Home built LCD projector, part 1: IT WORKS

[theshadow27]

http://www.theeshadow.net/files/pro1.jpg

I was cleaning out the basement today and I found an old slide projector, nice optics, working 500w bulb. This has potential! But before I went looking for a color LCD, I tested the concept out with a cheap clock that I had lying around.

Here is the setup:
http://www.theeshadow.net/files/pro2.jpg

old fashion guts:
http://www.theeshadow.net/files/pro3.jpg

what I saw:
http://www.theeshadow.net/files/pro4.jpg

zoomed in and cropped, no photoshop!
http://www.theeshadow.net/files/pro5.jpg

I think I like what I see, and ill try to find a more advanced LCD to try it on. Note: the lcd is “inverted” because the 2 polarizers (add one where the mirror was) are at 90 degree angles.

is this [h] or what? :D

[tom61]

Pretty neat. Are you going to post a worklog in the Worklog sub-forum?

[jpmkm]

A few guys in the HTPC forum have done something similar. I tried this with an old kodak slide projector and the guts of a pocket tv. The LCD was such low resolution that the pixels ended up being quite large when projected on the wall. Still quite decent for just a few dollars in parts, though. Check out the moving pictures forum over at diyaudio.com for a LOT of information about homemade projectors.

[theshadow27]

the moving pictures forum over at diyaudio.com .
thats where i got the idea :D such a cool site. i just thought id post my success here to inspire yall, im sure *someone* will think of somehting cool.

my original idea was to make a realy big TV... but the resolution thing is a big problem. i could take the element out of a DLP tv, but then id be trashing a prebuilt tv

worst case i throw a parallal LCD in there with a flourecent bulb make a HUD for CS :p

[Rombus]

Wow, i never thought about a slide projector for the guts! How much are the bulbs?

I have a 8 inch LCD Screen from a portable DVD player. i purchased from a recent hamfest for $5 bucks. Turns out its something like 1442x220 res with atleast composite input. This is going to be my projector project :D

[Mr_Evil]

Very nice proof of concept there. Hope it works with a graphical LCD, almost makes me wanna start trolling garage sales for old slide projectors :p

[Jawadali]

Yeah, this would be a cool summer project if the parts are inexpensive.

Any worklogs or part recommendations would be cool.

(I read the overhead projector mod at tom's hardware, but I could not find any of those parts for cheap locally, so it would have been too costly.)

The main things that drives up the price are the LCD panels and bulbs.

[xXaNaXx]

check out www.lumenlab.com also