCD! Man was I nervous. Still no idea if it works, as I didn't get a chance to test it yet. However, I was very careful (spent several hours doing it - mostly on the last step), and I don't recall any moments in which I may have overstressed the edge connectors. I hope all is well...

I have detailed pictures of the strip, so I am going to make a separate thread for that. The screen I used is the Samsung SyncMaster 150MP. There is already a strip guide hear by teaerwen, but the pictures are a bit small. I know this screen isn't around much anymore, but hey. It could help someone. I will post the strip guide once I have done it.

Here is a picture of the pannel (oooooh, shiny!):



And look - custom blister packaging for all of the screws - should I ever need them again:




sooooooooooooooo, tomorrows fun will be the planning of the fram, deciding on the positioning of the circuit boards (I already have some thoughts on this), and then mountage. While the case will be incomplete, I imagine I might, maybe, possibly, perhaps be able to see my first video projection tomorrow. OMG, am I excited. This is it, finally!

bye for now.

Awesome!

I second that! That is just toooooooo methodical. Keep up the great work dude!

Thanks guys.

I forgot to set my alarm yesterday, and ended up sleeping until 2:30 PM! Ahh! What a waste of time! So, I didn't get as far as I wanted. However, I did get the pannel frame built. So today, it will be final touches, then final installation of everything. Wow, I hope I finish. I have so much to do today, and a bunch of homework as well, plus grocery shopping.

I'll post a proper update tonight - building the panel mount went very smoothly. I tested the panel after stripping, and the corner I looked at still worked. Don't know about the whole thing, but I have no reason to belive it doesn't. I was very gentle with it when building the frame, so everything should be fine.

The final day is upon me! woot!

Wow. ...and I was so proud of myself for putting mine in separate ziplock bags and marking them with a sharpie.

IT FREAKING WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!









(proper update in a bit)

Hey all!

OK, sorry it took me this long to finally post this. It's just that I got the PJ working at like 1:00 AM, ate some food, went to bed, went away for a week, came back, did catch-up homework for a week, and now finally have the time to update!

OK, so here we go...

First I will go over how I mounted the LCD. I used the same system as I did for my Fresnel lenses. I used thin MDF and designed the mount in layers. A back layer for the panel to rest on, a middle layer to keep it in place and support the edge connectors, and a front layer to seal it all in. Here are step by step pics of the construction process:

Oops! Accidentally made an extra post.

Anyways, all in all, it was a stressful, long, yet problem free installation. There was one scary moment though:

See in the pictures above, how the finished mount has the LCD controller connected by two orange FCC's? Well, when I was lifting the panel into the PJ (with the card folded against the panel, resting on the paper towel), I accidentally DROPPED the card. It fell, and caught itself by the FCC's and edge connectors! Ahh! No problems though. I know these things are delicate, but I guess they are a little tougher than I was lead to believe!

Now, the current status is... COMPLETE! Yup, it looks like I am 99.5% done. When I first fired up the PJ, it worked quite well. It is evenly lit, and there are no major problems that I see. However, on my first test, the PJ was still very, very leaky. This of course degraded the cooling circuit and I had to shut down after 45 minutes.

I have since sealed almost every single light leak with sticky-backed foam weather stripping. This stuff works wonders. I simply put it between the various wood panels, and tightened them together with screws like normal. The stuff squished down to almost no thickness at all - maybe a millimeter at most. Now that the PJ is almost completely leak-free, the cooling works much better! I have been running it for two hours now; over the first 30-45 minutes, the temperature climbed to about 28c (~82 F), and over the rest of the time it has climed to ~31c (~88 F). I expect it will climb a bit more, but it really is crawling up. It will probably level out near 33-34c (~91-93 F). Not bad considering I am using two very undervolted fans, making the cooling almost inaudible.

The projection is a little bit dimmer than I would like. I'm quite certain, however, that this is due to the fact that the components are positioned based on their distance from the edge of the reflector bowl. However, I don't think the bulb is quite centered in it, so the bulb may be about 5mm too close to the first fresnel. Once I move that back, I should see a difference. However, it is still quite watchable.

So, before I get to the projection shots, here is the remaining ToDo list:
- Move bulb back a bit
- Fix final light leaks
- Reposition the LCD control buttons to a more convenient location
- Install cable card (tight fit, plus I didn't have the right adapter)
- Paint!

Anywhoo, here are some Projection shots. I've tried to get them looking as close to real life as possible. I am projecting onto a really crappy screen right now - sometime soon I will get some blackout cloth. I also haven't done much software color tuning, either.

Here are the pics:

<PLACE FILLER>
OK - I can't quite get any good pics that actually represent what it looks like in real life - I will have to try some more later, but I have to go right now. I'll try and get them up tonight. In the mean time, here are some pics that are closest.



That's it for now! More later...

Pascal

Great work Stoanhart now it's tweeking time, enjoy.
RR

How about those "good" pictures?

Very nice. Build a shroud for those fans and you will really notice a difference once that light is blocked as well.
Get a movie on that wall and have a drink of that booze!!!!
Congrats.
Bluto

They'll be coming - I've rearranged the whole living room, but the PJ is too far away. Image spills onto the floor and side walls. Right now I have to zoom out of the video to get it to fit, but obviously I'm loosing a lot of light that way. I don't have time to rearrange again right now, because I have an exam to study for. Sorry.

Stoanhart,

OK Good Luck on your Exams!

Schooling is Way More Important than This Stuff. What is you major?

However when it's all over, sit back, relax and take a couple of pictures of other movies such as.... Finding Nemo, or Starwars or Sound of Music or Matrix

Cheers!

Fulcrum