Using a Projector as a Tune To sign?

[jim6918]

I struggled all last year finding a good place (viewing angle) to place my Tune To sign. What was right for one direction of travel was bad for cars coming from the other direction and my sign could be easily blocked by a parked car. In order to accomodate every situation, I would had to have made three or four signs, and I really thought that wouldn't be very attractive. I was surfing different christmas light vendors today, when it hit me that my BEST viewing location would be my garage door. It could be seen from any direction and couldnt be blocked by anything. At least one vendor of the higher end projectors has the ability to make custon slides, on which I could put the standard Tune To info.

Has anybody thought of doing this, and to what result?

[jimswinder]

I have never done it, but sounds like a great idea...could even project it into a window like those who use "Virtual Santa".

Couldn't you make one yourself on your computer instead of having one custom made?

EDIT:

Guess I am thinking a projector for the computer and perhaps you are looking at a slide projector...

[jim6918]

I was looking at the higher end lawn type projectors with the cute Christmas scenes. When I said custom, one company sells the blank slide media and you print it out on a good injet printer.

Attached files

[jimswinder]

How much is that one? Might be cheaper than building a nice sign that can only be used as a sign... lol

[jim6918]

It's like $80, on sale now.

[jimswinder]

That's about $20 less than I paid to make my sign...which I won't be reusing this year because it was too small!! LOL

I really think you are on to something here Jim...

If you get one, let me know how bright it is...that would be my only concern.

[jim6918]

jimswinder wrote:

If you get one, let me know how bright it is...that would be my only concern.

Yea, thats one of my top concerns. Thats why I posted the question. I have seen some that I thought were pretty lame and out of focus. I kinda wondered why the people went to all the trouble. Def would be looking at a higher end brighter model.

[Frank A.]

Hi Jim6918

used five led projectors this past year

different model than you show about half the price

made my own slides ---- not good ---- could be printer but i don't think so

not at all happy with them

four of the five power supplys died

used this light for just a message when the show was not running

absolutely fantastic ---- will have them make a slide for my station info

for 2010

http://www.razlight.com/Image_Pro.htm

Frank A.

[Denny]

You could always use a gobo and gobo projector. Don't know what they run for now, but about four years ago, I got a gobo projector for about $50 and had a custom metal gobo made for it. Very bright and sharp image.

[LORisAwesome]

Frank A. wrote:

Hi Jim6918

used five led projectors this past year

different model than you show about half the price

made my own slides ---- not good ---- could be printer but i don't think so

not at all happy with them

four of the five power supplys died

used this light for just a message when the show was not running

absolutely fantastic ---- will have them make a slide for my station info

for 2010

http://www.razlight.com/Image_Pro.htm

Frank A.

From the photo shown on the site, it looks to me like the projector is directly in front of the garage door. I do not see any keystone effect that you should see if the projector was off to the side. I do not believe most people would want to leave the projector in the middle of the driveway. Does the projector have a keystone correction ability? My guess is probably not, but you never know....

I always put mine off to the side, but, it projects a round image so the keystone is not so noticeable. This is probably what causes the image to be out of focus, the left side of the image is a different distance than the right side.

My point is the image looks good on their site, but, it is under ideal circumstances. The projector is most likely right in front of the door and not off to the side. Probably not an option if you want to use your driveway during the Christmas season.

Jerry

[Frank A.]

Hi

there is a maximum angle that is recommended for an

off center mounting --- I just do not remember what it is

i have double doors for my garage 9'wide 8'high.

The light was located ~15' from the door and ~6' right of center

very readable at 150' with the actual 'Happy Holidays' filling a

4'x4' area

i am very impressed with this unit ---- not cheap, but good

Frank A.

[LORisAwesome]

Frank

I misunderstood your post. I didn't realize that you had experience with this unit.

I have never been totally happy with mine. I've had it for over 10 years now... I have a Christmas image on mine, not really interested in using it for a tune to sign.

Maybe I'll give this one a try. I like the idea of being able to get custom images or order from a catalog of images they already have.

Since you have experience with this and like it, means a lot. Much better than buying something and hoping it is ok..

Jerry

[jim6918]

Frank A. wrote:

i am very impressed with this unit ---- not cheap, but good

Frank A.

This is one of the "high end" units I was referring to. It is a little pricey, but we have all seen the effect of the cheaper units.

I am getting some interesting options in a similar post I did over at PC, including a couple of alternative ideas that bear further study. Thanks everybody for your input.

[Frank A.]

Good morning

i forgot to mention that the covering (simulated landscape rock)

that comes with the unit is for ground mounting

i made a base of 1/8" inch wood and mounted rock to base

used elctrical hub 1/2" on bottom of base

1"2 thinwall 2 foot into ground and ~3 foot above

painted the rock white

so the unit sat 3 foot off the ground and being white blended in

with the white siding of our home

if i can find any pics i will post

Frank A.

[rcfz]

I actually did this the past year. Worked great! Tip for making the slides: Use Transparency paper (almost a given) and believe it or not, one of the slides in those projectiors is about the same size as a business card! I loaded up a single business card template, made a big circle and then a smaller circle about 1 inch inside (I think) for where the image goes. Printed it out, and had a pretty good projection of the TUNE TO.

Here's a picture of a simple one I made first, I don't have one of my tune to sign, but it was pretty much the same right next to it.

Attached files

[chris mashburn]

rcfz

If I want to make the image smaller does it have an ajustment for that or do you have to move the unit back futher. If you have to move it does it distort the image or is it still clear?

[rcfz]

chris mashburn wrote:

rcfz

If I want to make the image smaller does it have an ajustment for that or do you have to move the unit back futher. If you have to move it does it distort the image or is it still clear?

Most of these units only have a specific focus function, which pretty much just moves the magnifying part back and forth. It's not 100% precise.

If you wanted the image to be smaller you can do one of two things. One, you could manipulate the image in whatever software you use to make it look smaller, or you could just move the projector closer. I personally had the projector in my yard and projection on a sheet that was between two beams on my porch, so it was easy to adjust for me. As for a garage, not sure what you could with that.

If anyone wants me to attach a "template" for making these slides (specifically the Mr. Christmas projector slides) just let me know, I might have to do some digging, but I'm bound to find it.

[jim6918]

rcfz wrote:

I actually did this the past year. Worked great! Tip for making the slides: Use Transparency paper (almost a given) and believe it or not, one of the slides in those projectiors is about the same size as a business card! I loaded up a single business card template, made a big circle and then a smaller circle about 1 inch inside (I think) for where the image goes. Printed it out, and had a pretty good projection of the TUNE TO.

Here's a picture of a simple one I made first, I don't have one of my tune to sign, but it was pretty much the same right next to it.

That picture looks great; pretty impressive. What surface did you project the image on? If it was a garage door, how far off dead center did you have it, as the image looks pretty symmetrical? What brand of projector?

[rcfz]

The surface is actually an old bed sheet that I found while going through some old things. That's simply nailed to the back of two poles on my porch. As for the projector it's self, it's pretty dead onto the sheet in the center.

I was thinking if you were to do a garage door projection, you could mount the projector to a piece of plywood or maybe a block of wood and place it in the middle of your driveway. The projector would probably be small enough to fit between two cars if needed to be, and it's easy to pickup and shake around if any snow gets on it. That's just a suggestion; I haven't personally done anything like that.

The projector I'm using is an old "Mr. Christmas" Holiday projector. I'm not sure of the model number or anything, because all the unit says is "HOLIDAY PROJECTOR" as the model. It basically has circular slides that have a carrot (^) cut into the slide so you can't misalign the slides.

[Guest guest]

rcfz wrote:

The surface is actually an old bed sheet that I found while going through some old things. That's simply nailed to the back of two poles on my porch. As for the projector it's self, it's pretty dead onto the sheet in the center.

I was thinking if you were to do a garage door projection, you could mount the projector to a piece of plywood or maybe a block of wood and place it in the middle of your driveway. The projector would probably be small enough to fit between two cars if needed to be, and it's easy to pickup and shake around if any snow gets on it. That's just a suggestion; I haven't personally done anything like that.

The projector I'm using is an old "Mr. Christmas" Holiday projector. I'm not sure of the model number or anything, because all the unit says is "HOLIDAY PROJECTOR" as the model. It basically has circular slides that have a carrot (^) cut into the slide so you can't misalign the slides.

Same projector I have it sounds like. Uses the 12V Halogen style bulb and it's good and bright too. Would definitely love to get hold of your template for making my own Tune To and maybe even some other signs for it as well for other Holidays. especially since I only have one disc, seems I've misplaced all the others I had, so I could definitely use that template to make some new ones for mine.

BTW: where do you get the materials to make the circular disks to hold your printout once completed and cut out from the transparency?