I have a 15" Magnavox 15MF605T/17 LCD Flat Panel HDTV Monitor/TV and i'm attempting to strip it. This is the first time i've tried this with any panel, and i really don't want to destroy it. So i got the back cover off of it, and now i'm scared to do anything else before one of you guys can take a look and tell me what to do next. Here's some pics below. Let me know if you need some more specific or better pics.

PS-Could somebody please tell me how to post bigger pics on here? It says i only have a certain amount of space to leave a pictures? The 1 pic on this post is all i had space for?

More pictures would help (like closeups and different angles).

i have a lot more pics including closeups and different angles but this forum will only allow me to post 1 pic(and it has to be a small pic)? I guess i'll have to leave multiple posts with 1 small pic on each one. If someone could tell me how to post larger pictures, it would really help out.

Bigger pic of the entire back:

I do know that the black box with the L on it is the left speaker:

The circuit board on the lower right of the picture is for the power button. If you look really close you can see that there's a set of wires running from beneath it:

Another:

More:

Close-up shots:

and:

and:

and:

How are you supposed to disconnect those wires without breaking them? Is there a certain way to get them to slide out? I tried pulling by the plastic piece, but i didn't want to pull too hard, and they didn't seem like they wanted to come out.

I'm not sure which wires you are refering to but if it appears to be a plug in a socket the wires should come out, the best way is ussually to get a small screwdriver and try to insert in between the plug and socket and pry a little bit up on one side and then the other a little bit at a time until the plug disconnects.

As far as general disassembly its mostly a matter of choosing a peice to remove and looking carefully to see if it is glued, screwed or uses tabs. If its screwed undo all the screws and gently try to lift, if it doesn't lift with ease then maybe you missed another screw so try and see where it isn't lifting and look for other screws or tabs or whatever is stopping movement.

From what I can see from your LCD the main input interfaces are in the section in the back center so I'd unscrew those and see if the back center pannel can be lifted. The back center section is basicly riveted to the main back panel so you need to find out if that center section has to be seperated from the main back panel or not. If the center section doesn't open up to the inside of the LCD you may have to drill those rivets out which would be difficult but I doubt that is the case as that would make assembly and maintainence in the factory difficult.

The main back panel is screwed to the LCD plastic bezel which should lift out after the screws have been removed but I'd leave that as is, as it provides some mechanical protection to the LCD which is important.

So try and remove the center back panel and post more pics.

Thanks for the explanations! I'm going to see about making more progress tonight, and I'll keep the pics coming. Its nice to have you guys that are so willing to help!

I lifted the back center section off of the main back panel and then took some pics. Any advice where to go from here would be much appreciated.

and:

and:

Close-up of one of the sets of wires that i think needs to be disconnected. It runs from there to down under the circuit board.

another close-up:

This is a pic showing how it goes under the circuit board:

Here's the second set of wires:

Here's how they also go under the circuit board:

Here's the 3rd set of wires that need to be disconnected. This circuit board is for the power on/off switch:

They also go under the main circuit board:

These wire's also need to be disconnected. They run to the left and right speakers. Is the black wire just a ground wire? Should i be okay to disconnect these from the circuit board shown in the pic?

Update: I just disconnected some wires and didn't break any of them! Here's some pics:

OK, staindrocks this is a great job, I have absolutely no problem helping someone that is willing to do some of the leg work and show me there problem. Too often people say why isn't my PJ bright enough but provide no pcitures or details. What you have done is perfect and I hope I can walk you though disassemly pretty cleanly.

Click to view attachment

OK, so what I wanted to know was, was this no exposed circuit board directly connected to the internal circuit boards or through a cable passing through the metal. It seems that there is a solid sheet of metal below this circuit boad and the wires with the black jacket is probably the main video from the input board (this board). What I'd do is unscrew the 4 screws circled in yellow and see whats underneath. Its probably just a sheet of metal with a few holes for cable, if so continue if not post more pics. If it is a sheet so all the cables pass through below then the next step is to use a screw driver as described before and slowly pry the 3 connectors circled in red. I'm not sure where the one circled in green goes if it goes to another place on this board like the grey cable above it leave it on. The tan board on the left looks like the power converter for the backlight and can be removed, you won't need it for the projector but just to be safe I wouldn' throw it way yet.

You haven't shown a picture of the front of the monitor but that square circuit board in the corner appears to be the power switch. Unscrew the screw in the center and lift, I wouldn't disconnect it yet. There maybe a spring as part of the swicth so lift slowly and make sure you get any plastic or metal peices that come loose.

Next step would be to unscrew the four screws circled in white plus atleast one more that can be seen in another picture on the bottom and I can only guess another 1 or two at the top. This should expose the LCD and we'll need more pics to continue.

Hope this helps. Take your time and make sure that you have newspaper or plastic under the LCD to catch any small pieces. Also wearing a static wrist strap if you have one, if you don't, touching a metal door frame or metal table leg can dissapte the worst of the static. Static can be a big problem in the winter or in really dry conditions.

If you feel unsure just stop and post more pics and we'll see what you should do.

Close-up:

Close-up:

Here's the tv tuner/menu control:

Component Video Input:

What exactly is this rectangular circuit board(the tan one) for? I need to disconnect the wires coming from this board, but i'm not sure how because they are glued in place. Is this just the backlight, and if so could i just cut the wires? If not, how do i go about disconnecting them?

I believe it is the backlight power. You could probably just cut them but I'd try and expose the LCD to see if you can just leave them on the metal plate. See my post above.

Thanks for all your help! Those are some excellent instructions you posted earlier. I'll have to continue tomorrow because it's so late and i have to get up for work in a few hours, but i'll push forward when i get home. Hopefully you'll be around tomorrow evening! Hope to hear from you later!

Hey pagercam, i disconnected the connectors that you circled and took the screws out of the main circuit board. I lifted it out and saw that there was a solid sheet of metal with a few holes cut out where the cables pass thru, just as you suspected. The connector you circled in green actually passes under the metal and over to the power switch circuit board. If you look close enough you can see it coming back out from under the metal, attaching itself into the power on/off circuit board(small square board). The connectors that have glue on them on the tan board, which you think is the power converter for the backlight, were disconnected by me after i got the glue off. Do you think i could go ahead and remove this tan board and set it aside? I also went ahead and removed the speakers and the wires that connected them to the circuit board and sat them aside. I unscrewed the screws that you had circled in white for me, which only seperated the whole unit from the front-side frame. It did give me access to 4 screws around the side edges of the sheet of metal, which still encapsuled the lcd. When i unscrewed those screws i could lift up the solid sheet of metal(that has the main circuit board on top of it), but that still didn't expose the lcd panel yet. I didn't lift the metal piece all the way, i just kind of lifted one side of it up so i could see what was under it. What i saw was what i believe to be the last solid metal cover over the lcd, which has several small screws holding it there. I think there is a bit of good news, because the cables that run from the main circuit board seem to be long enough(approx. 6"-9"), which i'm hoping is long enough to avoid the ffc problems. I don't know exactly how long they have to be to use in the projector without having to extend them? I'll post some pics of my latest progress, but i really need to go ahead and lift the sheet of metal all the way off to get some good pics of the next stage. The reason i didn't raise it all the way off was because if i do, the cables will have to be feed on thru, and i'm not sure how hard it will be to feed them back thru if i want to put it back together for safekeeping until i'm ready to actually use the lcd. That's my next question. I've just started the construction off my enclosure, but i'm not real clear as to whether i should go ahead and completely strip my monitor to see about the actual measurements of the lcd screen and also about the placement of the circuit boards, controls, etc. in my enclosure, or should i leave it assembled for safekeeping until i've finished the construction of my enclosure? If i should go ahead and strip it, then after i do, what should i do with it until i'm finished building the enclosure? Should i put it all back together, or can i store it in some particular fashion that would keep it safe? Let me know so i can go ahead and post those pics(if i should continue stripping). Thanks again for all the help!

Well this is where things get into personal preferences. Your LCD is 16:9 (or maybe 16:10) and I'm not sure if anyone else has posted dimensions of the actual LCD. So this may limit your ability to build the box to close to perfect dimensions. Some poeple just accept that extra room makes things easier and just make the box too big to allow for plenty of adjustment while others want the box as small as possible. If you plan on only building one box the second option is tempting. If you expect to upgrade your box after you get the 1st prototype built and working and plan to use the experience in tuning to make a pretty box the second time then too big is fine or even better. So you need to decide for yourself if a bigger box is OK or not.

On the point of FFCs (flat flexable cable) which is a thin sheet of plastic with copper glued to it. You haven't as far as I can see from your pictures seen what the FFC situation is. The board you removed from the back is the input board which takes cable/antenna, composite or VGA and scales the video for the LCD drivers. The driver boards will be the ones directly connected to the LCD once you get inside. They have the row and column drives that enable the LCD pixels. The input board that you have gets the signals from whatever source you select and scales it to the LCD. A row of pixles is then transfered to the column drives (not yet activated) once the entire row has been transfered one and only one row driver is enabled and that row is driven on to the screen in parallel (i.e. all the pixles are sent at the same time) and they know where to go because only one row is activated. (more detail than you need but I think it helps to understand why the boards are built as they are.

So leaving the LCD as is is the safest to limit damage, and you could get the box close. But that means that you don't have exact dimensions on the LCD and don't know if you have FFC problems to fix. What might make the most sense (its up to you, but this is what I'd do) is to go to the next level being careful not to disturb things anymoe than you need to and get down to the LCD get the dimensions, figure out if you have FFC issues and what parts and peices are required to fix any possible problems and get those on order. Then put it back together at least to the point that the frame and sheilding provide some prtection while you complete the box and wait for suppies. You will have to remove the backlight to really see whats going on. The other consideration is do you have a good place to store a delicate LCD if you have a place that other people (pets or children or roommates can't get to and can handle an item of this size and shape then there is less risk if you don't you will need to take more precautions. I have an almost two year old at home and no matter how well I hide what I don't want him to tocuh he will find and touch (mean while his toys gather dust) that whole terrible twos thing lasts a lot longer than a year.

If the FFC issues are too bad you might need to rethink this display (most people aren't having problems with th more recent displays) but just in case I wouldn't cut, damage or otherwise limit your ability to reassemble the display until you know that its going to work for you.

So, i decided to go forward with the stripping of the monitor. Here are some pics showing my progress. The picture below is where i took off the solid metal casing with the main circuit board on top(top of pic), to reveal another circuit board protected by a metal panel with three small screws in it.

Then i removed the protective metal panel:

Just unscrew everything. Between the circuits and the LCD is a backlight. Your goal is to remove the backlight without damaging the wires, edge connectors, or the LCD.

A closer view:

At this point, i knew i now had to pull the backlight off without damaging the ffc's, which i think i managed to do safely.

Side view:

Other side view:

So there you go guys, it's fully stripped. So now my question is, do i have ffc issues or does everything look ok? Also, i have the following components(in addition to this lcd) to this project:
1. Lumenlab Standard Lense Kit
2. Lumenlab Light Kit(Ushio S400DD,Elect. Ballast,Mogul Base)
3. Plywood for enclosure

So i still need quite a few more things:
1. 1 or 2 fans for cooling
2. Aluminum flashing
3. Attic fan thermostat
4. Tempered glass or lexan
5. Reflector
6. Various electrical(switches, wiring, etc.)
7. Flat black spray paint
8. Air conditioner filter cloth

So here is a list of questions i have:
1. Should i have 1 or 2 fans and 120v or 12v? Is my best bet to get them from lumenlab or somewhere else?
2. Should i go with tempered glass or lexan? If lexan is better, then where is the best place to buy it?
3. Should i go with the Ikea or Norpro reflector? And where can i buy either of them?
4. What exactly do i need as far as electrical stuff goes? What kind of wire and switches am i looking for?

I want to go to Lowe's and buy as much of this stuff as i need, but i'm just not really that sure about what exact parts i need to ask for? If someone could give me a specific parts list that i could just hand to somebody that works there, it would be great! I'm basicly just building a basic 15" projector, but i still would like to incorporate any improvements since the GUIDE was written. I don't want something hideous in my living room, but I'm not too concerned about the appearance of the projector. I'm more concerned about getting the best possible performance out of the projector(as in the image it displays on the screen). So with that said, i'd really appreciate any help you could give me about the above mentioned parts list, with the aforementioned goal in mind as well.

First of all contrats, you were unsue of yourself but stripped the CLD like a pro. It appears that you are done stripping and haven't dammage anything so youre good to go. There are no FFC issue. An FFC issue would be one circuit board connected to the bottom of the LCD and another on the side and a short FFC between them. This would stop you moving the boards out of the light path. But this is one of the better designs with only one board and everyting on one side.

1. Different people have different theories on fans. But I think its safe to say that too much cooling is easier to fix than not enough so 2 or 3 fans. 120V fans (AC) use the frequency of the AC to set the fan speed so in general 120V fans have a fixed speed. DC fans can ussually be speed controled by thier voltage slowest at 7V and fastest at 15V although the volatge range with be different on different fans. Some people seem to be happy with the Evercool PCAC fans, but quite a few complain that they are loud and don't move a lot of air but that may be more of a box design issue. You would certainly be safe with a regular circular fan two 120mm would be a safe way to go.
LL has only the PCAC and an 80mm so I'd try a computer place and see what you can find. You should get at least 100CFM combined as a minimum and I would suggest 160+ CFM, the more the better, you can always slow them down or block air flow if its too much. The other thing to think about is noise. The fans are rated in dbA 20 being almost silent and 50 being pretty loud try tio find some think in the 20-35 range.

2. The tempered glass or lexan is to stop the hot air around the bulb getting to the LCD which can only take upto 105ºF. Tempered glass is hard to get and can't be cut. Lexan blocks the air, can withstand the heat and also provides UV protection so the LCD color filters don't fade and can be easily cut so go for Lexan (needs to be Lexan XL10). Most home depots have it for about $5 for a 11x14" sheet.

3. Norpros haven't been available for the last 9 months or so, so those are out. Most reflectors require cuting but the Ikea Soare napkin ring is just about right to start with, so go with that.

4. As far as wire an swicthes you will be using something on the order of 5 Amps at 120V (I'm not sure if you are in the US or not) or 600W. So get switches rated for atleast 600W, and I'm not sure about the wire but 14 Guage should work, lower numbers are bigger and you can't go wrong with too big.

If you have an Ikea and Home Depot near you are set with Lexan and a refelctor if not you can go to ireplica.com
I'd try a local computer store for fans.

I don't mind helping but checking out what other people's projects in the PLOGs is the best way what has worked and get ideas.

Pagercam, thanks alot for all your help! I have been reading a good bit around the forums, but to me nothing beats an experienced persons direct advice. That's why i hope to get more suggestions like yours, and i can combine them with the knowledge i acquire from the forums. I can't wait to get all the parts and start the assembly. I'm sure i'll have more questions that arise as i progress, but hopefully i can get this project completed fairly soon! Thanks again!