DIY 3D Projector From An LCD

We’ve shared many home made projectors in the past, but we think this might just be the first home made 3D projector!

[Nicholas] has created a wonderful write up on this project on his blog, and in an Instructable, and even more details are available on the original forum post (in French though).

To sum it up though, he’s using an old LCD from a broken laptop, split into two halves. By using a Fresnel lens and two separate optical lenses that are adjustable he can combine the two images (top and bottom of the LCD) on the wall. Then by adding a polarization filter to each lens, he can reuse the cheap 3D goggles from the cinema for his own setup to see in 3D! This style of passive 3D does require a special projector screen to keep the polarization intact — he’s using a Da-Lite Silverlight screen, whose metallic surface ensures the polarization is kept the same.

It’s a great project and is definitely worth checking out. If you’re in the mood for a smaller form factor projector, it’d be worth checking out this one we covered quite a few years ago!

7 thoughts on “DIY 3D Projector From An LCD

  1. Seems like a nice project. While he mentions the need for fans to cool the light source, I didn’t see him mention the amount of heat from IR and potential damage from any UV the light source may be putting out. Fans aren’t really too effective at dealing with this. What you’d ideally want for this is to find a cheap hot mirror and cold mirror and put them between your light source and your optics stack. This should help to extend the life of LCD panel.

    1. mhm. also, the method of polarization he uses end up blocking half of the light coming out of the bulb. there’s a way of reflecting left and right polarized light in different directions, which results in much higher efficiency, as well as less heat dissipation.

      1. Hi guys, I’m the one who made this projector.
        I mentioned in the instructable that I used a Lexan sheet as heat shield. It’s a common way in DIY projectors to block IR from the lamp. As for UV, I remember reading somewhere that the bulbs themselves filter them, though I might be wrong on that.

        About the polarization, my method doesn’t block half of the light as you said, dioxide, precisely because I use wave plates instead of polarizers to rotate the polarization. However I’d be interested to know more about your way of using the reflection of the light to achieve polarization in different directions, that would work with such a design.

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