I just found this cool site http://lumenlab.com/ were you can build a high quality diy lcd projector for a fraction of the cost of a commercial video projector.

A coworker of mine has built one. Turned out pretty awesome. I think he spent a lot of time on the lumenlab too. He says DVD's on it are pretty sweet. :cool:

Nice. HAve you built one yet?
I have a nice Epson I bought 2 years ago. A demo model and at the time i didn't know about bulb life. OR cost. $400 for my new bulb. Still haven't bought one. I'm over 2000 hours. Waiting for it to pop.
I like 16 to 20 bucks for the bulb in the dyi projector. Only thing i didn't like was the size.11.75" x 27.5" x 15.125" Kinda big. But hey the price is right if it works.

Donny

www.whiterivermfg.com

SOLD......I will definately do that.......Fantastic

yes i'm a mod on that site, i have built a few of them, and if your a member you can see the advanced section and my drawings there, my user name there is joe2000chevy, just look at the top posters i'm the second one there next to the owner....

wont compair with an actual projector. even an old svga wil give you better results.

how do i know? i have tried. i have very high quality lenses. i have some pretty sweet xga lcd's o have some nice lamps and nope nothing displays better then my trusty philips projector thats almost 10 years old. paid 1 grand on my x1 when i upgraded my philips and i have played with these thiugs and have yet to find something that actually works. BTW there is a free site that will give you the same thing. and you can get the lenses from audio video places

Ok Pen, where is this free site :)
That make the whole project even cheaper.

well not quite true pen, you have to see to believe, just look at the results section, you would see a good one built 1st hand to actually see how good it looks. and here are screen shots of one of mine i built. that one cost me about 350 to build, got lcd on ebay for 100. :) Remeber cameras usually do not reproduce a good representaion and the actual quality in person.

the 1st three are on a creen i built using the famous blackout cloth, the other two are in the livingroom on a blue green wall.

oh and the last one was the superbowl.... i recorded on dvr. (cat at the bottom ready to pounce for interception, ok maybe for size to compare) LOL...

Joe, those pics seem fine to me as far as quality goes especially for home made one. I recon if its a success I will make a gcode for the cabinet and post it in this forum. I still would love to find the free site if I can. You can PM me if you would prefere to let me know that way.

Hey Joe, tell us about this Famous "blackout cloth", what is it, what advantages does it have?

I have found here ( Thanks to a PMed link) a worklog of someone who has made one. It seems from this forum that it is a treasure trove for all the information you could want. Mybe I might just skip on buying the plans for the moment and see what I can figure out. Shoot, If we can build cnc machines without plans, surely we can build a projector.

EDIT: Oh the link http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=44851&perpage=10&pagenumber=2

PS. It has been a long term dream of mine to to read a 12 foot screen on my lounge room wall of a CNCZone web page. :eek:

Another link i found in my readings. Thes people supply the parts cheaper http://www.diyprojectorcompany.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=27

Plans are here... http://www.diyprojectorcompany.com/designs/index.htm

EDIT: Actually this site is the best site for reading and information and free plans. Disregard all my previous post links.

EDIT AGAIN: Joe I notice on many of your pictures and others that i have seen that the light is brighter in the middle of the screen, there is a light circle in the middle. Is there ways to adjust that out or is that the nature of the beast?

Oh....Great. As if we don't all have enough projects to do already. I don't get enough time as it is, and then you go and post another fantastic looking project to eat my time away. It just says........... " Build me. Yeah, go on...".

So thanks for that :D

Regards Terry.....

Hello,

I`am currently building a video projector it`s almost done. It already works great, I only have to paint it nice. If you are interest look at:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=31905

This is on the diyaudio site where I posted my building process.
The image the projector gives is really big approx 2.5 meters diagonal, it can get bigger if you put the projector further away from the screen but than you can see too much pixels.

Micheal, yes i remember seeing your post last year, but i did not see the new post you have on it this year but now i do, looks good so far. just curious of your fresnel placement from lcd? whats the Fl of them.

If you have any questions you can message me, Joe

There is a long write up and follow-up here:

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

Ironically, I just ordered a 14" LCD monitor to build one for myself - I teach art and am getting frustrated tussling over slides with our Art Historians. (chair)

http://www.allinbox.com

Lot of diy machines already done, all sizes, all budgets, huge amount of ideas, forum, faqs...

Btw, in french, but if you do not speak french like me, use babelfish.altavista.com, like me :rolleyes:

I like this one very much:

http://www.allinbox.com/froggy/froggy.htm

and it seems very CNC-able..

hope it helps

/F

This guy is selling fresnel lenses for 99cents Buy it now price. Can someone advise me if this is the right lens for a 15 inch LCD projector project? Tanx

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=67919&item=5743579478

Also would these portable DVD players be suitable for conversion?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15055&item=5752638571&rd=1

that fresnel is only 7"x10" not big enought for a 15" lcd, also your focal legth of the fresnel should match your projection lens focal length.

but it can me used for a small lcd.

I'm building the one found here (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42827&pagenumber=1). It uses the Hip Gear Hip Screen PS2 controller (with a 2.6" TFT screen) and a Kodak Slide projector. You pretty much gut the slide changing parts from the projector, disassemble the controller (remove the backlight) and place it in the slide projector. I'll let you know how mine turns out.

Darren

doing my random web searching
http://www.audiovisualizers.com/madlab/lcd_proj.htm

reminded me the posts here :) guys might have some use for it.

I feel so analogue.....I'm running a 1980's sony projector the kind with the 3 large coloured lights on the front,(2'6"x2'-6"x12" high) however it does double as a coffee table it is so big!
I've been using the wifes good bed sheets on the wall for the screen :D

Firstly hello Joe
i too am a member of lumenlab and would recommend that any one wanting to build a projector join . i have pretty much finished my projector and came looking on this site for my next project :)

I've personally been a member for about 1yr with lumenlab's site, another member based on my other interests recomended CNCzone to me, and have been a member here for about a month. :D Now I see members here recommending Lumenlab. :cool: Lumenlab has been the the best site I could find to build a High Quality Projector and I used many Ideas there to build mine. I've also look at a lot of Other DIY Projector sites including the ones previously mentioned in this thread. In my humble opinion Lumenlab provides the best Organized resource for info exchange( In The DIY Projector Field)

CNCzone has inspired my new obsession to build a CNC Router, Which I'll eventually use to build another projector. Among other things

I too came from lumenlab , and am going to get started on my next project ......

I have spent a great deal of time on all three of the above mentioned sites, and the lumenlab design/results are superior .... id also like to mention that lumenlabs parts are CHEAPER than the diyprojectorcompany's .... look at the lighting kit, considerably more expensive, and the lumenlab kit features a much better bulb, in both lumen output and color temperature.

those free sites will get you started with plans, but just as this place is .... the plans arent enough, the forum is where the real meat and potatoes are, and honestly ... the lumenlab forums have about 10 times as much activity .....

Also compare the finsihed results forum between lumenlab.com vrs DIYprojectorcompany.com. Lumenlab has 6 pages filled with threads of peoples results, and thats just one forum, members get access to the plog forums which are at about 10 pages or more ...... DIYprojectorcompany's results page is only 1 page, and most dont have any results posted ....

here are the two pages so you can do the comparison yourself, see not only the quality of the results, but simply how many more results there are posted at lumenlab.

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showforum=3&prune_day=100&sort_by=Z-A&sort_key=last_post&topicfilter=all

6 pages (there are about 10 more pages of plogs and buildings steps that only members can access)

http://www.diyprojectorcompany.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7&sid=ae700cdac49006411579e6129aa1db97

1 page, and only 5 threads that have had an active post so far in April

lastly here are my results

CLICK THESE PAGES TO SEE MY ENTIRE RESULTS
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3820
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52796

My screen

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1105124079.jpg
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1105123941.jpg

Lights ON!!!
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1105125927.jpg

RESULTS!! (something about photographing a projection image, yeilds a fish eye effect with the center being brighter, the camera adds this, and is really not there in real life!!)

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1105949893.jpg http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1105949336.jpg http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1106035545.jpg http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1106035591.jpg

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1107112680.jpg http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1107112475.jpg http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1107112769.jpg http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/uploads/post-3-1106037410.jpg

Does it work for regular (cable) tv or can you only project images off of dvd, vcr, etc? I am assuming it is just a matter of finding an LCD Monitor that accept RCA inputs, and you can hook up pretty much any video source and play it?

Does it work for regular (cable) tv or can you only project images off of dvd, vcr, etc? I am assuming it is just a matter of finding an LCD Monitor that accept RCA inputs, and you can hook up pretty much any video source and play it?

I use an upscan converter to connect my Attena, x box , ps-2, dvd player , vhs recorder to the projector , I also use my projector as a montor for my computer when I want to play Unreal Tournament :D

all on a 10 foot diagnol screen