Light boxes

Tara · Mar 15, 2004

Hey there!

I'm planning to put on an exhibition which contains transparencies printed up big (on back-lit film) and presented on lightboxes. Does anyone know the best and cheapest way to build these as buying them is REALLY expensive. They need to be a decent quality as they are for my final assessment for my degree. They'll need to be on for the best part of 14 days too. Has anyone made them before? I'm thinking boxes of about A2 size.

Osmer_Toby · Mar 16, 2004

don't know anything about this, but love the concept. if you find some info on this elsewhere, could you come back and give a link let us know what you came up with? thanks!

markc · Mar 16, 2004

I have no idea, unfortunately. I'm guessing that the cost of color-correct bulbs alone will add up. I can't find any info on-line on how to make them, only places that sell them.

Sharkbait · Mar 16, 2004

I'm an idiot about some tech details--how big is an A2? Roughly how big do the boxes need to be? Wall hanging or floor standing? Presenting the photos upright or flat?

Do you have access to a decent workshop with some powertools? And how handy are you?

Tara · Mar 16, 2004

Shark. how big is an A2? Roughly how big do the boxes need to be? Wall hanging or floor standing? Presenting the photos upright or flat?

A2 is twice the size of A3 and therefore 4 times the size of A4
It's 42 x 59.4 cms. I'll need the boxes roughly this size and I'm planning to have them wall-mounted. I'm renting a gallery space for two weeks,so they dont have to be portable.

Do you have access to a decent workshop with some powertools? And how handy are you?

One of my best friends is a design and technology teacher so he has access to a workshop..and he's very handy

He is considering making them for me...what a star!

Sharkbait · Mar 16, 2004

Hmm okay. Off the top of my head, probably the easiest thing to do would be to whip up a couple of 1x2 frames, then cover them with 1/4" plywood, paint to your favorite color. Then use some trim pieces to basically make a lip around the top edge of the box to hold a sheet of plexiglass to mount your transparency on. For lighting, I'd pick up a few really cheap-arse fluoroscent shoplights from Lowe's, mount them inside the box, and put "plant-grow" bulbs in them. The grow-bulbs are a higher Kelvin temp than standard fluoro bulbs (about 6500K as compared to 3500K) and will give you a truer light temp.

If you wanted to go really fancy, in the box in between the light and the plexi, you could get a pane of that frosted plastic stuff for overhead drop-ceiling fluorescent lights and stick it in there as a diffuser.

Does that all make sense? Or is that not what you were thinking of?

Sharkbait · Mar 16, 2004

The other thing you could do for lighting is a simple incandescent bulb outlet in the box with one of the 'natural light' bulbs. That'd give you a bluer light as well.

Tara · Mar 16, 2004

Thanks Shark. Yeah that's the kind of thing I was after. The images have wacky colours anyway so I guess I dont have to be so careful with the colour cast of the bulb. This project is becoming so expensive...I dont want to be too careful and sacrifice getting great marks...but dont want to break the bank either! Some useful suggestions though. Thanks

Sharkbait · Mar 16, 2004

Yeah, I totally understand about breaking the bank! If you went with a simple incandescent fixture, you could probably put together each box for under $10.

Tara · Mar 16, 2004

oh I wish!

It's going to cost me 10 pounds for each sheet of plastic alone...then the bulbs...then the boxes...plugs...wall mounts....then...it's gonna cost 25 pounds to get each transparency printed..(i'm planning to have 7)....then there's the venue hire of about 150quid for 10 days...travelling costs to and from the studio (about 10 pounds a go)..and materials such as film/polaroid and the initial transparency film processing on top of that! Really very expensive for a little old student like me...who gets no grant. That's why I'm looking for sponsorship. I've already been given a deal on the back-lit transparency prints...that 25 quid is actually half the normal cost! If anyone can suggest help with sponsorship I'd be much obliged!
phew..that was a bit of a rant wasnt it..sorry