Jaycat's Projector

[jaycat]

hello all,

long time reader of this forum, first "real" post.

anyway, here's the specs of my projector:

time to build: 20 hours
equipment:
ViewSonic 1024x768 15" LCD $125 on Ebay
cap/coil ballast $88 locally
MH400U bulb $30 at HomeDepot
Lenses/fresnels from an old OHP $5 at auction
MDF $30
Flashing/Wires/Switches/Screws/Glue/Lexan ~$100

I started building the projector in an existing 20inch cube box, used to house my DJ equipment. Made a sliding drawer mechanism for the triplet, got 80% done with the rest before I realized that ballast would be within 4 inches of the bulb. This would cause a failure as I have read you should keep you ballast as cool as possible.
Went to HomeDepot that night and got a 3/4inch sheet of MDF, had them cut it into 4 strips.
The rest of the build went pretty well, I'll save the details unless someone wants to really know the boring stuff. Typical C-channel/weatherstripping frame for fresnels, sliding focus board for triplet lens.
A few things I'd pass on to whomever; be prepared to constantly tweak and reengineer pieces over and over and over and over. I had no less than 3 triplet designs built for my cube box before scrapping it due to too much fiddling with little bits. A person could literally go quite insane with all the constant tweaking, changing and upgrading.
It definatley helps to have things sorted out before, planned, measured, doublechecked, then checked again. Then you end up doing it differently anyway!
If you have seen Driver23/Atlas Moth, you'll surely recognize the uncanny relation between the main character and anyone who attempts to build a projector. If you haven't seen the movie, I'd recommend it. Netflix may be your only hope.

[mememem]

any pics?

[jaycat]

here's the very first untweaked screenshot.

no reflector, pitch black room, unaligned fresnels and light leaks from the box and between fresnel-lcd-fresnel part.

lcd brightness/contrast at default (50 out of 100)

no video card tweaks, DVD output fullscreen at 1024x768.

i'll post another picture of the final 'tweaked' version later.

and i'm 6 feet tall for size reference.

[jaycat]

another shot after tweaking the projector. much brighter image and more vivid color by realigning fresnels and gluing them to FLAT glass.

[jaycat]

one more showing BF1942 Desert Combat

[yellowhandsome]

Originally posted by jaycat
another shot after tweaking the projector. much brighter image and more vivid color by realigning fresnels and gluing them to FLAT glass.

do you have pictures of your fresnel glue to the glass? my projector has the problem of focus on all corners. please, let me know how your fix your focus.
thank you

[aad1972]

Nice Job congrats!!