DIY Slide Projector

Remember that scene early on in Mad Men when Don is making his pitch for the Kodak slide projector? It was so warm, so touching. I cried during that scene; don't pretend like you didn't too!

Aside from tugging at my heart strings, that scene made me want to make a slide projector. Real bad.

So I set to work while I watched Don continue to womanize, day drink, and (in this author's opinion) essentially never say anything that compelling ever again. By around the fiftieth time Betty told the kids to go watch TV, I was done.

But let me go back and tell you the details. I'll try and be quick about it.

Scrap wood (for the base)
Flat and bi-convex lens (student's optics kit; Amazon)
Plumbing braces
PVC pipe joiner
Binder clips
1' shelving rod
Foam board (and/or cork)
Indoor spotlight
Door magnet closure
Flat brace
3/4" wood screws
Slides

Time commitment: probably about 3-4 hours... in exchange for hours of entertainment
Expected cost: I can't remember but probably around 50$

Let me address something right off the bat. This thing is not winning any beauty contests. It's more than likely going to the prom alone. Or with a close friend who likes it for its personality.

But it works!

I started by constructing the wooden base for the projector, screwing together leftover pieces from another project. Then, I began to assemble the lens unit separately on top of a shelving rod.

I mounted the first lens (flat) at the near end of the shelving rod, adjacent to where the light source would be placed, to focus the light along the path length of the projector. The second lens (bi-convex) was attached to the far end of the rod to expand the picture from slide-sized to wall-sized. I was able to attach the lenses to the projector by shaping plumbing braces (used to hold pipes in place) around each lens and then inserting the leftover metal tab into the shelving rod with the aid of a binder clip. This made it easy to adjust the lens positions after the light source was added by further bending the metal plumbing brace.

After lens attachment, the rod was screwed onto the wodden base. Next I attached a foam board and some leftover cork (with pre-cut holes to allow light through) at either end of the shelving piece with screws inserted directly into the base. Then I used a larger plumbing brace and wrapped it around the base of the spot light. Maintaining this shape, I attached the larger plumbing brace to the wooden projector base using more L brackets. This formed a perfect slot for the light source to fit into, ensuring it wouldn't move during the slide show.

I modified the spotlight itself with a PVC pipe joiner to funnel the light onto the first lens. I'm pretty sure those plumbing department guys know my first name now!

Finally, I super MacGuyver'd a slide holder out of a door magnet, a flat brace, and a small piece of wood. I taped over the magnet itself to avoid scratching the side of the shelving rod while focusing the slide.

After a lot of lens repositioning and liberal use of duct tape, I finally got the (expletive) thing to work. Hooray!

Note that because I only used a flat and bi-convex lens system, I had to mount the slide upside down to correct for how the bi-convex lens flips the image. Fun fact: this is similar to how the human eye corrects its images too! Second fun fact: the eye phenomenon is what Ben Gibbard is refering to at the beginning of the Death Cab for Cutie song "A Lack of Color".

Science is like so totally awesome. For realsies.

This was a lot of work. And all to view some slides that I got on the cheap at a rummage sale. Looks like someone likes exotic flowers!

But hey, there are worse ways to spend your time. And I'm sure I'll be posting many of them very soon.