Well, over the weekend i did some testing with the parts express 5" lcd screen, and a delta IV projector lens. I think the part of this project I agonized over the most, was the lighting. I finally desided to buy two 12" 6 thousand something lumin flourux lights. Well, just for yux i strapped my lcd screen the my delta Iv without taking it apart. I was treated to a nice 5-6 foot image on the wall (from the tiny little backlight on that lcd). There was one problem of course, it the picture was inverted and upside down. Fixing the upside down was easy... all i had to do was flip the lens the right way (keep in mind i tape the lcd right on to the back of the delta IV). For the inverted problem, i solved that too. If any one has opened up the parts express screen, they would know that the lcd intself can easily be flipped and the unit be reclosed. This is exactally what i did. It worked like a charm. I had a nice big image on my wall, and it was not inverted or upside down. I did not have to use a huge backlight, so really, the projector is only the size of the lens. Not too shabby if i don't say so myself. So I sparred the burden of having a huge, hot, light source, and a bulky box. I can fit the entire unit into a small enclosure. What is the downside, the picture is kind of dim, but a little brighter than the fresnel lens-Big screen tv. This i plan to solve by making the blacklight brighter. I know this can be done and if i succed, i will have one of the smallest DIY projectors out there. 😀 My lcd is dead because it was defective (an no i did not connect it to to high power)... the transformer for the backlight shorted out... lit on fire... and now when i power up my lcd... that shorts out... and becuse my powersource lowers the voltage to zero when any thing connected to it shorts out i cannot run the lcd (i would have killed to take some pics first to show. it really was a wonderfull picture!)... Oh well. I'm drawing up the plans for version 2... it will basically be a lcd directly on a projection lens. Trust me on this one... Any ideas?
fluorex
Stafke,
do not say that !!! diy here in this forum do not like the flyorex result!
for some of them it is too easy!
😉
i think it works good, i think it is the easiest and best solution
i used 2 lights and made 3 projectors like that that were sold before they were even finished.
i hope you are prepared in getting negative replies from al lthe others now! 🙄
Stafke,
do not say that !!! diy here in this forum do not like the flyorex result!
for some of them it is too easy!
😉
i think it works good, i think it is the easiest and best solution
i used 2 lights and made 3 projectors like that that were sold before they were even finished.
i hope you are prepared in getting negative replies from al lthe others now! 🙄
Exact lighting....
HI Mustafa, I was directed here to ask you a question. I did the exact same thing as you, and thats how I plan on doing the final product. I have 5 inch LCD and the DELTA lens. I have a box that will fit everything. I'm just wondeing what kind of lighting I need to produce a bright enough picture. I'm kinda stuck on what to do. I need some help or direction, can you or anyone throw me a tip. I really don't need theories I just want to know the best, then brand name and model number, possibly where to get it too. (as long as the best isnt too expensive.) Thanks!
HI Mustafa, I was directed here to ask you a question. I did the exact same thing as you, and thats how I plan on doing the final product. I have 5 inch LCD and the DELTA lens. I have a box that will fit everything. I'm just wondeing what kind of lighting I need to produce a bright enough picture. I'm kinda stuck on what to do. I need some help or direction, can you or anyone throw me a tip. I really don't need theories I just want to know the best, then brand name and model number, possibly where to get it too. (as long as the best isnt too expensive.) Thanks!
Hi. Did you try simply plopping your lcd onto your lens with the backlight that comes with it? You may be supprised with the picture brightness, and with a high gain screen... who knows... It may be bright enough... Anyway, the lights i have, i got from the home depot, they are 6825 lumins each fluorex from lights of america. Iwas going to scan the box for you, but my scanner software it dead, so i will post it once i do a reboot. They are $30 each (you may just get away with using one... it depends i how you want you picture to look). Also, these are the coolest running lights to use, but they still produce heat, so make sure you have a fan in your box. And to avoid light loss, put a black piece of poster board, or something over the fan (im sure you could have figured that one out). Good Luck...
verbose
verbose
Re: fluorex
Yea, i know what you mean... I don't see where these people are comming from saying it's too easy???!!!???!!! Most people here just plop an nview on an ohp and then they call themselves DIYers... I guess every businesss person who ever gave a presentation to there company before the all in one projectors was a DIYer to... after all, you do have to take the lcd pannel out of the suitcase, and place in on the ohp. Anyway... im just kidding... the people here are great and so is fluorex! 😀
uvodee said:
Yea, i know what you mean... I don't see where these people are comming from saying it's too easy???!!!???!!! Most people here just plop an nview on an ohp and then they call themselves DIYers... I guess every businesss person who ever gave a presentation to there company before the all in one projectors was a DIYer to... after all, you do have to take the lcd pannel out of the suitcase, and place in on the ohp. Anyway... im just kidding... the people here are great and so is fluorex! 😀
THANKS!
Wow, Thanks for you help. I think I just have about one more question maybe you could help me with. How would I go about positioning the lights. I mean I have the LCD right agaisnt the lens, in a box that is exactly 14 and half inches by 14 and a half inches. Would I angle both lights RIGHT behind LCd or give it a few inches? Do I need a box that big? I had to make a cone out of aluminum foil around a 1750 lumes bulb to fit the exact size of lens/LCD. I shouldn't have to do it again should I? So, in total you recommend at least 12,000 lumes then? I got a few thousand more to go, hehehe. I will take your word and buy those lights tomarrow then. Thanks.
Wow, Thanks for you help. I think I just have about one more question maybe you could help me with. How would I go about positioning the lights. I mean I have the LCD right agaisnt the lens, in a box that is exactly 14 and half inches by 14 and a half inches. Would I angle both lights RIGHT behind LCd or give it a few inches? Do I need a box that big? I had to make a cone out of aluminum foil around a 1750 lumes bulb to fit the exact size of lens/LCD. I shouldn't have to do it again should I? So, in total you recommend at least 12,000 lumes then? I got a few thousand more to go, hehehe. I will take your word and buy those lights tomarrow then. Thanks.
Oh, one more thing....
Sorry, I just thought of one more thing. I have seriously like 5 fans and I plan to implement as many as I can. Do you recommend facing them in, and then having one or two facing out for an exhaust sort of thing? Let me know, thanks!
Sorry, I just thought of one more thing. I have seriously like 5 fans and I plan to implement as many as I can. Do you recommend facing them in, and then having one or two facing out for an exhaust sort of thing? Let me know, thanks!
Those lights are very, very bright. They are made to cover 2,580 square feet! I fired up two in my projector box, a wow!!! I was blinded fof a while. As for the angle, you should play around with it. I placed them in the box at an angle like this
shield
___
light 2 \ /light 1
\ /
I took the plastic shield off both, and placed one in the front of them when they were at an angle. know on my projected image i did have hot spots, but i am positive i made my box to small, and placed the lighs too close or to far (one of the two) from the lcd. If you have this problem, just put a fresnel lens in there. As for 5 fans, i would lay back a bit, The two fluorex lights are not nearly that hot.. i would say to fans topps, but don't take my word on it. Watch a full movie with likt 1 fan, and keet a thermometer stuck in your box. If the temp reaches over say, 120 F, put in a secon fan to blow air in, or out depending. What kind of lights are you using now?
shield
___
light 2 \ /light 1
\ /
I took the plastic shield off both, and placed one in the front of them when they were at an angle. know on my projected image i did have hot spots, but i am positive i made my box to small, and placed the lighs too close or to far (one of the two) from the lcd. If you have this problem, just put a fresnel lens in there. As for 5 fans, i would lay back a bit, The two fluorex lights are not nearly that hot.. i would say to fans topps, but don't take my word on it. Watch a full movie with likt 1 fan, and keet a thermometer stuck in your box. If the temp reaches over say, 120 F, put in a secon fan to blow air in, or out depending. What kind of lights are you using now?
wow... ignore my diagram... it got messed up... I set them up like zark did... Oh yea, these lights will require some wiring. If you go the the elctrical section of hd (i think the lights were in that section too, and not lighting) you can buy a pigtale (premade plug) and a light switch and junction box ( i belive it is called) and make a nice little setup. You may also want to buy shrink tubing or the little twist things to cover up the exposed wire... you get two with each light though. And one more thing, there is a sensor on the light, that will prevent the light from working in the box... The light will go off. I think it is an auto off for when the light is on duing the day. You can a: remove this sensor, or b: put a peice of paper and tape over it.
nice one, verbose. good work. When you tried the LCD's own backlight with the delta lens did you manage to see a projection of the whole 5" lcd image, or were the corners cut off?
No. None of the corners were cut off with the delta IV. Which lens was this a problem with... the delta 61???? The IV is still a crt lens mad for a rounded screen though so it is not the best choise, but i was very pleased with the quality. None of the corners were cut off or blury. Idealy i would like to use a crt lens made for a flatpannel tv... I belive the one sold at surplusshed is for a flat, but it would only take the 4" lcd... The total setup though would cost me about $125, so i may just go for it, and try to modify the backlight on the lcd so I can geat a brighter pic. I plan to do this around new years, so i will post some pics then. Good luck,
verbose
verbose
oh yea, for modifying a backlight, I think leds would be the perfect choice. Any one disagree? There has been a lot of talk if leds will work well for DIY or not, but please keep in mind i do not need a 49,000 lumin lamp using leds... The current backlight on the lcd is almost bright enough to project a 5-6 foot image...
verbose mustafa, you think you can take a few pics of the set up you have? I'm mostly interested in the wiring of the 2 Flourex lights if you can take a few step-by-step pics of those
hmm... sound like i should make a web site... I don't have a digi-cam, but i'll see what i can do over the weekend (I can borrow one, or scan in some regular pics). When I get my final design down i'm building a site.
Maybe a webcam?
I wanted to use the Fujinon Lens on SurplusShed with the 4" LCD from PartsExpress but now I kind wanna get the 5" LCD .....but there to find a Delta IV (not ebay)
I wanted to use the Fujinon Lens on SurplusShed with the 4" LCD from PartsExpress but now I kind wanna get the 5" LCD .....but there to find a Delta IV (not ebay)
webcam... no can do... try this... Remember, KEEP ALL CONNECTIONS CLOSED WITH END CAPS THAT SCRew OVER WIRES! The white wire, or hot wire is the one that has the voltage and will kill you when you touch it. The black is neutral and and will not shock you, but I would not push your luck touching live wires (im sure you know this). The left socket on an outlet (US OUTLET) is neutral, and the right is hot. i suggest you buy a premade plug, or pigtale from the home depot (I own stock in them so shop there 😀 ) If you buy a plug with three prongs, Green is ground and is not needed.
Attachments
Wow! I just got a great idea... Don't put the switch on the hot wire... put it on the neutral wire!!! That way you do not risk electricution (if i spelled it right).
Note by moderator: NEVER DO THIS. Apart from being highly illegal, it is incredibly dangerous. Again, unless you have a serious death wish, DO NOT under any circumstances do as is described in the above post.
Note by moderator: NEVER DO THIS. Apart from being highly illegal, it is incredibly dangerous. Again, unless you have a serious death wish, DO NOT under any circumstances do as is described in the above post.Still a little confused.. real pics would help ..i wouldn't be wiring it powered on any way so no live wires.
Sorry, but thats the best I can offer you for now. Try doing a search on google on how to wire lights or something of that nature.
LED's
Sweet. 🙂 Yeah Verbose, I'm definately interested in doing the ultra-small, compact LCD route. 🙂 Unfortunately, I bought an LCD that was too big (5.7 inches). I'm thinking of selling it so that I can spend the extra $40 and get a 5" from parts express. 🙂 Anyone want to buy a brand new Sharp LCD Monitor LQ6NC01? I'll sell it for $60. 🙂 It takes composite video and analog RGB (NTSC). 🙂 It's got a backlight, but no inverter, but you can power that yourself.
Anyway, enough soapboxing. Yeah, I think we should collaborate on trying to get LED light sources... I just found a very cool one from Luxeon today... scroll down to "Luxeon Flood" on this page . 🙂 Those are pretty sweet. 🙂 Something like 120 lumens in a ultra-small space with a 100,000+ hour lifetime. The 12 bulb model runs 215 lumens typical (700 mA draw), while the 18 bulb model does 325 typical lumen output (1050 mA draw). Pretty sweet if you ask me. datasheet
Only problem is the price (but it's not *that* expensive, really. I'm just on a cheapo-budget.)
$172.80 ($153.60 if you buy ten or more) for the 12-bulb floods.
$259.20 ($230.40 if you buy ten or more) for the 18-bulb floods.
Buy them here.
Something that really strikes me here... if you buy 500+ units of the 18-bulb flood, the price drops from $259.20 all the way to $119.52. The 12 bulb floods drop from $172.80 to $79.68... dang. Can I get a student discount please? 🙂 Anyone know if they would offer us a discount if we were doing developmental research, and experimenting with the use in LCD video projectors? I know this is an area that Luxeon wants to target (LCD projectors) as I saw it in one of their ads for possible usage of their products. Does anyone have any experience with things of that nature? I might just call one of their sales reps tomorrow and see what I can see.
Keep the imagination station glowin' and flowin'. 🙂
--Clint
Sweet. 🙂 Yeah Verbose, I'm definately interested in doing the ultra-small, compact LCD route. 🙂 Unfortunately, I bought an LCD that was too big (5.7 inches). I'm thinking of selling it so that I can spend the extra $40 and get a 5" from parts express. 🙂 Anyone want to buy a brand new Sharp LCD Monitor LQ6NC01? I'll sell it for $60. 🙂 It takes composite video and analog RGB (NTSC). 🙂 It's got a backlight, but no inverter, but you can power that yourself.
Anyway, enough soapboxing. Yeah, I think we should collaborate on trying to get LED light sources... I just found a very cool one from Luxeon today... scroll down to "Luxeon Flood" on this page . 🙂 Those are pretty sweet. 🙂 Something like 120 lumens in a ultra-small space with a 100,000+ hour lifetime. The 12 bulb model runs 215 lumens typical (700 mA draw), while the 18 bulb model does 325 typical lumen output (1050 mA draw). Pretty sweet if you ask me. datasheet
Only problem is the price (but it's not *that* expensive, really. I'm just on a cheapo-budget.)
$172.80 ($153.60 if you buy ten or more) for the 12-bulb floods.
$259.20 ($230.40 if you buy ten or more) for the 18-bulb floods.
Buy them here.
Something that really strikes me here... if you buy 500+ units of the 18-bulb flood, the price drops from $259.20 all the way to $119.52. The 12 bulb floods drop from $172.80 to $79.68... dang. Can I get a student discount please? 🙂 Anyone know if they would offer us a discount if we were doing developmental research, and experimenting with the use in LCD video projectors? I know this is an area that Luxeon wants to target (LCD projectors) as I saw it in one of their ads for possible usage of their products. Does anyone have any experience with things of that nature? I might just call one of their sales reps tomorrow and see what I can see.
Keep the imagination station glowin' and flowin'. 🙂
--Clint
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