Hello All,

I'm WeakSauce... nice to meet you. A couple weeks ago I dropped $20 for the plans (before they were open sourced) and forum access to this site. I have to admit, I was kinda skeptical at first. After having my curiousity ignited by the oft mentioned Tom's Hardware article, my research led me to this site. I checked out some of the results and was pretty impressed. So I figured, "What the heck, if it's a bust, I only wasted $20". However, it quickly became apparent to me that the real value is in the rich forum and helpful community on this site. It's quite amazing how creative, skilled, and helpful people are on this site. You guys are to be commended.

So after lurking for a week or two (read: going through tons of threads and absorbing as much knowledge as possible), I've finally started to move forward on my PJ. I'm still working out a lot of it in my head, but I decided to start this plog awhile. I am making a 15" PJ. I am going to try and make it fairly simple, though I have seen a couple things in others' plogs that I would like to use instead of an exact copy of the basic plans.

I finally decided on the CMV CT-522A as my monitor, which I ordered from newegg.com. I understand that there is an FFC issue involved with this monitor, but I have looked at the guides of other people stripping it down and think I will be able to manage. I was trying to find a monitor that was not too expensive, but with good specs and availiblity from an online retailer that I trust. I have already had the pleasure of dealing with an FFC when disassembling my beat up laptop.

Hopefully sometime this week(end), I will be able to draw up some plans and decide on some basics for the design, as well as start ordering the other parts that I will be needing. I saw the note on the slightly longer bulbs. This seems to be something that I need to take into account. Could it be resolved by widening the case or does it throw off the design entirely?

The one thing I am wondering about after looking at all this (well, one of the things) is regarding the wiring. While I've worked a lot with computers and building them, I am not too familar with wiring, in terms of setting up the bulb and the ballast. I know they are totally different things and therefore I am seeking to increase my knowledge. Is there anywhere anybody can't point me to in an effort to read and more fully understand this part of the project. I will most likely be working with someone who knows a lot more about that than I do, so safety shouldn't be an issue. However, I would like to learn myself more about wiring and electrical issues in general.

Looking forward to this project and also to seeing what other cool stuff all you guys come up with.

Wlcome aboard WeakSauce - you're in for some real treat in these forums and good luck in building.

Ordered pretty much all I need from LumenLab last week. Still need to grab some lexan, a reflector, some tools, and some odds and ends. My LCD should be arriving tonight.

I getting pretty excited about getting started. I have next week off for the holidays and plan to slave over my projector for the majority of that time. Hopefully the rest of this week will be marked by continued research and completion of my plans. Even though I have seen some pictures of PJs with the same monitor, I don't think my plans will totally pan out until I have mine stripped and am able to see how it will fit in. I plan on making some sort of mockup to make sure I can accomodate for the lamps which are slightly larger now.

I'm continually encouraged by the great work going on in these forums in the other PLOGs.

Update: My package from lumenlab arrived right before Christmas. Also, I've stripped my CMV 522A and it still works. Picked up wood, lexan, and some other miscelleanous materials.

Hoping to get the case cut tonight or tomorrow. Trying to cut in a way that accounts for the longer bulb that I got (because of the size change).

Got all but the lid of the case cut and holes for power, switches, fan, and the front lens cut.

I was going to fashion a frame for the lcd out of the remenents of the case, but I don't think my dremel skills are up to it. Hopefully today I can get the box put together and start positioning the lamp. I still need to pick up a reflector. Also, going to be adding the ffc extension later today.

I busted the connector on the ffc extension kit I got. The cables and connectors on the boards with the monitor are still ok, but the connector for connecting the two cables to extend them is broken. I am going to procede for now and just have the control panel sitting inside the front section of the box for now.

Recut the rear panel to accomodate the 120mm 120V fan I picked up. Spray painted the inside black and assembled the box. The lid isn't made yet.

Tomorrow, I plan on running to Home Depot to pick up the last few odds and ends that I need. Then, I want to hook up the lamp and test it out. After that I will cut the lexan and start working on wiring and mounting the fresnels and lcd panel.

There is still a lot of work ahead of me, but hopefully I can ring in the new year by flipping the switch on my projector (and it actually turning on).

First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of pictures. Hopefully this weekend I can get some good shots.

Well, its been a busy past couple of days. My dreams of ringing in the New Year with a new working pj didn't exactly come true. However, after some consistent work on 31st and working hard on the 1st, I got a working projector. It was late on Sunday night/very early Monday morning that we kicked it off. Everything wasn't exactly finished (want to tidy up the wiring, still had to attach lid, lcd wasn't wired into the electrical system yet), but I got a nice big bright screen on the wall and watched a dvd that night. Everything wasn't exactly perfect. There were some white light above and below the picture which was attributed to having the fresnel grabbing light from above and below the lcd. Some adjustments need to be made there. Seemingly no cooling issues.

Overall I am very happy with the project. I spend Monday doing some cosmetic adjustments. My dad and I attached the hinges and latches on the lid and added weather stripping as well as more permanently attaching the front triplet. We also adjusted the holes in the case to accomodate for some new switches I picked up.

This is definitely a very rewarding project and is a lot of fun to do, especially if you have a little help. It's a little tricky but not very difficult.

Yet to do:
- Tidy up wiring
- Wire in switches
- Add filter to fan
- Wire in LCD power
- Fix white light on top and bottom of screen
- Find a better way to mount LCD control boards
- Recut one of the fresnel slots so it holds the fresnel a bit better (positioning is alright, but the fresnel could slide out if bumped)
- Make sure everything is sturdy enough to travel
- Get VGA converter box of some sort so I can hook up my Xbox
- Move box into my apartment and check out how well my wall works as a screen
- Figure out what to do about speakers

Edit (forgot these three):
- Order new FFC extender kit (I broke the clip on the one I got before)
- Mount control panel on side of case
- Secure fan (right now it is sort of wedged in, I need to securely mount it)

Not nearly as much got done this weekend as I would have liked. I really only had time to securely mount the fan and add a filter to reduce light coming out the back. Hopefully next weekend I will have more time to work on it.

Almost got everything finished. Spent some time last weekend rewiring using terminals and connectors. Wired in the switches in the configuration that one turns on the fan and the other the lamp and lcd. Wired the lcd into the internal power. Mounted the lcd circuit boards semi-permanently (depending on other adjustments I need to make later). Added a little shim to each edge of the slot holding the fresnel in the front in order to secure it better. Everything was nice and sturdy in the box. I took it to my apartment to test it, but there was too much stuff there that belonged to my roommates that I couldn't shift around to free up space along the wall. I got a decent idea of how big the screen will be. I adjusted the height of the fresnels in the slots in order to fix issues on the top and bottom of the screen.

There were still some issues. I need to align the lcd a little better so that the right side of the image does not have a white line. There was also some weird stuff at the top of the screen which I discovered was a reflection off the edge connectors and circuit board near the bottom of the lcd. That shouldn't be too hard to address. Also, I need to get rid of the white bar of light at the bottom of the screen, which is caused by the height difference of the fresnel and the lcd. Probably going to insert some sort of shield to block the light.

So considering all of that... my new to do list...
- Order FFC extension kit to replace the one I hosed
- Mount LCD control panel on side of projector case
- Finish image adjustments
- Fix remaining light leaks (or minimize their effects)
- Add reflector (gotta pick one up at Ikea)
- Order VDigi for Xbox usage
- Start planning for building my Home Theatre PC
- Get speakers
- Finish layout for home theatre setup (may need to get screen material)

One thing about the light leaks... does anybody know of a good filter material that blocks light and allows a good airflow? Either that or some kind of mechanism to limit the amount of light coming out of the cooling slot on the top of the projector?