Newbie experiments; get optics from projector NEC MT1030+

Wasn't sure which area this should be posted in - but as it's not YET laser related this seemed best.

Found a broken NEC MT1030+ project on ebay for £0.99 ($1.60) so brought it to extract the optics; hopefully to do some interesting laser experiments/photos later.

When choosing a projector I wanted one that is 3LCD; so I was looking for something like this in the specs 'Display Type: 0.9" PolySilicon TFT LCD x 3' or '0.55" LCD x 3' (i.e. has x 3); the larger the LCD the larger the Cross Dichroic Prism.

Tools used: just a screwdriver
Technique: unscrew all visible screws

Before being gutted:


Lid open:


Circuit boards out, Dichroic Prism now visible:


Optical section removed:


Optical section opened, dichroic prism and lense removed (sorry for the bad photo):


Lit up (using led torch):


Lit up (using a 100w incandescent bulb):


Dichroic Prism lit up using a torch:


My poor laser (405nm) photo attempt - I think I need more practice and some smoke:



From this projector I have obtained: (I hope my googling has come up with the right names!):
* dichroic prism
* 2 x 45° dichroic mirrors (green, cyan)
* 4 x front surface mirrors
* Fly's eye objective array
* Fly's eye field array
* 4 x condenser lenses
* 3 x input polarizers (blue, red, green)
* 2 x relay lenses
* (plus the lenses in the projector main lens system)

All of the lenses/mirrors were just slotted into grooves; so easily removed. The only exception is the Cross Dichroic Prism which is glued to metal - which I assumed I can't remove but it's not a big deal.

Very cool post. Thank you for sharing.

Nice find man, so much gear for such a low price. You could try use a heatgun or something to loosen the glue on the dichro prism.

Had a little more time to play with the stuff from the projector - this time with my flash (still no lasers):

[Click on any image to see a larger copy]

Another of the full system, but using a flash:


First the "input polarisers" (just in front of the dichroic prism):


The 45° dichroic mirrors (green, cyan):




A mix of the dichroic mirrors, input polarisers and mirrors:




Finally the first large mirror which seems to be more than just a mirror:

+1 rep

This is awesome, and the pictures are great!

I wanted another dirt cheap broken projector but due to ebay issues I ended up with two!

I won't spam too much by putting all the photos here, so only 3 for each projector:

Sanyo PLC-5500E






Toshiba TLP670E:

Would love to see the pics but for some reason they show up as little blue boxes with question marks... Tried reloading page with no luck.

Polonium210 said:

Would love to see the pics but for some reason they show up as little blue boxes with question marks... Tried reloading page with no luck.

Click to expand...

I can't reproduce the problem - I've tried different browsers. What happens if you click on one of the blue boxes? It is meant to show a larger image.

The ones in post #4 and #6 work but none in the OP are clickable.

I'm using Safari on a Macbook Air. Never had this problem before.

Polonium210 said:

The ones in post #4 and #6 work but none in the OP are clickable.

I'm using Safari on a Macbook Air. Never had this problem before.

Click to expand...

Safari on the iphone was working for us - so still couldn't reproduce.

I was trying to host my images on google drive but it isn't straight forward, so I'm glad you've forced me to look for an alternative.
I've moved all images to imgur.com, I'm hoping this works for you.

This works great now. Very good pics. I love harvesting those Dichroic prisms.