Several parts for the projector arrived Thursday. I was quite excited. The monitor arrived, and works perfectly. I’m going to use it as a regular monitor for a week or two here to get used to it and to make sure it’s working well before I dismantle it. That should also give time for the rest of the parts to make their way to me.
I also bought several of the parts from an individual. He bought them, but never put them to use, so he was reselling them. The parts were a bulb, ballast, reflector, some fans and some wiring accessories. Unfortunately, he packed the bulb in the bottom of the box, directly against the edges of the cardboard box. Worse, the ballast (a heavy metal box) was right next to the bulb with no packing material intervening between the two.
In other words, the bulb arrived in shards. I’m currently emailing the guy trying to get restitution, but it’s not looking good. He’s claiming that he showed “due diligence” in packing the items (not true) and that he put a fragile sticker on the box, so his hands are tied. In my opinion, he should have packed it better and insured it.
We’ll see what happens with that. If nothing else, it’s a lesson for me regarding trusting random people on the internet. Even benign strangers can hurt me. ):
Strange coincidence. That happened to the first bulb I bought on eBay.
You making your own projector?
Yeah I sold an old tape deck on eBay the other day and the buyer complained about a crack – that I’m pretty sure wasn’t there when I arrived – didn’t hinder performance, just a crack. I was so disgusted with the guy’s attitude in his complaint I just sent him his $15 back.