Hello everyone!!! 🙂
I have been searching the posts here for months now and i think my brain is totall saturated with thoughts of how to go about building this projector. I finally decided to take the plunge and go for it about a 3 weeks ago and have been slowly gettin the parts delivered to the UK.
This project is turning out to take a lot more time than expected... although im having lots of fun so far which is partly what DIY is all about 😀. I nearly have all the bits delivered so heres a list of the bits i have so far:
400w HPI-T MH lamp + ballast from ebay, paid extra £10 for 4200K MH lamp
285-330mm FL Lens + 90mm Condenser + reflector from exclusiv-online.com
Samsung 330 TFT 13.3" monitor from ebay - Very old and probably rubbish but most i can afford for that resolution.
FS 12"x16" from delphi glass (good value!)
UV filter 10"x12" from lumenlabs
220mm + 330mm fresnels from 3dlens.com
FFC extension for LCD from lumenlabs
+ few fans n wood n bits n bobs
I think thats about everything!
I also origionally brought a projection panel but was only 640x480 res which i decided wasnt enough... i thought i might as well go for it if im gonna spend all this time building this thing!
The only probs with my design are going to be the light box, i think? and the LCD which as i said above is pretty damn old. I have no idea what the specs are but im sure i will cope with movies n such.
i plan to design the projector to look like this:
my diagram is not accurate to any extent lol.
The reason im designing it like this is so i can put it on a TV bracket on my wall here:
As you can see my room is tiny, lol, i even have to put speakers on my bed heh heh... oh well!!
I think thats everything about the design, ill post some pics of what i have done so far now... which isnt very much! but here goes.
I have been searching the posts here for months now and i think my brain is totall saturated with thoughts of how to go about building this projector. I finally decided to take the plunge and go for it about a 3 weeks ago and have been slowly gettin the parts delivered to the UK.
This project is turning out to take a lot more time than expected... although im having lots of fun so far which is partly what DIY is all about 😀. I nearly have all the bits delivered so heres a list of the bits i have so far:
400w HPI-T MH lamp + ballast from ebay, paid extra £10 for 4200K MH lamp
285-330mm FL Lens + 90mm Condenser + reflector from exclusiv-online.com
Samsung 330 TFT 13.3" monitor from ebay - Very old and probably rubbish but most i can afford for that resolution.
FS 12"x16" from delphi glass (good value!)
UV filter 10"x12" from lumenlabs
220mm + 330mm fresnels from 3dlens.com
FFC extension for LCD from lumenlabs
+ few fans n wood n bits n bobs
I think thats about everything!
I also origionally brought a projection panel but was only 640x480 res which i decided wasnt enough... i thought i might as well go for it if im gonna spend all this time building this thing!
The only probs with my design are going to be the light box, i think? and the LCD which as i said above is pretty damn old. I have no idea what the specs are but im sure i will cope with movies n such.
i plan to design the projector to look like this:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
my diagram is not accurate to any extent lol.
The reason im designing it like this is so i can put it on a TV bracket on my wall here:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
As you can see my room is tiny, lol, i even have to put speakers on my bed heh heh... oh well!!
I think thats everything about the design, ill post some pics of what i have done so far now... which isnt very much! but here goes.
This is the *cough* top quality light box:
lovely metal working skills lol... it looks a reck but i think everything is level and lines up ok
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
lovely metal working skills lol... it looks a reck but i think everything is level and lines up ok
View in through the condenser to see the way to small reflector:
it looks like the lamp is off centre in the pic but its not, its just the angle of the shot
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
it looks like the lamp is off centre in the pic but its not, its just the angle of the shot
This is the nice picture frame LCD holder:
I used silicone sealant the hold the LCD to the metal frame that it was origionally in when in the monitor casing.
That was they glues to a nice picture frame
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I used silicone sealant the hold the LCD to the metal frame that it was origionally in when in the monitor casing.
That was they glues to a nice picture frame
This is what i plan to use to power the fans im using:
its a power supply from an old DVD player i destroyed just because i wanted to know what lenses were in the dvd driver 😀 i was playing with lasers at the time... green lasers rule!!!
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
its a power supply from an old DVD player i destroyed just because i wanted to know what lenses were in the dvd driver 😀 i was playing with lasers at the time... green lasers rule!!!
Right then, well thats about as far as i have got with the project so far.
I did mention that i has brought a projection panel which i was origionally planning on useing. I have tested the light box with that panel and it seems to work, so heres a couple of test shots using that panel. By the way, the light box and fresnels + projection lens are all just setup held in bits or cardboard and its not really setup to any sort of standard
the shots still look pretty sweet eventhough they projected image size in these shots is only about 5.4" diagnol
I did mention that i has brought a projection panel which i was origionally planning on useing. I have tested the light box with that panel and it seems to work, so heres a couple of test shots using that panel. By the way, the light box and fresnels + projection lens are all just setup held in bits or cardboard and its not really setup to any sort of standard
the shots still look pretty sweet eventhough they projected image size in these shots is only about 5.4" diagnol
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
p.s. heres my parents dining room... oops... i seem to have made a bit of a mess there.... they are not really that impressed so far... although my dad did say he thought the projected image looked pretty kool 🙂
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
bodgy said:
I meant 5.4 foot, lol... sorry, i hate feet... im gonna work in meters next time.... metric system all the way heh heh
yeh it screws with my head trying to read a thread and one person is talking focus lenths in mm and another is in inches.
I reckon if we hold out long enough the americans might buckle 😛
I reckon if we hold out long enough the americans might buckle 😛
haha, yeah!! lets screw with their heads and always talk in meters hee hee 😀
LONG LIVE METRIC!!! wooooo
LONG LIVE METRIC!!! wooooo
Well, i had a bit of a sore throat yesterday voice sounded terrible, i do telephone work so had the day off 😀, anyway, took the opportunity to go any buy some wood so i can get down to actually building this thing!
I wanted to use ply wood but it costs twice the money, so went for some top quality chipboard...emmm nice! im going to cover it in something when its finished so it looks a bit better.
Anyway i build some of the box and the frames to hold the fresnels. The last time i built something from wood was in secondary school and that was only spice rack so im not the best at woodwork. Managed to buld something though although i did mess up one of the side panels and it wasnt square so i had to maka another one. The holders for the fresnels were easy yo build! 🙂
Well, here is:
I now need to cut the fresnels down to size, thats the next job. Oh and by the way, the box isnt going to be as long as in the pictures, i made it to long because i have no idea how long it needs to be, im going to saw it down when i know where all the optics and bits are going.
I wanted to use ply wood but it costs twice the money, so went for some top quality chipboard...emmm nice! im going to cover it in something when its finished so it looks a bit better.
Anyway i build some of the box and the frames to hold the fresnels. The last time i built something from wood was in secondary school and that was only spice rack so im not the best at woodwork. Managed to buld something though although i did mess up one of the side panels and it wasnt square so i had to maka another one. The holders for the fresnels were easy yo build! 🙂
Well, here is:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I now need to cut the fresnels down to size, thats the next job. Oh and by the way, the box isnt going to be as long as in the pictures, i made it to long because i have no idea how long it needs to be, im going to saw it down when i know where all the optics and bits are going.
My projector is starting to look like a projector now! kind of... lol
i did a test shot with it setup like this holding the PJ by hand and it looks really sweet! brighter than i expected. I need to sort out my bodged setup better and sort out fans for the lamp and the LCD/fresnels before i start playing around trying to get the optimum setup. Dont wanna melt my fresnels, that would be damn annoying!
i did a test shot with it setup like this holding the PJ by hand and it looks really sweet! brighter than i expected. I need to sort out my bodged setup better and sort out fans for the lamp and the LCD/fresnels before i start playing around trying to get the optimum setup. Dont wanna melt my fresnels, that would be damn annoying!
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Hi Phillip,
Great start 🙂
How well do those fresnel supports work? I built a similiar track for mine (all 4x sides) but unfortunately one lens still bends a little 🙁 I expect I'll have to fix it to a sheet of glass.
Great start 🙂
How well do those fresnel supports work? I built a similiar track for mine (all 4x sides) but unfortunately one lens still bends a little 🙁 I expect I'll have to fix it to a sheet of glass.
dude have you split your frensels. or are u using 2 non-split fresnels? also whats the ms is your smaller panel. also will you sell asap to me? and philip is that WINDOWS 95 in the back?????!!??!!!!
dude as a computer engneer seeing 95 Pains me!! i can take care of software needs!!
dude as a computer engneer seeing 95 Pains me!! i can take care of software needs!!
I think you may need to cool your LCD. I built a MKIII, which is similar to your design and had a LCD heating problem. After operating for half an hour, my LCD began to become darker. I stealed an cooling idea from LL's projector gallery and now it works fine.
cooling the lamp
I would recommend you change the lamp socket mounting plate to a small metal bar. That way you can get some air flow across the full length of your lamp. The light engine enclosure lets you remove a lot of hot air from your projector, but you need to actually blow the air into the light box and then duct it outside, or use a puller fan to suck the air through the light box and push it outside. If you just blow all that hot air around inside the box you will have a real heat build-up problem.
And please: Stick to metric. Converting back and forth is a pain...
Even in the US, all lenses are spec'ed in mm. All scientific work is done in metric. The people who can't work in metric are the same ones who tried to pass a law to make pi = 3.0!
I would recommend you change the lamp socket mounting plate to a small metal bar. That way you can get some air flow across the full length of your lamp. The light engine enclosure lets you remove a lot of hot air from your projector, but you need to actually blow the air into the light box and then duct it outside, or use a puller fan to suck the air through the light box and push it outside. If you just blow all that hot air around inside the box you will have a real heat build-up problem.
And please: Stick to metric. Converting back and forth is a pain...
Even in the US, all lenses are spec'ed in mm. All scientific work is done in metric. The people who can't work in metric are the same ones who tried to pass a law to make pi = 3.0!
Quin said:
Yeah im worrying about the fresnels bending. Basically because of the size or my room i need the projector to be as thin as possibly because if you look at the pic of where the projector is going in my room on the wall it will stick out over my bed. i only have the wooden supports on the 2 sides of the fresnels. Im planning on using 2 pieces of thin metal wire to support the other 2 sides a bit. Hopefully it will be ok if i use enough cooling.
At least i hope it will be ok, what does everyone think?
dj_holmes said:dude have you split your frensels. or are u using 2 non-split fresnels? also whats the ms is your smaller panel. also will you sell asap to me? and philip is that WINDOWS 95 in the back?????!!??!!!!
dude as a computer engneer seeing 95 Pains me!! i can take care of software needs!!
I brought the fresnels already split from 3dlens.com, very good company.
The smaller LCD projection panel has a 10.4" screen. I cant sell it right now though, sorry dude, i just wanna get a little bit further down the line with the building first incase i break my LCD. Hopefully it wont take very long though as i have 3 days free now to try n get building more.
It was my birthday yesterday and so this morning i seem to have developed a strange headache and generally feel ****.... very wierd 😉
p.s. yes thats windows 95!!! HEHE i got fed up of bring my computer from my room downstairs everytime to test it, then i remember our old 486 rotting away in the garage, brought it in, it was icy cold and prob damp, let it aclimitise for a bit and turned it on!! it still works!! amazing. Its been in the garage for about 7-8 years
voovoov said:
What was the LL cooling idea you used?
I plann on having 2 x 80mm fans blowing air across the fresnels and the LCD, i might also put 2 smaller 40mm fans inside blowing onto either sides of the fresnels which are not being hit by the 2 80 mm fans, like this:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
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