i think using a flat mirror anywhere around the light would create uneven lighting on the screen.. the idea is to have a point source of light at the focal point of the rear fresnel..and using a flat mirror would create a second source of light shining on the fresnel.. that is why spherical reflectors are used.. if the bulb arc is placed @ the focal point of the sphereical refector, it will refect the light directly back through the light source so that is still seems like all the light is eminating from the same location.

got to installing the bulb adjust mechanism today.. went pretty smoothly.

here's the horizonal adjustment installed, the vertical adjustment rails will be attached to the MDF piece which will have about 4" of horizontal movement available. should be more than enough.


same piece wilth vertial rails being installed with bulb mount in place. also attached the iikea refelctor to the mogul so that it moves with the bulb.


pics of the bulb assembly and rails installed


from front

here you can see the range of adjustability available.

bulb fully forward and up.


and now fully back and down

wow, really really good, im looking forward to see the rest of it, nice pic quality aswell! keep it up

had plenty of free time today so i figured i'd strip most of the stuff out of the box and get the inside painted.
also added another fan hole for a second 92mm which will draw air out across the ballast since that thing has been getting hot as hell


also, had bought a salad bowl @ target about a month ago and want to give it a try as a reflector. had to cut out a bit of it first to get the bulb center in the ideal position, as well as come up with a way to mount it similarly to the ikea so that it adjusts with the bulb when i move it.

here's my solution.



from the front


once the paint dries it'll be time to reassemble and give the new reflector a go to see how it performs vs. the ikea.

stay tuned...

yup.. good suggestion

will u be able to make ur bulb adjust left and right from the back end point of view (just incase the bulb isnt directly in the middle of the lcd?

well, when i centered it up with the level the mogul base was ~24 mm from the inner edge of the box.. and with the new setup its @ ~25mm so i may just leave it as is. i guess if i needed to move it in a bit, i'd have to cut into the mdf piece its sitting on to move to in a bit.

hit up the local jo-ann's today... picked me up some budget blackout.. this stuff rules

have been projecting on what i thought was a plain white wall... that is until i had a piece of the blackout cloth tacked to the wall and could get some good comparisons done... wow what a difference! the white actually looks white now.. and the "old white" now looks a rather dull shade of brown almost.. definatly improves the colors as well.. seem to 'pop' much better off the blackout. only downside is that blacks tend to suffer as a result.. will post some comparison pics soon... for now.. its movie time!

Did the "salad bowl" reflector work better than the Ikea Napkin Holder reflector?

Is it better to have a bigger reflector for the Venture bulb ?

i think the salad bowl was a slight improvement over the ikea but am not certain..... have some pics of the plain white wall using the salad bowl but still on my camera... once i get em downloaded i'll try to see if there's much difference in the pics.. i would think the bigger bowl would be better because its easier to get the bulb arc at the focal point of the bowl and it is for the ikea.. especially since the venture is a pretty big bulb..

for now i'm sticking with the bowl just because it keeps more light from leaking out the fan holes which i've yet to cover up..

i'll upload some new screenies once i get em off my camera.

your foot is a really strange shape

in post 41 ;-)

yeah.. i coulda cropped them out huh? 20 years of playing soccer have left my feet mishaped and calloused i guess

The things we will do for sport... I always bought cleats at least 1/2 size too small and I have permanently bald shins and little feeling left in them. Shinguards were for wussies... smart wussies though.

Nice job with the projector... really good craftsmanship.

lol
i walk like a duck. who knows why, my bone configuration sucks though.


yeah lovin the box,

one problem i am having, i have had my projector bulb on for about 15 hours solid now and its greener then every.. is this normal
im so worried that my picture will always be green.
please lord no.. not after the amount of time and money ive spent on it.
ryan

when cAN we see some images of the projector in action, cant wait any longer

yup.. shinguards are your friend.. i'll only play w/o when i trust who i'm playing with not to hack me up... i think i also have permanent buises on my ankles too... oh well. might as well enjoy my legs while i can

ok got some images together... these were also posted in my project gallery but i'll throw em up here as well.. these screenshots were taken using the ikea reflector



now just the light.


a new problem i've finally noticed is that i have some blurryness in the line between the light and dark along the lower right edge and right upper edge.. i'm thinking there's some of the light being interfered with just a bit on one of the frame edges..

target bowl pics to follow.

I wonder if my widescreen 17" will work then?

If you're having problems with the corners now, imagine mine...

amazing results, well done!

just a quick question.
was your bulb ever green, looks amazingly bright therethnx

it has a green tinge to it when i first turn it on and its warming up.. but once its warmed up, its a nice bright white... probably takes about 3-4 minutes to start getting really bright and white.

thanks,
do you have any idea why my bulb goes from white, when warming up to green when warm, again about 1 - 3 minutes or so.

last night, i put the box on its side so the bulb was stood upright, and it went white, nearly straight after turning it on, so i then put it the right way up. and it was white for a while but now is green again... what is going on, im so so confused.
please help

ryan

the bulbs have certain requirments for burning posistion.. some are horizontal, others vertical, others any posistion... make sure you are buring the bulb in the right posistion. if you're using the venture 40125 i think the spec sheet says horizontal +- 75 degrees.. so pretty much all positions but vertical are acceptable..
maybe your bulb is a vertical burning bulb and that is why it burt white when you positioned it upright...

yeah, i imagine the problem may be more exaggerated with a widescreen... i think all the ppl using 17" LCDs are more prone to dimm corners.

my 100th post..

had to throw it in there

now some screen shots with the target salad bowl installed as the reflector..

view from the front of the box.


gladiator screenshots. 80"+ widescreen..



download chinese GP also.. some screenshots. vid. quality not the greatest..

Those screenies look awesome!!

thanks... i bought some blackout cloth too to use as a screen... i'll get some pics up soon.... the blackout makes a big difference.

Congratulations

Great results, Excellent image quality and nice sharp corners too. Are you thinking og removing the antiglare film from the LCD? but with a picture like that maybe you dont need too. Im thinking of doing it

i just saw SIMUL8R results with removing the anti-glare and i must say its very tempting to do.. i'm just hesitant to muck up my panel.. maybe more research on my part before diving in..

ok been a while since i've done some posting.. have some updates.. bought some blackout cloth for my screen... was really excited to see what this stuff can do so i cut a piece of it off and tacked it to the wall.. makes a big difference vs. the "white" painted walls i had been using.. heres a few shots



you can really see the difference in the whites with the cloth in place.

vertical cloth setup pic of everyone's favorite forum...


and, of course.. since i've yet to post it...


movie is a divx dvd rip not true dvd so pic quality suffers a bit... once i get the full blackout screen up i'll post another image..

had some time to tack the blackout cloth screen to my wall and get some more pics.

since its only 54" tall fullscrene 4:3 content bleeds over the edges of the screen, but widescreen material fits nicely.

intro clip of space shuttle lauch from digital video essentials DVD.


since the blackout is only thumbtacked to the wall, i have not strectched out the creases or anything so you can see some buldges and folds in the cloth. Once I get a change to make a real frame for it, hopefully i can keep the material under tension to remove the buldges.

another shot


scene from blackhawk down.

How did you keep the fresnels attached to your L molding frame? Silicone caulk?

yup, they're glued into the L frames around the edges... actually they're cut so there're a tight fit so they'd almost stay in place without the need of glue... almost

ok, got my set-up finalized... since my room is small enough i can have the pj on a shelf on the wall and project to the opposite wall. no worries about keystoning since its a straight horizonal projection across the room. only concern was sitting and sleeping under the pj.. last thing i need is a 40 lb box falling on my head. luckly home depot sold me some badass shelf brackets.. these things are not moving. i was able to support my full weight on just one of them..

brackets screwed into wall


picked up a piece of 3/4" pine for the shelf


nice and sturdy


it better be because its my noggin that gonna be right under it.


spent a few nights under it already and i'm still here.. so it seems to be working

Whoa, your brave atkins. I hope you sleep well at nights. You don't live in quake central Cali. do ya?

BTW great job on your pj. Hope to see more screenies.
sim

I'll second that.....No jumpin on the bed for you!

nah.. downstate ny.. no earthquakes, no hurricanes, no tornados, no floods, no volcanos, no swarms of locust, no flaming hail, no 3 days of darkness and no killing of 1st born children... just the occasional blizzard but the pj is hot enough to melt any snow that comes its way

i'll get more screens soon

Well I personally would either bolt/screw the projector to the shelf
or use a strap to hold it in place.

You never know what could happen, and I wouldn't want to be under it
when the unthinkable happened.


I say better safe than sorry!

true.. as it is now i'm putting my faith in gravity alone ( and newton's laws of physics ).. but putting some brackets on the sides or through the base to anchor it to the shelf is definatly a good idea.

duct tape it

maybe a little guerilla glue

how big is your image at that throw?

nice build, and i think i recognize those textbooks used in your laser setup

mikelish,

thanks! had to use those textooks for something after college the screen size is is ~ 125" i think for widescreen movies, thats at about 8.5 - 9 feet away from the wall... i'll get the exact measurements later tonight.. when displaying fullscreen 4:3 it actually projects a portion ( maybe 1/6th ) of the screen onto the ceiling since the shelf is placed pretty high on the wall, if i lowered my shelf or angled the pj down a bit it would probably be a floor to ceiling image but i dont mind the overshoot since the proj will be used most of the time for widescreen movies anyway.


a shot of the pj in action from its new shelf.

That is real nice.
Enjoy!

I was looking to do the same thing with my pj. Placing it over the head of my bed though is a little too much. Doesn't it stick out halfway into the room? ha! I bet its one eye sore.

update... the screen is 103" from the triplet, screen size is 113" for widescreen material or 132" for fullscreen.




it definatly does stick out a bit.... currently, the front is 33" from the wall i dont mind the obtrusivness of it myself but i'm sure many wife types would

Who needs a wife when you have a 132" screen???

i'll be sure to tell my girlfriend that.