Tangents
The biggest flaw of this ‘mount projectors to your face’ plan of mine, I think, was my choice of projector, the Samsung really isn’t very good for this job, at all. If you try a similar thing, do not choose this projector.
As previously mentioned, the controls are super sensitive, and take up an entire surface, which in itself is so very annoying for a project like this as to warrant using an alternative. But to me, the two most gloriously horrible oversights are:
1) No image flipping features – As previously described, this means that the projectors can’t be mounted side by side, and means I had to change all the focal lengths of the lenses and generally piss about.
2) Not being able to use a tripod when the battery is not connected. I was hoping to be able to use the tripod mounting hole as an easy and secure way of mounting the projectors to the optical coupling thingies, but, with the Samsungs, only the battery itself has a tripod mount. Seriously – WTF?
Seeing as I am already elbow deep in this project, I may as well tear down (demolish) one of these Samsung SP-H03 projectors. This is in the hope that, in bits, the unit is easier to mount, if I can separate the light engine from the controller board via an umbilical cable, then all the better!
Firstly off comes the bottom plate, you have to remove a couple of the rubber ‘feet’ to get to the little philips screws.
It’s pretty cramped in there! I was hoping that the unit would then slide out of the casing, but, this thing was not designed to be user-serviceable!
The only way I could expose more of the fleshy electronic goodness was by ‘nibbling’ off bits of the plastic with some plyers.
Much of the internals are made up of 2 fans, a host of heat sinks and a speaker.
Unplugging the fans and the speaker allows you to remove the main board.
Once everything is unplugged the seperate boards can be laid out. On the next image you can see the light engine, mounted atop a heat sink, it has two boards connected to it, these boards are connected together and make up the controller for the light engine, I assume 😉
A & B mark the points where the light engine and the main board attach to each other, the connector is a frighteningly high density 50 pin affair.
I have no idea at this stage what that connector is, if it’s signals can be extended or if adapters to upsize it to something I could solder exist.
Anyone ?
So, with one of the Pico’s in bits, I can see that the light engine would be far easier to mount – and significantly lighter, if only I could find a method of extending that one connection….
Hi,
thanks for the great explanation on how to disassemble the beamer. I did it accordingly and did not even have to destroy the housing. Once all connectors are loose the thing can be taken appart. Anyhow, i have the same problem that you have. The 50pin thingy is a nightmare, i try something different than you, but i also would need a (short) extension cable/ribbon/whatnot. I haven’t found anything suitable yet, i am not even sure what type of superminiconnector that might be (let alone solder such a tiny thing lateron).
Would be great if you or anyone else could possibly advise on further stepps.
Thanks!
Georg
Hi Georg,
Glad to hear I was of some help. I emailed Molex the pictures and they seem to think it’s one of their ‘slimstack’ range.
http://www.molex.com/molex/products/family?key=slimstack_mm016_pitch&channel=products&chanName=family&pageTitle=Introduction&parentKey=board_to_board_connectors
I have talked to about 2 dozen company’s so far, trying to find one who will try and knock up a couple of connectors for me; so far no joy.
I have been told that there are specialised company’s which do ‘cable coupling’ who may be able to help, but the connectors are pretty rare outside of mass-manufacture, so really, I suspect we need to find a keen hobbyist who can assist. I have tried a few electronics forums, but sadly nothing yet; possibly because I am begging for help on a first post! Hehe.
Please do let me know if you find anything.
http://panasonic-denko.co.jp/ac/e/control/connector/base-fpc/specdetail/index.jsp?part_no=AXT550224
BR
Oh, that looks spot on! Thanks!
Now just need to find somebody who can create extension leads with them…
Hey,
could you make a closeup picture from the CPU side of the board?
regards