Project Logs update 5

Widescreen Projector

Created by: The_Gnu
Worklog Link

Over the years, modders have replicated, invented and customised many things. We've seen many machines converted into home theatre PCs, bringing modding into the living room with sleek, quiet machines designed to play movies and record TV.

Why not take modding in the living room a little further? That thought seems to have occurred to The_Gnu, who is going one step further by scratch building a home cinema projector. Who needs an off-the-shelf large flat screen TV when you've got a large on-the-wall screen?

Having a plan is always good, and our modder is clearly on top of his game with an initial CAD rendering of the proposed project. He says that is idea for the mod comes from the "DIY Big screen" kits advertised on the TV, that involve building a Fresnel lens and putting it in front of a TV or monitor. The idea of this mod is to use the lens to project the image from a small TFT screen inside the box - a 7", 800x480 job. As with so many projects, this one starts with a big sheet of metal.

To get a brushed aluminium look, The_Gnu used sandpaper and some elbow grease. He quickly discovered that freehand sanding wasn't going to give an even brushed look, but lining up the metal with a parallel stretch of support wood worked well and resulted in a really nice look. Using a spray can of clear coat designed originally for protecting aluminium wheels, a few coats were applied to make it grease resistant and add some shine.

The_Gnu fabricated the housing for the triplet lense (the big, magnifying one) by hand, creating this nice finish from a hunk of plexi. Creating the mechanism for the 5cm adjustment on the triplet lense proved tricky, with the rods guiding the different elements of the lense have to be incredibly precise - if the rods twist even slightly then the mechanism will jam.

This is the condenser lens on top and the infra-red filter on the bottom of this assembly The IR filter is for removing some of the heat produced from the light directed toward the picture, making it a bit cooler.

The project is now almost finished, and you can catch up with the almost-done result right here. There are some good shots of the mini LCD being used and disassembled as well as some more nifty metal work. This project is a great example of how modding doesn't always have to be about computers, and we look forward to seeing more from The_Gnu very soon!