[Windcalmer]

Sorry for doing two updates, but they are just two different so I did two. Deal with it.

I never did do a laser alignment when I was building. Just sorta never thought about it. I measured for everything. However, the other night I got a bright idea while snacking on some chips.

Came up with this idea. The lid fit perfectly in the "shower drain" bit. So I cut a hole in the lid, taped the laser pointer in there and fired away. Worked GREAT! Turns out my bulb was only off by about 3/8"




Also, I needed to drop the speed of my fans, more for noise than anything. So a $5 at Radioshack and I had a rheostat and a knob. Punched a quick holt and rewired the fans. Now I can go from almost not turning to full speed. Its great for when I am sitting right by the PJ. I still have to do some testing to see just how low I can go with it and still keep the box cool enough. But so far it seems to be working really well.

[Windcalmer]

My handle came in today after a small mess up with the shipping. I gave them the wrong house number. Yup I am that smart.

Anyway, after a bit of a struggle with the spacer I got it all together. tacked the handle to the threaded rod and it is working great. I can turn it nice and easy with just one hand.

Here are some pics:

[Windcalmer]

Well I got a good bit done on the base today. I am still lacking having it covered, but I did get the inside painted and all. Just a quick update with a few scenes to post. I have MAJOR glowie issues. So I am gonna have to look into those.

The Bourne Identity Mini Cooper chase scene...



Working on the Sketchup model I promised to do when I was finished...

[Windcalmer]

NEED HELP

O.K. I switched to a ladle reflector. So far it has done a much better job in my case. Anyway, what I need to know is can I coat the cut edges of the ladle with high temp silicone so that its not metal on glass???


Or will it just melt and catch fire? LOL

[SIMUL8R]

Silicone on metal next to the lamp? ...From seeing how hot these bulbs get, I wouldn't do it. But that's just me. Btw, let's see the ladle.

[Windcalmer]

Yeah, that is what I am thinking. I haven't fired it up yet. I did the silicone on the edges, but I got to thinking after I did it that FIRE might be a bad thing.

I just need something to keep it from being metal on glass when I am wheeling this thing around.

[Windcalmer]

Also, one more tidbit. I am remaking the stand for the PJ. I need to be able to move it by myself, and over rougher terrain than the offcie chair wheels could do. So tomorrow I am gonna be cutting everything and slapping it together. it will all be covered in the same fabric as the PJ so it all matches.

Here area few pics of the model I did for it:

[Quasi_Mojo]

I don't know how it would stand up to the bulb temperatures, but you might try something like the rubber ring that you can find around the edge of a stainless steel dog dish. Maybe you can find something similar at Home Depot.

I tried to use some silicone tubing around the cut-out I made for my lightbox, but when it heated up, it drooped onto my lamp (only 150W). Lots of black smoke pouring out the back of my enclosure made me think it wasn't such a good idea. Luckily, I was able to pick it off the lamp and remove the rest of the residue from the lamp with Goo Gone.

[SIMUL8R]

If your just looking for a cushion then there is some sort of exhaust wrap they use for vehicle mufflers. Kind of like fiberglass cloth that withstands a great deal of heat. I've seen ballast wires shielded with this. How you put this between your bulb and reflector would be the issue.

[Windcalmer]

Now that is an idea. Off to autozone, be back in a few with some pics. Oh and I got the stand together. Will post the pics later.

Thanks again guys and girls!!!

[Windcalmer]

O.K. I found THIS stuff at autozone. I am only gonna use the fabric part of it and not the epoxy part.

Might work, might just catch fire. I hope it doesn't, but either way I will report back here. LOL


Oh and got a bunch done on the new stand. The tape is just to hold the hinged bit in place so it doesn't move around when I am working on it.

PIC:

This post has been edited by Windcalmer: 22 March 2009 - 11:01 PM

[Quasi_Mojo]

Your AutoZone link didn't work.
Nice cart. Now you'll look like a proper AV nerd.

[Windcalmer]

THIS stuff. And thanks Quasi!

This post has been edited by Windcalmer: 23 March 2009 - 02:32 AM

[Windcalmer]

Well, its been a bit since I posted here. Have not been able to finish the stand over the last few weeks because I pulled my groin working on my projector car. Three weeks on bed rest and limping around SUCKS! So now that I can walk again, I am going to be finishing the stand and getting this thing done at last.

I had promised a detailed model of the PJ when I was done, and I have gotten almost the whole model finished. I used SketchyPhysics3 to show the keystone, focus box movment. Here is the model so far. I will be adding WAY more detail and a cut sheet for everything to the model over the next few weeks as I can work on it.

Hope it helps someone!

HERE IS THE MODEL

[lasik2025]

Thanks for uploading your sketchit model.

Windcalmer, on May 4 2009, 02:46 PM, said:

Well, its been a bit since I posted here. Have not been able to finish the stand over the last few weeks because I pulled my groin working on my projector car. Three weeks on bed rest and limping around SUCKS! So now that I can walk again, I am going to be finishing the stand and getting this thing done at last.

I had promised a detailed model of the PJ when I was done, and I have gotten almost the whole model finished. I used SketchyPhysics3 to show the keystone, focus box movment. Here is the model so far. I will be adding WAY more detail and a cut sheet for everything to the model over the next few weeks as I can work on it.

Hope it helps someone!

HERE IS THE MODEL

Thanks for uploading your sketchit model.

I actually believe it was your comments that got me to use sketchit for my projector build and I really like the tool and appreciate your enthusiasm for it. My model is
here

Would you elaborate on the sketchyphysics3. I downloaded the model and opened it in sketchit7 but I dont know how to animate / interact with it other than pan/tilt/zoom/rotate/etc. Do I need to download and install a plug-in or something ? I tried to use the menu selection tools->interact but I dont seem to be getting anywhere. What should I see ?

Lasik2025

PS. Hope you feel better. Not sure it is politically correct to use "groin" and "sucks" in same paragragh - see above.

[Windcalmer]

You have to download SketchyPhysics 3 from HERE

Then after you install it and it patches Sketchup & you can run the the model by clicking play.

Here is a quick tutorial video on youtube that helped me a lot! Its for Sketchyphysics 2 but still everything is almost the same. The guy kinda reminds me of Bob Ross. LOL

The Tutorial

Hope it helps!

[Windcalmer]

O.K. guys...I never thought that I would still be playing around with this PJ after this long. LOL However, here I am. I am working on an outdoor screen for the summer months that are on the way. Also for larger groups of us playing games and stuff. Anyway, I got a king size sheet, a 10 foot length of 1.5" PVC, end caps, and eye hooks.

Now I know that the sheet is WAY thin for a screen. But I got an idea for doing some form of RPTV. So tonight I threw the screen up on two doors in my living room and the small 100watt house bulb in the PJ so I could turn it off after a few minutes of testing. ((This was after all just proof of concept). It works great with the small bulb. Tomorrow I am going to test it full size with the MH bulb.

Full size will be 108" wide and 102" tall. or as close as my 15 inch screen will get to those dimensions.

Here are a few screen shots of the testing. Its not perfect, as you can see the PJ triplet through the screen. But I think with a bit of work it could work. If not then I am going to back the sheet with heavy white material and be done with it. Then I can leave it out there if it starts to rain and I am only in $20 for the whole screen. LOL

Here is the setup with the lights on:


Projector side of screen


Projector side of screen


Projector side of screen


Projector side of screen


Back side of screen ((The bright spot is the PJ.


Back side of screen


Back side of screen

[Windcalmer]

Got the screen mounted in the home theater today. I will post up the plans for it and all the stuff I used in a few hours after I get some food. Just had to share the test results. Yeah its daytime adn there was a TON of light leaking around the shades. But hey, you just have to test ASAP right?

O.K. Just to be clear: These were all from a 100 WATT Incandescent bulb!!! Not the 400 Watt Metal Halide that I normally use. I always do my first testing with a small "drop in" rig I have set up for holding a house bulb in the right spot. Works great when you know you only need to run it for 15 minutes or whatever. ((I.E. not the hours we all should be running our bulbs before we turn them off.)) Either way, it saves the bulb life.

HERE IS A VIDEO of it being lowered and raised. Had to do the "steampunk" thing to it. Sorry. Too much free time.

Screen size 108" WIDE X 102" Tall

They were taken on my Canon Powershot A430. F/2.8 Shutter speed (1 second) No exposure compensation.

So here is the light that was pouring in, the screens, and all. Enjoy.

This post has been edited by Windcalmer: 16 May 2009 - 11:35 PM

[Windcalmer]

O.K. Got the MH bulb in last night and snapped a few quick ones. For a $9 bed sheet it looks pretty darn good. I think that for how I am going to be using it it gonna work just fine. Not as good as BO cloth or paint, but WAY portable, and I can set it up outside just about anywhere in under 10 minutes, and if I had too, I can leave it out there if it started to rain or something. We are doing a big movie night this week. So I will post up pics of it after that. A while back someone was asking about using out DIY PJs outdoors and I was gonna post some pics. Never got around to doing the movie night back then due to a pulled groin and some other injuries. So better late than never right?

Here are the pics from last night:

[Windcalmer]

Well its 7:30 in the morning and I just got in from a night of Star Trek with my friends!

The screen we ended up with was 16 feet wide, and 7 feet tall. There was a BUNCH more screen that we could have used, but the building we were projecting onto was only 9 feet tall and the aspect ratio of the movies we watched keep it to only 7 feet tall. So with a larger surface I think it would be even more amazing. Nice night, with a sliver of moon and no street lamps. ((My buddy Animal lives out in the "middle of nowhere"))

Did not get too many pics. Sorry for that to the guys that wanted to see one of our DIYs outdoors. I just got all into the movies and forgot to snap the pics. LOL

So yeah, here they are:

The was the best one I took. That is me. I am 6' 1" Not sure, but MAN IT LOOKED GOOD!!! Sorry I have projector STOKE!



Here you can see how much more the PJ had to give, but without a taller building it was not usable. So I just set the background to black, and used the KMplayer to size it to the building.

[SIMUL8R]

Excellent work Windcalmer, what was the color of the walls you projected these off of?

[Windcalmer]

The wall was a VERY light tan color. Here is a shot of the bright white sheet and then the wall just for contrast:




We are going to do it again this weekend ((weather permitting)) And I for one want to go over to the local Target store around midnight and use the back of the store for a screen. It faces away from all roads and houses, and we have a power inverter big enough to power the PJ. So might have to post up some pics of that if we can pull it off.

[Windcalmer]

Sorry it took so long to get these posted. Here is how I mounted the screen and made it so that I can pull it down and up from the ground and not a ladder.

The sheet is screwed to the PVC ever 3.5 inches. That way when you start rolling it up the sheet does not just sit and spin. Then when you go to hang the screen you just take a pulley, and some rope and loop the rope over the PVC pipe three times. Then you pull on one side of the rope and it lowers, the other side and it raises.

Just the stuff for putting it up outside when there is not a building or something. I.E. stringing it up between two trees.


This is how it can roll up and down. Just a bolt that is bolted to the end caps of the PVC pipe, and a few washers, S-hooks, and a cheap (NON-real) carabiner. If the pic is not enough for anyone to get how it works, just PM me and I will help you out.


And here is how I keep the bottom corners from blowing around. A tarp clip, an eye hook, and a chunk of wood with the hard side of industrial Velcro on it. The theater room is carpeted, and this works great. I can put them down in about 5 seconds, and they keep the screen nice and tight.

This post has been edited by Windcalmer: 22 May 2009 - 09:53 AM

[Windcalmer]

O.K. PVC is not the best thing for anything over 5 feet wide. Yuppers, gravity is still in effect and there is not fighting it. The PVC started sagging in the middle to the point where when I roll it down the pipe starts bouncing up and down as the lower parts flips over the top. Its BAD. So while day dreaming I came up with a new idea. STEEL PIPE! Here is the idea so far:

Some steel pipe, two bearings, a 12 volt car window motor, and a SPDT switch, and various wire and power supplies. I am going for an electric roll up screen. I will be starting a thread over in the screens section when I get started on it.

For now here is the Sketchup Model of the basic idea. It may change slightly, but I doubt it will change much. Just need to find some numbers of the output of those motors. I need to make sure that it will turn the screen.

HERE IS THE SKETCHUP MODEL

For those without Sketchup, here is screenshot of the model:

[Windcalmer]

After some fiddling around I came to realize that I need to make it more modular than all one big bulky part. SO I am going to make it so that the surround that covers everything up is separate from the screen so that if I want to redo the fabric or paint in the theater room later I can do the screen easy too.

So here is the mount for the screen. Easy, no mess aluminum scrap and wood scrap. The I can mount the motor to one end and build a simple box to surround it.

HERE IS THE SKETCHUP MODEL