My pj has been up and running for a while now,and I love it.
But being an obsessive kinda guy,I thought it was time for ver2,what with the advent of the pro equipment,and Supras excellent preliminary results.
I hope to build a complete new pj,to watch in the lounge,and then I may play around with ver1 and convert it to a small hami,for the kids/xbox etc.
I love the fold design for its space saving,and this pj will sit beside the sofa.
I started sketching and lookng for parts.
The first doodle was a 90 degree fold...



Bu then I thought of a way to maximise space even more,by folding more than 90 degrees...



Then I drew a 1:1 scale drawing,to see if the numbers added up...



And with some of the numbers added...



I reckon this will work???
The idea is to have the whole frame rotate inside the casing,to give adjustable height.

I decided to make the frame out of aluminium,as I had a fairly large collection of bits and pieces from scavenging around.The main supporting frame is made from 15mm square tubing...



I cut the tube to hold the lcd frame...







The triplet holder will mount to the far end of these frames.

These are the parts for the main framework...



And here is the frame assembled,with the lcd frame in situ...



I am using 8mm threaded rod,rather than 6mm,as it is more rigid,as it will all be rotating.

I have since added the mirror mounting arms,drilled 180 holes in the frame!!!(dont ask! )
And added the first layer of the lightgate...



Hope y'all like it so far!

Cheers P

Here are a couple of detail pics I have found too...









I would like to be able to say that all those holes were for weight saving,but they are not!!!
I have a bench drill thingy,and alot of spare time!!

Blimey! Looking good P.... And yes, you DO have too much time on your hands...LOL

What sort of shell will this one wear, or have you not thought that far ahead yet. I'm impressed so far mate, well done.

Cheers sporty!
At the moment I am leaning towards a white cube,very minimalist!
But I think it's a while off yet.This could take some time!
Also,it is kind of a test bed,playing around with the lightgate idea,etc.
So things will no-doubt change along the way!

HA! it looks like an erector set!
I literally can't put into words how much I am looking forward to seeing this build...I loved your first build and read all the way through it.
I'm not quite following what you mean by having it rotate....Can you explain that a little more? If you mean the way I think you do, wouldn't you have a problem with the wires for the light?

AHHH - FOR THE FRICKEN LOVE........

If i had time, and the tools, and the knowledge, oh, and the inginuity........... I would have built this by now. I have been looking at this EXACT configuration, but no time or knowhow (with my particular LCD) to do it the way i wanted.....

Oh well, I can't wait to see what you come up with. I know it will look AWESOME Punisher. Keep it up

Ricoks

Nice work so far, are the lens and mirror going to be at fixed angles to each other? are you going to rotate the entire carrige in a housing or will the entire unit pivot? BTW, I do like the way the holes make the frame look. any ideas on the housing design yet?

I like it. I like it alot!

DJ

Thanks alot guys!
Should be interesting.The idea is for the entire carriage to pivot around a point inside the enclosure.
It wont have to rotate much,maybe15 - 20 degrees,so I dont see a problem with wires,(famous last words!)
I am hoping to use a car windscreen motor,rigged up to a car jack type mechanism for the rotation movement.It will all depend on getting the CoG correct.
Thanks again,all.

I'm suing, you stole my idea

I am going to use square tubing and all thread just like you did, but I didn't think of cutting the tube so the panel can sit inside the frame, that really helps block light leaks around the frame. Sweet stuff.

Ha ha! Great minds think alike FLY!!!

I have no idea if this is going to work,but....
The lightgate idea is a brilliant idea,but it is very hard to achieve an effective solution.
I have decided to attempt this in a modular way,that way if and when I get something wrong,I only need to redo a module,and not the whole thing.(Thats the theory,anyway! )
Stage1; This is the entry point for the cooling air into the lightbox.I tried and tried to draw a diagram of the idea,but couldn't!
Hopefully the pics will explain it better.The idea is to keep the glass as cool as possible,as it is the one piece that you cant do anything about shielding from the heat.

Anyway...


This is all the parts for the "module"


This shows the glass supports in place.


And the side walls.


And the glass in place.


And with the top on.

the glass is suspended in the middle of of the two sheets of mdf,the air will flow through the top,round the glass,and out of the bottom,into the lamp module,I hope.

Lightgate? You mean somebody designed a gate to control light? What kind of crazy mad person would even attempt such a thing?Heresy!

Seriously...I hope you have a tremendous success with it. Any help at all I can offers is yours.

SJ

Cheers SJ.I hope it works half as well yours!
And please don't hesitate on letting me know,if I do something stupid.
Cheers!

HA - That'll be the day!!!!

Hmmmmm....that sounds like a job for our wives.

It looks good from here. Looks like you wont need really high torque fans but they will have to move some good CFM's. You should look into a 110V...I would defintely stay away from the barrel fans. Once they start fighting with the convection they will loose all their good qualities.


Ricoks, Im not sure how to take that reply...?

Yep,although the barrels in ver 1 have worked faultlessly,I will definateley go for a straight shooting big mother this time round.I want to move the air out as fast,(and as quietly) as possible.

Believe it or not,I told someone to stick a multimeter onto his e-ballast,not too long ago!!!
So now I triple check everything!!

Dam, you are god!

I’m looking forward to see more.

The enclosure, she is to be inclined?

thanks,slowmottion!!!
I am wondering if that is a typo,I try to be good,but wouldn't want the other job!

Not really sure on the box for her yet.I am thinking at the moment about a white shiny cube,that opens up at the touch of a button??????
I should be out in the shed with a jigsaw at the moment,but it is just too damn cold tonight!

ok,I binned my crappy broken,de-polarized lcd today,and found a medion 17"er in my local supermarket,(somerfield.) for £149.99
There are cheaper,but it was convenient.
12ms,500:1,sxga. It will do niceley.
I was in such a hurry,I didnt notice the model#,and have chucked everything out.
Here is a pic...


And ten minutes later...


No ffc's at all!
And that Antiglare is laughing at me,taunting me.I can hear it!

Very easy strip.Have tested it and it still works!
It is not the best lcd in the world,but I hope it will be perfectly good for my use.

Another job done on the road to completion,Yay!

Ahhhhh...but at least it is not "glareing" at you...I imagine soon it will be able to become very angry with you...

Too funny.

Update on the lightgate.


This is the chamber where the lamp will be.


This plate will sit ontop,and attach to the threaded rods.


Then the glass cooling circuit will fix ontop.


Then a frame to control the shape and size of the emitted light will be attached.


And the rest of the framework fits on niceley!

All this has to be finished off.I am not sure how well the lamp enclosure will block the heat.I am thinking of inserting a copper sheet heatsink into the chamber,and maybe insulate the outer surfaces.
But this shows the general idea.
I plan on sticking 2x big 120mm fans on the bottom of the lamp chamber to remove the hot air as fast as I can.This is a bit of a test bed,so I will probably need to change bits,but only when I fire her up will I get a real idea of where the problems are.

Pun you are a sick sick man talented but sick. I looked at your first pj for inspiration and now you have to go and add more well at least helped me firgure out whether to go with a lightbox or not Neat design as usual can't wait for the final product.

Thankyou Mr Meat!
I think that the lightbox idea has loads of possibilities for both controlling light,and heat.Thanks to SJ for being a pioneer. I think that I will line the lamp chamber in copper sheet and force the air over it to help remove the maximum amount of heat.Well that is the plan,anyway!
cheers P

Looks like you're going to set a standard... Again...

Well, again, I think I'll just go for the pragmatic "It works" solution, and leave the fancy stuff to you, seeing as how you're so good at it.

I was wondering about adding a heatsink and fan attachment to the lightbox. I've found some pretty cheap heatsinks at walmart but any computer store sells them. It might be an extra attachment but at least it will help to keep some surfaces cooler and if a fan is attached to it control which direction to blow the hot air in.
Does anyone know of a material that would absorb hot air that doesn't contain too many fibres, I'm thinking about using this to keep my fresnel and glass area a bit cooler?

Ok,due to lack of funds this week,I have been waiting to get some copper strips for the internals of the light gate,but what with christmas coming and all...
I decided to doodle...
I was origionally planning to have a rotating framework inside this pj.But I think,as I dont want to keystone,a raising model might be more space efficient.
I have come up with this sketch,possibly raised using a bicycle chain pulley setup???

Closed...


And open...


This is my favourate so far.
Cheers P

Sorry,I dont think the second pic uploaded properley.The 4 port switch on my router appears to be badly flaky,I have ordered a wireless pc card,the lan keeps dropping off at the moment.No xbox live for me for a while!

Pun15her, Excellent design. Can't wait to see you pull this one off. Are you going to motor to raise the box?

Oh,yeah!
Hopefully using a car windshield wiper motor,and some bicycle chain and sprockets,in a pulley configuration???
Hmmm!

I have been looking around for fans this morning,and stumbled upon this site...comair rotron
They have dc,ac,and up to 550 cfm!
Some nice fans in there,I may have to see if I can get my hands on one!!

Something like this dc one...,
Patriot dc
235 cfm at 12v.Maybe try running it at 7V???
Anyone think they will work?

Hey Pun15er, another outstanding design, I'm still not finished with your first one yet, I really need to get busy

Those are some pretty wild looking fans, I'm just wondering if there is a reason the "noise" column on their data sheets is blank or maybe they just havn't got around to filling in that part with some dba ratings Would be nice to know a starting value so you could guess what undervolting them might leave you with but at 235cfm i'm guessing you probably wouldn't need but one!

I'm looking forward to seeing how P2 takes shape. I'm still in awe of P1, thanks again!

Thanks nncognito,dont worry,this one is going to take a while too!!
Yeah,I know what you mean about the db levels,judging by the other fans on their site,I reckon we are looking at 50ish db,but I am hoping to have enough space in this box to have the fan buried well inside the box,with some soundproofing.I have mailed them for a quote.
I will see what happens...

where do you find the time? excellent design so far. (as usual) cant wait to see what you come up with next. have you thought of screw actuators for lift? like on the old c-band dishes.

Thanks TESCORP,
I did think of actuators,but I dont know much about them.I will investigate though,cheers.
I figured I would tackle this one,one piece at a time.If I can get this light/heat gate working efficiently,then probably the next big thing will be the lifting mech.

Ok,I have been looking into linear actuators,and think it will be alot easier to use one,than a complicated motor/pulley/bicycle bits setup.Best option so far is this...Surplus 6" travel actuator (230V)
Pretty good for my use,using a cantilever,I could get a foot of movement,easy.But the item is in the US,which means alot for shipping.I am waiting for a quote.

Other than that.If I was made of money,this would be ideal...Ebay lcd lifting kit
It is an ir remote controlled linear actuator for lifting a 42" lcd tv,complete with drawer runners,actuator,ir remote,and the actuator has repositional cut off points!Very nice,but £110! Just not feasable really.
Bummer!

Punisher, what about a satellite antenna actuator, they're quite cheap. Something like THIS perhaps. Or a larger version if this one isn't up to the job.

Actually, I bet you could use those compression cylinders from a hatchback. Click, up it comes, but then you would have to push it back down by hand. Might be easier.

Actually, what would be really neat would be one of the puzzle boxes from "HellRaiser"...

Nice one Sporty! They look like just the ticket,cheers!
Samurai,yes the puzzlebox from hellraiser would be nice.
Maybe you could tackle that one for your next one!!

Had a chat with the english importer for comair rotron fans this morning.They didnt have any of the fans I was looking at,but suggested this one...Falcon 12V dc fan
12V,300 CFM,and 51 dB,172mm x 55mm, £40

NICE!!!! It is on its way to me right now,should arrive tomorrow morning!!
I cant wait to get it running!!

Pun15her
Just went thru your plog and you new build looks great. Interest idea with the actuators.

Chuck

Hmmm... I'd think that a raise/lower motor... A natural would be a motor set for pop-up headlights. Of course I think of that because I have pop-up lights on my car. They're already made to make a 180 degree rotation when switched on, and then the other 180 degrees when switched off. Seems like a good match to me. This way you can wire it to activate when the ballast is powered on. Seems a simple enough task. Might want to slow it down some, though.

As I said, it looks like you're setting the standard... Again.

I was thinking alot of the pop up headlights where vacuum operated. Another thing I was thinking was DIY pneumatic cylinders like the ones they make to animate halloween decorations and stuff. They make them out of pvc pipe, all thread, o-rings and washers and you can put a ball valve on it to control speed. Some of the ones i've seen are actuating alot of weight you'd just have to have an air supply, maybe one of those cheap roadside 12v air compressors could do it with a small tank. Just have to get the speed and throw right so you didn't end up shooting part of your projector through the roof. That would be cool and different, haven't seen anybody launch their projectors yet.. Plus you'd have compressed air accessable at the pj for blowing off fresnels and running an air drill the wife could use as a mixer...

He He,the possibilities for lifting a pj are many.the pneumatic idea,I fear,may well end in a hole in my roof!!
And is also a bit out of the range of keeping it simple.The car headlight mech may be ok,but power and reach may be an issue,I think the actuator may be the easiest solution,with reed switches to act as cut-off's to stop the whole thing from toppling off the top and smashing into a gajillion pieces!!
I am not even close to worrying about it yet,I am just looking foreward to my 300CFM fan ariving tomorrow.I shall hug him,and squeeze him,and name him George.

I have missed the delivery of my fan for two days running,due to work.I now have to drive to the depot to pick it up,and the couriers depot is the building next to the fan suppliers!!! Why did I pay the £10 for delivery????
AAAARRRGGGHHH!!! :angry:

You can use a screw drive I use in my cnc machine, this should work well with a dc motor also.

Cheers Joe,I will look into it.

Finally got my fan,and it was broken!!! :angry:
Phoned the suppliers,got in the car and drove over there.They swapped it for one that works!
Plugged it in and,boy can that thing move some air!!! It also makes some noise too.But I have been researching sound suppression.May use some kind of baffle/muffler setup in a multi walled chamber.Happily,mdf turns out to be an excellent material to use for sound suppression!!
Anyway,here she is in all her glory,next to an 80mm fan I found...


Isn't she a beauty????
I am off to buy some MORE mdf!!!