Many years ago I took a screenwriting class and the instructor opened with this line: “nobody knows what they’re doing.”
Or maybe it was “nobody knows anything.” I’m not sure of the exact quote, but you get the idea.
The instructor’s point was that you can do anything because, basically, everything is made up.
Everyone is just doing stuff the only way they know how, but none of us really knows what we’re doing. Sometimes we don’t even know why we’re doing it.
A Cardboard TV: but why?
For a few years I had the idea for a cardboard television with a projector inside of it. I didn't have a purpose for it yet though, so I didn't bother to make it.
The TV itself would be a painted cardboard box but you could turn it “on” and “off” like you would a TV. On the screen would be a real moving image.
I decided to make the TV while living at home with nothing to do. If the purpose was because it would be fun, it's good enough for me.
Making the TV out of a cardboard box
I started with an Amazon box and cut out one side of it with a box cutter.
I knew I would need to get into the box to install the projector and that I could angle the TV for video so you wouldn’t see missing side.
By creating a little hinge for the largest knob on the TV, I made it so it could turn.
The pico projector needed to be placed so that the edges of the image didn’t appear on the TV screen. I carved a projector-sized hole in the back of the box and slid the projector in.
A little bit of video editing, image reversing, and testing later, I had a working cardboard TV!
The video of me operating it like a real TV is here and the time-lapse of me building it is over here.