Yep..I built one. Used an NEC 1545v monitor I believe, and a 400 watt metal halide bulb.
I sold it to a guy here, actually. He modified the design to be wall-mountable, and it turned out a heck of a lot better than my design. Hah.
I eventually couldn't live without a big screen anymore, so I plopped down 900 dollars for an Infocus X1. Now that I have a real projector, I can tell you guys...unless you never plan to move it, the portability of a real projector is great. Not to mention the bulb heats up a ton faster and is a lot more configurable. I might be a bit biased though because I bring my projector to a lot of places for Halo parties.
As a project though, building a projector was a ton of fun. I learned quite a bit about optics and LCDs.
I sold it to a guy here, actually. He modified the design to be wall-mountable, and it turned out a heck of a lot better than my design. Hah.
I eventually couldn't live without a big screen anymore, so I plopped down 900 dollars for an Infocus X1. Now that I have a real projector, I can tell you guys...unless you never plan to move it, the portability of a real projector is great. Not to mention the bulb heats up a ton faster and is a lot more configurable. I might be a bit biased though because I bring my projector to a lot of places for Halo parties.
As a project though, building a projector was a ton of fun. I learned quite a bit about optics and LCDs.