My Next Project

[Shane Watson]

So, Barry, am I correct in saying that you actually bought a 15" LCD monitor then pulled it apart to source the monitor section only to fit into the box? If this is so, why then are the commercial projectors so skinny? Do they only use say a 3" LCD monitor?
I could be way off here, but thats just how I am reading the above posts from the last week or so. Keep the info coming mate!
Soon as I have some time to spare I reakon I will be hot on the heels building one of these things.

[Barry_White]

Shane

I did purchase a brand new LCD to build the projector and I did proceed to strip to pieces. I took a risk and didn't try it out before I stripped it, but fortunately it did work. It not just the monitor but also the circuit boards and controls but you have to remove the the back light so you can shine the light through it.

Quite a few of the people on the Lumenlab Forum have purchased off ebay or sourced 2nd hand or refurbished LCD's. The most important thing is getting one that is easy to strip and the one I used is probably one of the easiest of all and has no FCC issues which is the flat cable connectors.

I'm not sure how commercial projectors work but I do know the cheap ones come no where near as good as the DIY one in resolution and the price of the globes. A 400watt Metal Halide globe costs $90 with up to 20,000 hours of life as opposed to a commercial one from $300 to $600 with a maximum of 3000 hours of life.

Here is a site that may explain a little how commercial ones work.

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/video/20041015/

If you purchase the guide it will give you a wealth of knowledge on the protected forums of Lumenlab.

You can get into some parts of the forum without purchasing the guide.

Go here

[Goemon]

Barry,

I got the plans and as you siad the forums are awesome. I will do a lot of playing there.

With your temperature readouts - what is average temp you are getting?

Thanks.

[Barry_White]

Goemon

My temperature readings are going a bit high and I have to work out why. It has gone up to 41° C which is a bit high.

I have the temperature probe on the side of the slot and I don't know if it is giving a true reading.

I have to check out if the air conditioning filter material I have in the air slot is too thick and restricting the air flow.

I have tried to get a meat thermometer here in Tamworth but the only one I can find so far only goes down to 60° C.

Also one of my fans does not seem to be operating at full speed.

Like I say about my health, if I live long enough I will work it out.

[bitingmidge]

I have tried to get a meat thermometer here in Tamworth but the only one I can find so far only goes down to 60° C.

Bazza,
What you are looking for is a FOOD thermometer. Tandy or DickSmith's usually carry digital probes for about $20-$25.00 and they'll measure between about -20° (just about right for air temp at your place ) to about 120°. They even measure in F if you wish.

You can buy analogue versions from food industry suppliers for a little more. If you have no luck PM me and I'll source one for you.

Cheers,

P

[Barry_White]

Hi Bitingmidge

I picked up a fancy meat thermometer today at the local Mitre10 store for about $45.00.

Measures both F & C

Thanks by the way for the offer.

[RiCoda]

Hi Bazza

Found the forum thanks ...

see your selling everybody on the projectors .... good stuff

cheers Dave <---- nuther projector builder ... a slow one tho

[Barry_White]

Welcome RiCoda

You will enjoy it here being a dedicated woodworker.

[ppmz]

Barry, any results from your projector yet?

About the light kit you bought, what is the name of the shop and what parts come with it? That's an strange link you provided that points straight to a checkout.

[Barry_White]

ppmz

Thank you for your inquiry. I haven't got round to posting the changes I have made. Since the last post I have made a few alterations to improve the cooling of the projector.

I have made a different inlet for the air to increase the surface area of the air conditioning filter as it was restricting the air flow. I have put a gap in between toughened glass and the first fresnel lense and changed to a couple of higher velocity fans. The only problem with that is they are a bit noisier than the other ones.

The result is with an ambient temperature of 27º the slot between the first fresnel lense and the LCD screen remains at a constant 36º after running it for 1½ hours. This is an ideal temperature for the LCD screen.

I am still try to take some screen shots but I am still on a learning curve with my camera. The book that came with it is thicker than the book on Windows XP.

The link to the guy selling the light kit may not work. I was told by another member of the Lumenlab Board that he lost his supplier of cheap lamps.

You could send him an e-mail and ask him this is Name, Address and e-mail.

Chris Parker
Nutriflo Hydroponic Systems
19/5 Daintree Place
West Gosford NSW 2250
Australia
Phone/Fax 43231599
http://users.bigpond.net.au/nutriflo

Email: [email protected]

The other alternative is to try Auslec/Rexel Electrical Wholesalers.

I have attached a quote that I received from them with their part numbers of the items. They were about a $100 dearer than the guy from Nutriflo.

[ppmz]

ppmz

Thank you for your inquiry. I haven't got round to posting the changes I have made. Since the last post I have made a few alterations to improve the cooling of the projector.

I have made a different inlet for the air to increase the surface area of the air conditioning filter as it was restricting the air flow. I have put a gap in between toughened glass and the first fresnel lense and changed to a couple of higher velocity fans. The only problem with that is they are a bit noisier than the other ones.

I've often found, in the case of computer cases, that it's good to install a larger fan, but run it at a low voltage. For example, replacing 92mm fans with 120mm, but connecting them to only 7V can improve cooling and reduce noise.

The link to the guy selling the light kit may not work. I was told by another member of the Lumenlab Board that he lost his supplier of cheap lamps.

You could send him an e-mail and ask him this is Name, Address and e-mail.

I've done so and he told me this too. I'm not quite ready to jump into the water yet, just testing out the temperature, seeing what's available It's definately an interesting project.

The other alternative is to try Auslec/Rexel Electrical Wholesalers.

I have attached a quote that I received from them with their part numbers of the items. They were about a $100 dearer than the guy from Nutriflo.

Thanks, that's another good idea. Are both an ignitor and capacitor necessary? I thought I had seen pictures around with only one of those items.

-Peter.

[Barry_White]

Thanks, that's another good idea. Are both an ignitor and capacitor necessary? I thought I had seen pictures around with only one of those items.

-Peter.

Peter

I believe with that lamp and Ballast the Igniter and Capacitor are required. The lamps and the electronic ballasts they use in the states are not available here.

There was quite a bit of research done by a few of the early Australian Lumenlab project builders who posted in the Lumenlab forums and I just followed what they had found out.

[Barry_White]

I thought I would post a couple of updates to my projector. As I said I was having cooling problems with the projector.

The first thing I did because the airconditioning filter was restricting the air flow I built a box to sit on top of the projector to increase the surface area of the air conditioning filter. Now it doesn't look pretty but then you can't really say that the projectors look that pretty except for a few of the artist's ones.

This did improve it slightly but it was still getting up 38º to 39º C (100º to 102º F) but after 1 hour of running this was too hot.

The next thing I did was change the layout of the toughened glass and the back fresnel, because the fresnel was bowing out by about ¾". the reason I think was because it was captured at each side and it was expanding and the only way it could go was to bow out.

So I moved the glass and gave it a gap of about ¾" between the glass and the fresnel, and then framed the fresnel around the perimeter.

I then changed the fans from the Vantec which had a velocity of 54.3 to 92 cfm which operated on a thermal sensor but where not getting up to full speed because the air passing over them was not hot enough.

I changed to Sunon fans which have a velocity of 108 cfm. Because the Vantec fans are only 25mm deep and the Sunon fans are 38mm deep I had to change the layout at the back of the box slightly.

I also drilled some holes in the aluminimum plate at the back of the lamp to draw a bit of heat above the lamp.

I am now happy with the cooling. With an ambient temperature of 27º C(80.6º F) the LCD slot runs at a constant 34º C (93.2º F)

Although the Sunon fans are a little noisy but tolerable with the volume on the sound turned up you don't really notice it and you tend to tune them out.

Attached are few pics of the changes.

The first one is of the box on the top for the increased filter size. Because it sits so high I am going to change it so it is flat.

The next shot is looking from the front.

The next one is of the stand I built along the design of the scroll saw stand.

No 4 is of the altered layout of the rear of the box.

And the last one is of the screen. The stand and the screen have to be painted yet.

[Barry_White]

Well I finally tamed my camera so I have few screen shots from the projector.

The first two are from CSI. I recorded it on tape and then paused the tape and took the screen shot. The second two are a couple of advertisments taped.

I haven't got any DVD's so I will post some shots from one later on.

It's like sitting a couple of rows back from the front at the movies. Larger than life.

[barrysumpter]

My 20" GE (15 years old) just stopped powering up today and I ran into this thread.

I keep my 19"and 21" crt monitors around for watching dvd movies thru my PCs.

The crt movie quality compared to the lcd is so excellent its scary.

I love my command post of 4 19" LCDs on a single computer that I use to run various business ventures from my home office.

The footprint of 4 lcds compared to the footprint of the crt is rediculous.

Is the key to this project the "pass thru" light projecting from behind the lcd screen?

Specifically, has anyone, or could I, use my 21" crt to project from?

The thought being the starting quality would be so much better.