How to make a projector for your iPod/iPhone for about a $1

This is a fun easy project that anyone can make in about 15-20 minutes. The whole project only cost me a dollar and works good enough that I can enjoy an entire movie on it. The way it works is the light from your phone or iPod goes through the magnifying glass and magnifies onto the wall. The whole project is very easy to make and easy to understand.

Please vote for me in the shopbot challenge!!

Step 1 Supplies

You will need a few household items to make your projector. Any supplies that you don’t have you can buy for very cheap. I completed the entire project for a dollar and the cheapest iPod/iPhone projector I could find online cost $90. For this project you will need:
•A shoe box
•A knife
•Duct tape
•A magnifying glass (this was the only thing I had to buy and it only cost a
•A marker
•LEGOs
•Hot glue gun

Comments

[nilimili]

I tried using 2 different glasses together with slightly different curvatures and the contrast was much better when compared to single lens.

I tried it just by holding lenses before the phone and increasing the brightness of the phone to max! If you use a video player that allows you to increase the phone brightness beyond the 100% (like QQplayer for android) one can achieve even more brightness than 100% while watching the video. It works perfect!

Pretty good images with low light and at extra large magnification.....
Thanks for the idea pal I loved it and will make a box!!

[joshbot123]

Thanks for the comment I have two lens for the projector now but I haven't found a way to get better quality it just gets more blurry.

[Usman55]

Hello guys, I'm new here. Just wanted to ask, I just bought a Magnifying glass from a local retailer called Al-Rawnaq. It says something like LUPA 50mm on the package. Will it work? And also will this whole project idea work with the mobile N95 8GB instead of iPhone or iPod? Thanks in advance!

[MattBothell]

I am not sure about the magnifying glass but its worth a shot. and yes the N95 will work but you will have to make sure it doesnt rotate when you place it upside down in the stand

[Usman55]

Hey Matt, I tried it and the picture quality is really dumb. Just some big dark colour blobs appear. I think the glass is not good enough. I also the the rotate error you're talking about (FLIPPED IMAGE).

[MattBothell]

The if you can focus it right you should be able to see a lot better than blobs. And I still haven't figured out the mirror image problem yet but i am working on it.

[Usman55]

Focus? How?

[joshbot123]

move it around picture quality should get better. im answering questions because im his little brother

[Usman55]

Tried again... Nothing's getting any better. I went in a room with no light source at all but the pic quality is not good at all. I can't even recognize any faces. Also, the picture is very dark.

[joshbot123]

you never know if it is the magnifying glass wont work

[Rteen]

Idea! underneath the ipod/ iphone stand cut a small hole for a power cord, because my ipod will run out of power quickly.

[joshbot123]

thanks ill tell my brother, the one who made this, about the idea thats been quite a problem for us

[Rteen]

The only issue might be that it will let light in and make the image less clear so put black electrical tape around the outside of the cord.

[blankczech]

Cool! If anything this would be cheap fun for the kids. We used to do this in reverse when I was a kid! We get a big box, but it in front of the tv punch a very small hole in the side of the box. Then we would sit inside the box and the image from the TV would be projected on the other side of the box. If I recall, upside down no less. Don't ask me why we didn't just watch the TV. Everything was experimental back then!

[joshbot123]

thats so funny

[mpist]

um, can you post pictures of what the projected image looks like?

[joshbot123]

just make one and see it for yourself, but scientifically alderin is correct

[Alderin]

Pictures would be pretty hard to do because of the dim results. Remember that this doesn't have a halogen projector bulb driving it, just the little low-wattage battery-friendly backlight. While human eyesight can adjust to a darkened room enough that this projector would be fine (and I'm quite tempted to build one this week!), most cameras would scream for more light and/or activate the flash that would wash out the projection and show you a wall.

Long story short: build it and see. The darker the room the better, but that is true of nearly any projection display.

[cgarcia22]

What about a video? :)

[yardleydobon]

All he'd have to do is project a static image, turn off the flash, and take a long exposure.

[akivaran]

Agreed, would just like to see what to expect.

[araczynski]

if you have to ask, you don't wanna know :)

[Whackmaster]

Technical specs:

Resolution: A whole lot worse than before, you'll long for the days of QVGA.

Sharpness: LOL. Not very likely.

Brightness: 10000 lumens. Oh, wait, sorry... MICROlumens. In a locked broom closet at midnight. I'm not even exaggerating. Grab a light meter and measure it yourself. Beware the inverse square law.

Cute concept, but astoundingly close to practically useless. At least a couple kids will have learned something about optics from this. For that alone, and the "extremely affordable" nature of the experiment, I still give it 3 stars.

[joshbot123]

well maybe for you but i live with the maker of this and it works great and try to be nicer please hes my brother

[RoddyTheGreat]

Simmer down kid, what did you expect when you clicked on the instructable named '$1 smartphone projector'? A high end cinema projector? So when you comment next, make sure you delete it straight away unless you have something positive to say.

5* 'ible

[vincent7520]

Oh yes definitely 5 stars … for its resourcefulness, price and fun to do with the kids !…

[Kinnishian]

How much worse is the resolution going to be than the phone's original screen? Iphones, for example, are probably 2-3x higher pixel density than they need to be. Pixel density will go down, of course, but I'm not sure why the resolution would have to go down.

[scotth61]

Why so negative? I'm not a kid, but I still enjoyed reading this. Kudos to the author for taking the time to create the instructable, instead of complaining about someone elses. :-)

[MattBothell]

Ok pal go make me a projector that will give you a brilliant image with great brightness and brilliant resolution for a dollar. Besides this instructable wasnt made for some trying to start a movie theater it supposed to be a fun project not some amazing high quality projector.

[Lilark]

•A shoe box - $75
•A knife - $34
•Duct tape - $5
•A magnifying glass - $10
•A marker - $3
•Lego’s - $16
•Hot glue gun - around $19

Total: $162
And nothing else needs to be said.

[joshbot123]

many people are gonna flag you considering your being a jerk to this guy

[im3733]

Where are you getting your shoeboxes? You do realize you don't need to buy new shoes for this, right?

Just go to a GFS or Aldi's (if they have them near you, bulk food stores), most of them reuse their boxes instead of using bags.

[static]

Dude; there's a lot that could be said, but it wouldn't adhere to instructables commenting guidelines.

[nelsnils]

Somebody needs to learn resourcefulness.
-Shoe box. If you don't have one ask a neighbour.
-A knife. You don't have a 5 dollar knife laying around?
-Duct tape. If you don't have one, you need one. But ask a neighbour anyway.
-Magnifying glass. 1-3 dollars, can be purchased from a neighbour.
-Marker. Really? Really? Really. You don't have a marker. You need one. Buy a cheap one for a dollar max.
-Legos. Get from ebay (100 pcs for a dollar max) or ask a neighbour (seeing a pattern?)
-Hot Glue Gun. Must-have. Bought one for 3 bucks and a hundred sticks of hot glue for another 3 bucks. (20 pack for 1buck)

Total: Free-$5.
Please be more resourceful, this is DIY, for pete's sake.

[joshbot123]

no joking. why did he have to be a jerk the dude who made this is my brother

[im3733]

Forget the legos, bend up a wire coat hanger, problem solved.

hot glue gun can be circumvented with a smaller hole, using friction (or tape) to hold the glass in place.

and the marker can be replaced with a pen/pencil/thumbtack/random nail that's laying around (all it has to do is make a mark in the cardboard, I've used each of those to make marks in wood, which is much harder than cardboard).

I ultimately agree with you, though, resourcefulness is a MUST on instructables.

[vincent7520]

For Lilark, a cheaper alternative would be to use glue from a tube, any good glue would work.

Anyway one thing is certain if one follows nelsnils idea it would be great to have Lilark as a neighbor as he / she must have billions knives, duct tapes, markers, etc, left over as he / she only uses them once for each project !!…

[jdonor]

Yeah... Obviously yall aren't from Texas. I think I have all these things except the magnifying glass in my dorm room. And you wouldn't need legos. Anything that can keep it up would work :)

[duggerpato]

Come on, Nelsnils and Lilark. I am impressed with the 47,000 views so far, how many do you have? :) The prices are all pretty high on his list, but still way less than any projector for sale that I've seen.  You could just take the idea and how-to knowledge, and build it for way less that this person did.  Not bad for a first instructable. At least he's made one before criticizing others'. This isn't youtube :)

[nelsnils]

I love this instructable!
I just don't like Lilark's lack of resourcefulness :|