Now we are ready to start putting together our projector. For this step, you will need a drill and screwdriver. If you do not own a drill, you can have us drill your enclosure for you via the pre-drill service available in the online store, but purchasing a Skill or Ryobi drill (or using a power screwdriver) is typically just as inexpensive and will provide you with a powerful tool to use in the future.

Whenever you insert a screw that will be fastened to the MDF panels, it is necessary to drill a small pilot hole. This allows the screw just enough space to fit in the wood, allowing a firm grip, but without splitting the MDF material with the pressure of the screw. For each screw, first drill a pilot hole using a drill bit that is equal or smaller than the size of the shaft of the screw (excluding the teeth).

First we want to build a partial enclosure, which does not include the front, top, or LCD tray panels for the time being. The picture at the right shows the partial enclosure as viewed from the front. You will notice that in this picture, the light kit has already been installed, as have some aluminum mounting rails.

To install the light kit, mount the lamp in its lamp holders, and then hold the lamp to the center of the back panel, then screw the lamp bases into the back panel. DO NOT over-tighten the screws in the lamp holders - they are ceramic and can crack or chip easily. Next, install the ballast next to the lamp as shown in the picture. There is just barely enough room in the SV-11 for the IceCap ballast. If you wish, you can also mount your ballast on the exterior of the projector instead. We will wire the ballast in a future step - leave yours unplugged for the time being!

The aluminum rails shown in the diagram above are used to secure our LCD tray, fresnel lenses and glass in a future step. For now, let's just install the rails. In the picture on the right, you can see that there are actually 3 sets of rails. The first set should be mounted so that each rail will hold the first panel of glass at a distance of 10.25 inches from the back of the projector. This will put the fresnel lens set at 10.5 inches from the back panel, or about 8.75 inches from the lamp (this is approximately the same as the focal length of the rear fresnel lens).

To mount subsequent sets of rails, insert the glass and fresnel lenses after the first set of rails, then mount the next set of aluminum rails so that the glass and fresnel lenses are firmly sandwiched between the two sets of rails. Then do the same for the LCD tray (without the LCD mounted to it). Both the glass and lenses, and the LCD tray, should be able to slide in and out of rails now so that you can easily clean or replace them as needed in the future.

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