by John B. Carnett: Photo by John B. Carnett

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Although Lumenlab has greatly simplified the LCD projector project with its ready-made parts, it´s still not a job for the DIY newbie. You´ll need carpentry skills to create an enclosure and wiring skills to connect all the parts without electrocuting yourself or burning down your projector. And then there´s the LCD panel stripping-even PopSci photographer John Carnett, a lifetime DIY guy, killed the first LCD TV we sent him.

Lumenlab offers a PDF instruction manual (download here), but it´s more of an overview than a step-by-step guide. The best advice: just comb through the forums at lumenlab.com. You´ll find hundreds of threads discussing the basics, as well as advanced tips and tricks others have learned along the way. To hear Carnett discuss building the PopSci projector-a task that took him more than a week-download our photo podcast (coming soon).