DIY projector really works!

[cliftonite]

Whats kind of size can you achieve on that thing with a throw distance of only 10ft or so?

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: edfcmc
whats wrong with the free plans available at www.diylabs.org where you bought some of your parts?

How are the $20 plans better?

There's nothing wrong with their plans. I needed access to the LL forums for help in stripping the lcd and whole bunch of other stuff. Plus, diylabs got 2 things wrong with my order: sent the wrong sized fresnels and also forgot to send the focusing panel. Both were corrected, but it took over 2 weeks to get everything fixed--that was time I couldn't afford to waste, so I went with the LL design.

Originally posted by: cliftonite
Whats kind of size can you achieve on that thing with a throw distance of only 10ft or so?

My image is approximately 146" (12 feet) diagonal. Dimensions are 117" (9.75 feet) wide by 88" (~7 feet) tall. This is about a 10 foot throw.

 

[dman]

400W for the light seems like a lot, but looks like avg projector uses 200w power. Still, for DIY, I would wonder if the heat from the lamp would hurt the LCD over time, cause it to go bad sooner, etc? On the plus, you could upgrade the LCD in a few years to a nicer model and get better resolution for less than a new bulb on most projectors would cost.

Also, you mention being able to 'see the pixels'? Seems to me like you have the screen to big or you are sitting too close. That would be annoying to me... or were you just saying that if you got closer you could see them clearly, but, at normal viewing distance not really noticeable?

Nice job, but, wife would never go for it... too ghetto. Wish we had basements in S.FL... <sigh>

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: dman
400W for the light seems like a lot, but looks like avg projector uses 200w power. Still, for DIY, I would wonder if the heat from the lamp would hurt the LCD over time, cause it to go bad sooner, etc? On the plus, you could upgrade the LCD in a few years to a nicer model and get better resolution for less than a new bulb on most projectors would cost.

Also, you mention being able to 'see the pixels'? Seems to me like you have the screen to big or you are sitting too close. That would be annoying to me... or were you just saying that if you got closer you could see them clearly, but, at normal viewing distance not really noticeable?

Nice job, but, wife would never go for it... too ghetto. Wish we had basements in S.FL... <sigh>

What I meant by seeing the pixels is that if you walk right up to the wall, you will see the pixels, just like if you stuck your nose right up to the panel or your screen right now. From viewing distance you don't see the pixels of course.

There is no heat problem because I followed the guide and also used IR glass to block most of the heat in the light. The heat coming off the the lamp is sucked out the back by a 120mm fan, and cold air is being sucked in from a slit above the lcd monitor on the top of the enclosure. The Lexan blocks the UV and also any more heat. Like I said, after hours of use, it's not very hot in there on the lamp side, and the lcd itself is cool.

And btw, this is just my first shot at this. There is one called the PICO projector on Diylabs that is very small and slick. Check it out. The desings on it are free. The wife can't complain if you can hide it on your book shelf or HT center shelf. The design is here:Link. It's 20" wide, 16" deep, and 10" tall. Sort of a fat desktop case. Or you could just ceiling mount the basic LL design like many have done.

 

[TitanDiddly]

I picked a nice LCD projector unit out of the trash at school today. It's one of those units that sits on top of an overhead projector and hooks up to VGA as a 'cost effective' way of using an existing projector. I'm not sure if it works, but if it does, would it be useful for making something like this? Thanks.

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox
I picked a nice LCD projector unit out of the trash at school today. It's one of those units that sits on top of an overhead projector and hooks up to VGA as a 'cost effective' way of using an existing projector. I'm not sure if it works, but if it does, would it be useful for making something like this? Thanks.

It would completely depend on the specs of the panel. I would imagine school property that was just dumped and it being an old vga panel would mean you'd get a pretty crappy looking image to be quite honest. I don't see why you couldn't get a projector up and running, but you really shouldn't expect much. The better the strippable lcd and optics the better your image will be.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: Spudd

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox
I picked a nice LCD projector unit out of the trash at school today. It's one of those units that sits on top of an overhead projector and hooks up to VGA as a 'cost effective' way of using an existing projector. I'm not sure if it works, but if it does, would it be useful for making something like this? Thanks.

It would completely depend on the specs of the panel. I would imagine school property that was just dumped and it being an old vga panel would mean you'd get a pretty crappy looking image to be quite honest. I don't see why you couldn't get a projector up and running, but you really shouldn't expect much. The better the strippable lcd and optics the better your image will be.

Heh, I just looked up the model, it's a super-low res black/white. I'll find a use for it...

Thanks for the info.

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox

Originally posted by: Spudd

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox
I picked a nice LCD projector unit out of the trash at school today. It's one of those units that sits on top of an overhead projector and hooks up to VGA as a 'cost effective' way of using an existing projector. I'm not sure if it works, but if it does, would it be useful for making something like this? Thanks.

It would completely depend on the specs of the panel. I would imagine school property that was just dumped and it being an old vga panel would mean you'd get a pretty crappy looking image to be quite honest. I don't see why you couldn't get a projector up and running, but you really shouldn't expect much. The better the strippable lcd and optics the better your image will be.

Heh, I just looked up the model, it's a super-low res black/white. I'll find a use for it...

Thanks for the info.

No prob.

 

[0roo0roo]

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041113/index.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041201/index.html

 

[quakefiend420]

looks good OP :thumbsup:

i'm going to build one of these as my next project

 

[MillionaireNextDoor]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041113/index.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041201/index.html

Nice! I might just try it out. Any other success stories?

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: quakefiend420
looks good OP :thumbsup:

i'm going to build one of these as my next project

Thanks.

Btw, I found a suitable reflector and decided to go with the Fusion HDTV 3 tuner for OTA HDTV. Super Bowl goodness. I'll post pics with results when this stuff comes in.

 

[shenaniganz]

Nice work. I've always wondered about these. Looks like it works well.

 

[Kelemvor]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041113/index.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041201/index.html

That's interesting. Never thought of doing it that way....

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041113/index.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041201/index.html

That's interesting. Never thought of doing it that way....

I wouldn't advise doing it the THG way. There are a LOT of problems with it.

 

[Spudd]

I decided to go with the FusionHDTV 3 card. I'll report back with results when it gets here sometime this coming week.

 

[GoingUp]

Thats frickin sweet!

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I just bookedmarked lumenlabs, sounds interesting

 

[cmv]

This is awesome. You've inspired me to build one too! Wowsers...

 

[Spudd]

Hehe. Thanks. The guy's at copperbox didn't ship my card since I was about 6 minutes late in my order (have to order by 4 pm) after canceling my previous order from digitalconnection since they'd run out of stock. Hoping it gets here in time.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

i saw this done on toms, they used a TFT film and placed it on a overhead projecter, but they used a 80mm fan to blow air under the film to keep it cool, as OHP lights are very hot

 

[Skiguy411]

Originally posted by: Spudd
Btw, I found a suitable reflector and decided to go with the Fusion HDTV 3 tuner for OTA HDTV. Super Bowl goodness. I'll post pics with results when this stuff comes in.

What made you choose the Fusion HDTV card? Did you look at the ATI HDTV Wonder? I personally have not used the Fusion card, but I do have the HDTV Wonder. For me, it works wonderful. It does have its bugs, but it should be fixed in the near future with driver updates. However, I might look at the Fusion card if it is better.

 

[hevnsnt]

I talked about doing this with my wife about 6 months ago..

She has been with me for a lot of projects, A Mame Machine, Computer in the Jeep, and now this.. She told me just to buy a production one.. lol

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: Skiguy411

Originally posted by: Spudd
Btw, I found a suitable reflector and decided to go with the Fusion HDTV 3 tuner for OTA HDTV. Super Bowl goodness. I'll post pics with results when this stuff comes in.

What made you choose the Fusion HDTV card? Did you look at the ATI HDTV Wonder? I personally have not used the Fusion card, but I do have the HDTV Wonder. For me, it works wonderful. It does have its bugs, but it should be fixed in the near future with driver updates. However, I might look at the Fusion card if it is better.

After lurking on avsforum, xpmce, and thegreenbutton, I found out they are basically using the same chip. They even apparently use mostly the same drivers. The difference in the cards though is that Dvico allowed the card to try to grab unencrypted QAM signals from digital cable. The ATI card won't let you apparently. Also, there was the price difference. I couldn't find an ATI card for $149 anywhere, while I knew of those 2 rather obscure to me at the time, DIY/HTPC enthusiast electronics stores.

 

[Jhill]

Has anyone else here succesfully built a DIY projector?
I think it would be a cool project if it is really clear.

Very basic question. What do most people use for tuners? A laptop? VCR?

I'll go read up on it now before any more dumb questions.

You could probably build a good one and make your money back in no time if you rented it out for parties and stuff.