DIY Video Projector

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#801
LCD panel is coming but OHP is going to take longer so...

I was wondering if a regualr houshold lamp and light was bright enough to "TESTL run a lcd panel until my overhead projector comes. I am going to rig something quick out of cardboard with 2 fresnal lenses I already have. So will it be bright enough to play around with or will i not get a single image to appear?

Also the light then the lens then the lcd but the lens that goes infront of the light is it rough side towards light or toward lcd?

Thanks!
 
#803
successful prototypes?
My setup had it's first public viewing the other night - heap of friends checked it out and loved it. It could use higher resolution, but I still get a kick out it every time I fire it up. Couldn't hope for better timing too, I was just using tv for a video source and bad boys was just ending - lots of explosions.
One of my friends asked if he could borrow it for a party he is throwing, pretty cool having filmclips covering a wall... Anyway party is in April, so I have till then to make it a bit more portable 😎

I have got to get some pictures of the thing going on the web. I am putting together a site, but i don't have a digital camera or anything, so I will have to get photos the old fashioned way.
 
#807
Help me with my lens

Hi Im finally done with my prototype. It is a big monster of a projector. Basically I get an image but not like desired yet I can tell alreeady its much better than the 100" tv. my problem is Im using a rectangular fresnel lens as my "projecting lens", I see alot of peoplpe here actually have what looks like camera/real projector lenses. Does that improve the image? Shoould I make my fresnel round? Where could I buy one of htose lense and how much are they?

For lighting IM running 2 regular socket 300watt 6300lumen philips bulbs.(Brand Inside frost) I was going to buy a Metal halide but they where 36 bucks plus had to have special housing. These lights where 3 bucks each and give a decent picture.

Thanks for your help!

P.S. I was thinking of instead of fresnel in the front going with a round magnifying glass. WOuld that work?

Thansk again! Cant wait to get pics up on my website and move it from cardboard (its a fire waiting to happen)
 
#808
KDS rocks

Hi guys,

I'm writing this on a kds rad5 LCD screen. It's great. Good colour, and an excellent response time. Don't have an OHP yet, so I haven't taken it apart. Myren, the little plastic stoppers you mentioned are (on this one at least) just round sticky pieces of rubber that peel off to reveal the screws, so taking it apart should be easy. The only problem I have with it is that it's black could be blacker, but I might need to tweak it some more.

skilzygw,

You can certainly use a magnifying glass to project the image. Just make sure that you get one large enough(with a diameter at least the size of your screen) so it will catch the entire image. then you just need to rig up some way to move the lens in and out for focus.
 
#809
Great to here you got a monitor ready for mutilation. Please write after you take it apart saying how easy or hard it was.

I am working on a design to fit my projector into a metal case. My prototype is cardboard but i swear I smell smoke everytime i try it.

The bulbs i will use, im gonna try to stuff 9 6000 lumen regular socket bulbs. I will have some pretty sick cooling though just in case.

Hopefully all goes well.

What kind of lights do you use for backlight? How much where they?

Thanks!
 
#810
My OHP measures 12.5" diag. if I get a 15" LCD monitor how can I get the full screen to show? The LCD's I've looked at in the stores will only give you a very little horizontal adjustment, and from what I see no vertical.

Thanks!
 
#811
Some questions for the geniuses

Just a couple of quick questions.

What are LOA's? I keep hearing these lights mentioned what/where can i find them?

How hard is it to pull apart + use a 5inch car tv lcd? I am buying from ebay.

The bottom fresnel that is used before the lcd i guess to capture and direct the light. Do you put right on the lcd? A little bit before? Does it have to be bigger/smaller/same size as the lcd?

My lcd is gonna be flat like this ---------------
How do i get the picture to go forward ------------> instead of up
Basically what angle and size does the Mirror need to be?

Fresnel or magnifying glass for actually output?

Thanks my projector is coming to be. I can almost taste it. I am waiting for my OHP to come already have my lcd panel but Im also working on a smaller portable 5" lcd tv with light/lenses? Thats for fun.

thanks!
 
#812
To add to my previous post, I was wondering with the 5inch lcd do you have to open it up or does it work with light around it?

Can't wait to make my projector.

How's everyone elses been going?


P.S. I am going to buy multiple 6000 lumen 400watt phillips regular socket light bulbs. Will adding more of them make a difference or you cant really group lights together?


Thanks !! Cant wait to upload pictures to my website when done. Soon very soon. The thing thats killing me is my lens for picture, right now im using for my test runs a fresnel sheet. Thiss sucks i need a real lens like you guys. I am going to try a magnifying glass hopefully with better results.

Thanks!
 
#814
SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok let me tell you what happened. I was testing out my projector with my phillips 400watt 625 lumen regular socket light bulb and i would get nothing. Really bad images that i thought was the len's fault. Then all of a sudden a surge and boom there goes my bulb. It was only 3 bucks so on my way i went to the Home Depot. I had 2 in my hand for 12000 lumens when i spotted this little box. It said 500watt light. I said hmmmm how much is that 30+ like the metal halide bulb no It was only 10 bucks. And it brought a spare bulb. I was like hmmmm interesting. So i bought it without knowing hte lumens. I went back to the bulb rack and found it was rated at 11000 lumens. Its a 500watt Halogen bulb. I was like 10bucks 11000 lumens why not. I get home put it into my make shift box, what a crappy sight this box is let me tell you. I poweer on the light with all my house lights on and i see PROXIMA Im like NOOOOOOOOO WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! Ive neever seen that clear before. So windows boots up of my lcd panel and I see the desktop. Its a little out of focus so im like damn stupid fresnel but then i move the light and gets super clear!!! I guess the light was not facing it or my fresnel before the lcd was angled wrong. But What a clear picture!!! I pull back clear pull back clear im at something like a 60inch tv when i run out of cord and moving space. WOW. This is so excititing. You dont know what i felt when i saw that proxima sign boot up. I new it was good because ive never seen 100" tv do that when I was doing that project.

Man cant wait to get some pics and post em on my websight. This thing sweet, Only thing is the halogen gets real hot. Like an oven. So hot it brings a grill to put obver the UV glass shield. But for 10bucks man. Super bright. If anyones interested its the...

HM500 Series. Commercial Electric Handy man halogen work light.

What im doing now is to hold me over till my overhead projector comes. Thats what i bought the lcd panel for.

BUTTTT....Now Im planning on buying a small 5" lcd tv off ebay and
making a small compact portable projector out of this kick *** halogen lamp. I want to stuff it into a metal case like a PC case size. 2 questions

1) Will it be to hot in there for it?
2) Would 2 of these lights be overkill?

Thanks.
Im crazy excited. Should i take pics and post them? Anyone interested?

P.S. People with experience with the 5" tv route. Please let me know about taking htem apart, and the fresnel lens behind them does it have to be smaller,same size or larger than the screen. Thanks!


Sorry just checked my email and i have a very important question regarding the 5inch tv. Need quick answer bids up tomorrow. Its not an active matrix.
This is the tv:
Screen: Sharp
5 Inch STN LCD Color Monitor
System: NTSC
Pixel:
Back Light: Cold Cathode Filament Tube
RCA Video In & Power Input
Video Input: 1.0Vp-p 75ohm
Consume: about 7.2W
Operating Temperature: -5 to 40 oC
Store Temperature: -20 to 60 oC
Power: DC12V +-10%
Stand Style Mounting Bracket
Dimensions(WxHxD):
Gross Weight: 485g
Speaker input: Option

http://www.tcfb.com/aurora/lcm.html

tm-500b check this out is this not good?
 
#815
skilzygw,

Congrats on your work! Be sure to post some screenshots with some reference to give us perspective of screen size, etc. Concerning the LCD on ebay...I'm not very familiar with the STN (super twisted nematic) technology, but I am a little suspicious of why they won't list a resolution rating. This link might help. It's a little wordy, but it describes the two types. I think TFT is the better choice for this project.

I'm glad you had success with you lighting situation. It's nice to do things cheap! Just be careful with the heat the light produces. This has been a problem with many high output bulbs, so try to keep that heat away from the LCD.

LOA's are the Lights of America Fluorex 65watt lights that are sold by Wal-Mart and Home Depot in the USA. They produce ~8000 lumens of very white light with minimal heat. They are around ~$30 if you can find them. Go to www.lightsofamerica.com for more descriptions, although I don't think they list all of the models. Look at zark's websitefor an example (a working example!) of this light.

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing those pics!

-f4
 
#816
hmmmm

I built my new lamp housing this week end. The cooling works a treat although is just a tade to loud, won't be a problem once it is in the coffee table. I am using a DYR GE Quartzline projection lamp 650 watt 240 volt, I was told it produces 12 thousand lumens, it can't be right, the diffeence in brightness is minimal and the focus of the prjector has now seemed to have not worked properly, the image is sort of bleedy and a bit blurry, can't work out why, one thing I do need to do is move the bulb a bit becuase it is slighlty off center. Few problems to work out, not really happy with the globe, not as bright as it should be!
 
#819
Re: Help me with my lens

skilzygw said:
my problem is Im using a rectangular fresnel lens as my "projecting lens", I see alot of peoplpe here actually have what looks like camera/real projector lenses. Does that improve the image? Shoould I make my fresnel round? Where could I buy one of htose lense and how much are they?
Click to expand...

Congrats on getting something going - it is a huge thrill.
I am also using a ohp fresnel as the projection lens. I have a delta77 4" proj tv lens that I bought, but when I try to use that a only see a round sub section of the picture because the lens is smaller than the 5" of the LCD. The fresnel works great, no keystoning or anything except for the picture being a bit out of focus on the edges. This is because the acrylic fresnel is actually a bit warped. I was thinking of clamping it against a sheet of glass to hold it flat, or an aluminium frame to flatten it out.

I do want to use the delta77 lens because it really looks like a top quality piece of optics, but I think I will have to change my optics around to do it. If I use multiple fresnels on the source side of the lcd, I can converge the light before it hits the lcd, and use the smaller projection lens. (if my optics thinking is right, which it may not be...)

anyway attached is a really quick piccy I just did of my current setup.
 

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#820
screen

I should have mentioned I had a bit of a breakthrough stuffing around with the thing yesterday. I have been projecting an image on to a sort of cream painted wall up till now. Over the weekend I bought a huge sheet of white melamine coated 3mm mdf for a unrelated woodworking project, and I thought I would have a go at using the stuff for a screen.
Whoa! what an improvement! Contrast ratio is now excellent (blacks are a LOT closer to black than they used to be). The screen is not ideal, I think it is a bit too glossy, you kinda get a round glare reflection if you look straight at it from beside the projector. If you are off axis a bit, you don't see the glare.
Anyway I am getting an old slide projector screen in a couple of weeks from a friend, can't wait, I think it will be an enormous improvement. Better still would be one of the fancy screens designed specifically for LCD projectors.
 
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