11' Home Theater for under $100

Ok here is my theater setup. 11' screen 10.1 surround sound 720i projector with blue ray and media computer for all under $100. Everyone says, "Wow, you are lucky to get all of this so cheaply!" For me it is not luck but a strategy and patience. So here is how I did it. First, do not be picky. Be willing to get the older stuff and do some work to get things the way you want them. The first item I got in this set was the surround system amplifier. A friend of mine was an early adopter of home surround well he got this one back in '99 and 3 years ago decided to upgrade. Though the old one worked fine he got a newer more powerful system so he gave me the old one. Next, I needed the speakers. This was the easy part. I put out feelers asking if anyone had old speakers. I got far more than I needed. People were getting rid of their old desktop computer speakers. These were not the best but they worked fine as long as you spend the time to control them better. I used old lamp cord to run the speakers around the room in the crown molding around the room.

About a year and a half ago a school was given about 25 older projectors. They put into service the ones they wanted and the rest were just taking up space. So they decided to sell the rest for $50 each. At this time, I just used a section of the wall for the screen. It was not perfect but it worked. then about a year ago another school was closing and throwing away a lot of old equipment. I got a 7' stand up projector screen. It was ripped but some tape on the back fixed it up fine. This screen was good but I wanted it bigger and I wanted it to come down from the ceiling. I kept an eye out on Craigslist and one day came across a guy that had a brand new 11' coil up screen in his garage he never used and he only wanted $40 for it.

So now I have spent about $90 for it all. For Christmas, I asked for a Blue Ray player, and lo and behold I got one this last Christmas. now the only problem is if i want to play Netflix or something on the computer I have to connect my laptop, but then I cannot use it while we are watching the movie. Eventually, everyone in the house got a laptop of their own so we no longer needed the desktop. I took the tower and connected it up the put on a wireless keyboard and mouse that I could put on my lap. Now I have all this for under $100. The big thing is to be patient and keep looking. Be willing to put some work into it. Remember time is money and just like matter and energy one can be changed from one to the other. Either spend the time or spend the money.

3D Printer

This is where I am so far on the 3D printer. This is not a CNC router that cuts shapes out of material. This will actually print plastic into a shape creating it layer by layer. All the blue pieces you see in this were printed on another 3D printer. It has four stepper motors one each for the X, Y, And Z axises, and then one to force the plastic filament to the heating head. The X axis has a bed that moves in and out. The Y will slide side to side on two rods. Then the Z moves the whole Y set up and down two threaded rod. The extruder is a brass tube with the outside warped in nichrome wire. Then the mother board controls all four stepper motors and the extruder speed.
I still need to install the frameware on the motherboard for the driver, and I need to get the interface for USB connection on the computer working. Other than that it is almost done. I hope to have it up and running by the time my son is born in July.
The applications are endless. I can replace plastic parts that break, make new prototypes, make model pieces to scale. Then just think for a moment that I could print other things like silver and silicone. I could print circuit boards. In the future, you could see something you like on line and just print it rather than waiting for it to come in the mail.