Hey guys,

Just signed up here and am glad to become a LL member!

My first project is going to be kinda of an.... odd idea. The attached image is of the outside shape of the CORE of my projector. I am trying to get this to the smallest form factor possible with a 15" lcd. I'm not all that knowledgeable about drawing schematic and wanted to see what kind of ideas you guys could come up with to help design the innards of this... my inital drawing had the entire project sitting just under 7' long! ( this core section being about 40")

Thanks for any help,
Skizot

(p.s. bonus points to anyone who can guess the final shape of this behemoth )

War of the Worlds alien?

you got the sci-fi part right, but not quite geeky enough

My guess is you are building the original Star-trek Enterprise. The shape seems right as the "core". It would also increase the geek factor (Especially since it is the original)

Am I right??

Rhino

P.S. If I am, you must have a huge room to fit a 7' projector!

meh... not quite...



this is more like

and i have a HUGE room.

That's cool, you should put a seat in it, with a joystick, rudder pedals, throttle, etc. That would be sweet (But I'm not a Star Wars fan [not that there is anything wrong with it]). Anyways, that's what I would do.. I mean that is what I am going to do.

Reminds me of The Navigator.

Reminds me of this case mod,

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1823675,00.asp

Click to view attachment

well the problem is i'm not sure on the minimal size i would need to make it.

Hmmmmm....

Im thinking.... Light in back. LCD in round cavity, triplet mounted on the middle of the hexagonal windowbehind the bars. Whole windows moves to focus and sets back when not in use. You could probably scale it down to about 4 feet...unless you want to go with a big honkin pro lens and a nice big lcd...which of course you will...

Good luck on this one!

well for the most part, you have my idea right on the money... the triplet is gonna go in the middle of the window and i was going to make it adjustable via a motorized slider. paint all the windows around it black to prevent light leakage.

and thanks for the crit SJ, your box is what inspired me to make something unqiue

Really? Thats such a nice thing to say! Thanks!

I would definitely go for the motorized slider. I would also consider making the struts thick enough to house a MB /HD configuration, maybe stick the keyboard on the back under the hatch panel and put a trackball mouse in the aft motor section...or go wireless!

I would consider leaving an actual tube from the light section to the rear and paint the insides red for the TIE ports...

Maybe even a small Hami in the top of one of the wings....The possibilities are endless...

I have to stop! Im geeking out!

I WAS thinking of ripping up a laptop and just getting a REAAAALLLY long FFC connector.
But i'm not sure i want to build a system INTO it just yet. I'll leave it hollow in the wings ( for weight, and just in case )

as for the engine lights, i was planning on doing something similar to your dryer chute method, but with a could red led fans in it. have marking led's on it etc.

How are you planning on cooling it? I dont see a fan.

well i'm gonna put 2 or three good size fans in the bottom vented out through the back with dryer tubing. i didn't put them in that layout as it would adde even more confusion to it.

this is going to look really cool when you are done.

Okay so back to the original question... i suck at the measurements of internal components etc.... and before i start building this.... anyone who knows about the layouts...

i want to use a 17" monitor with pro lenses...

what's the smallest foot print, theorhetically, that could be done?

The PRO lens needs the 650mm field fresnel, you can get away with a 220mm collector fresnel but you will get almost 3x arc magnification so I'm not sure that that is the best solution 220mm `= 10", 650mm ~=26" . So 36 inches for fresnels +5" for extras means a minimum of 41". The standard triplet would give you 220+330 = 550mm ~=22"+ 5" or aboy 27". This a cool idea but highest quality in a custom package may not be the best idea. Lately I've been leaning towards the smaller panels like the 8" Hami ($145 plus shipping ($40) for 800x600) which is fine for regualr TV+DVDs and down scaling HDTV would still look good (native HDTV would be better), the smallness of the PJ would be of great benifit. Using a smaller panel you could get by with shorter FL fresnels as well without all the dark corner issues.

hmmm... that doesn't sound like a bad idea.... happen to have any links for the hami?

Oh oh!
This reminds of the scenes from Road Runner where the coyote falls off the cliff...
...just waiting for the "Poof"

He's hooked and the idea is burning in his brain!

Poor Guy!

well i want ti to be a nice project, but also not something i could throw an engine in and fly around... although..........

you could somehow incorporate something like this, but it'd be kinda weird having your projected image move all over the wall
http://www.acesim.com/main.html

Search eBay for the HAMI.
A few people here have used it including Brainchild.
Also check Allinbox.com its a french site much like lumenlabs, the europeans seem to prefer smaller panels and boxes while Americans (surprise!!!) want everything as big as possible.

Interesting concept, but get the controller as close to the lcd as possible otherwise you'll be plagued with interference, especially if you're running the signal cable close to power cables.

i've been looking at a bunch of options, and will let you guys know how it goes.