We came across this DIY project – How to turn phone into projector on Photojojo. This can be used as a family project or given as a task to be performed by your children under guidance.
The best part about this project is that it practically costs nothing to build this DIY Projector and you can look forward to watching videos and pictures with your family and friends, once this low cost projector is built.
What is Required to Phone In to Projector
In order to turn iPhone into Projector, the first step is to make sure that you have the following items and tools at your disposal.
This will ensure that you are not running around for things while you are in the middle of building your first phone projector.
- Shoebox
- Knife or cutter
- Duct tape
- Magnifying Glass ($1-2)
- Sharpie or Pen
- LEGO or Paperclips
- 10 – 15 minutes of your time
Steps to Turn Phone into Projector
Once you are ready with the required items and tools ready, you can follow the steps below to Turn iPhone or Android Phone into a Projector.
1. Trace Circular Opening: Trace the outer edge of the magnifying glass or lens on the short side of the shoebox using a pen or a pencil.
2. Cut out the Opening: Once the outline of the circular opening is marked on the box, the next step is to cut out the opening using a knife or a box cutter.
Important: Make sure that you are take all the required care and safety precautions while using a knife or box cutter.
Optional: At back of the box, you can cut out another small opening for the power cord. So that you can charge the phone without taking it out of the box while you are using the projector.
3. Attach Magnifying Glass: Attach magnifying glass to the opening, either to outside or inside of the shoebox. Tape the magnifying glass and make sure that it is held securely and there are no gaps from which light can escape.
4. Line up iPhone and Magnifying Glass: Now line up the iPhone with the magnifying glass.
You need to make sure that the screen of iPhone is right in the middle of the magnifying glass. Using pencil or pen trace two lines all the way to the back of the shoebox. This is where you will be placing the phone within the shoebox.
5. Place iPhone inside Shoebox: Place the Phone, exactly at the place that you had marked in step 4 above. You can place the phone on a stand or use LEGO bricks.
6. Stop Rotation: The light gets flipped when it is made to pass through a lens, this means the picture from your phone will be projected upside down.
In order to stop rotation, you can Enabling Assistive Touch on iPhone and download Ultimate Rotation Control app on Android Phone.
7. Start Projecting: You can now start projecting images from your phone. If the projector is projecting images upside down, you can just flip your phone and it will project it right side up.
If above steps are not clear, you can watch this video below from Buzzfeed to get more clarity.
How to Improve Picture Quality
If you want to improve the picture quality follow these tips.
- Turn off all the lights.
- Turn up the brightness to maximum on your phone.
- Tape inside of the shoebox with a black duct tape.
We hope you enjoyed this article and are looking forward to lots of fun building your first phone projector.