A 100 inch projection TV in your home isn't an impossibility. While an actual TV screen might cost you thousands of dollars, you can create an equivalent for very little. You can turn your current TV into a projection screen with cardboard, duct tape and a fresnel lens. Once you've assembled your projection TV, all you have to do is place it where its projected image is the same size as a 100-inch screen (which is about 80 by 60 inches).
Instructions
1. Create a rectangle on a blank white wall in your TV room 80 inches long and 60 inches high. Use very dark electrical tape or duct tape that will contrast with the wall. If you don't have a white wall, hang a white sheet.
2. Assemble a rectangular tube out of cardboard that is the same height and width of your current TV screen and 45 centimeters long. Paint the four cardboard pieces black on all sides and then tape them together, covering each corner with duct tape.
3. Attach the tube to your TV screen with more duct tape. Cover the entire space between the screen and the tube with tape so that all light from the screen is within the tube. Secure the tube on the TV set with more duct tape running from the tube's outer end to the TV's bottom and top surfaces.
4. Create a lens piece with another cardboard piece the same height and width of your TV screen. Cut a hole in the center of the piece 17 centimeters in diameter and tape a Fresnel lens over it. Attach tabs on the cardboard with more duct tape and insert it about halfway into the cardboard tube.
5. Turn the TV upside down and place it on a small table or stand. The TV must be upside down because the lens inverts the image. If the TV hasn't been off for at least 12 hours, the image may briefly be purple or green when you turn it on.
6. Point the TV at the rectangle on the wall, starting at two feet from the wall. Turn off or dim the lights, leaving just enough light to see the rectangle on the wall, and turn on the TV. Pull the TV farther away from the wall until the projected image reaches the rectangle's dimensions.
7. Remove the tape from the wall if you don't want it there permanently. You might need to do this if your TV image is slightly higher or lower on the wall than the taped area, unless you adjust the TV's height to center it within the tape.
8. Adjust the fresnel lens' spot within the cardboard tube to focus the picture image. Push on the piece to send it deeper or use the tabs to pull it forward. If no position works, remove the lens piece, flip it over and try it with the lens' other side facing the screen. Starting with the smooth side facing the screen works best.
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