piece of hair inside my Optoma HD66

Any dust or hair visible in the image on a DLP is going to be INSIDE the imaging chamber. Meaning, you have to open the projector and then open the chamber, which is directly behind the lens.

As far as inspecting the color wheel, it spins during operation. If there WERE any dust or a hair on it, it certainly wouldn't appear clear and stationary.

I had a very similar problem with my Planar PD8150.



I did the same thing you did at first. Then I bought a can of compressed air and went to town. It took three tries but I eventually got it out of the light path.

By the way, DLP's aren't susceptible to dust blobs because the DLP chip is almost always in a vacuum sealed chamber.

Actually, that's not correct. Despite claims by some manufacturers DLPs are NOT sealed. ANY crack is an entry point for dust. The bottom line is that if the dust is visible in the image, it is INSIDE that "sealed" chamber.

There are a few reports in these forums where someone went trigger happy with the canned air, blasting away inside the lamp chamber. All they did was drive the dust into the chamber.

If you want to clean it, you HAVE to open the projector. It cannot be done from the outside. It is not on the lens, it is NEVER the lamp and it is not on the color wheel.

I'm surprised, really. But the result speaks for itself. Glad you were able to clear the problem without "digging in".