I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and 5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.

Rob

On 24/10/14 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and 5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.

Rob


The traditional way would be 2-4 tubes.

I would argue that this is a good way to go as:

a) You can buy tubes with excellent CRI and the right colour temperature;

b) It's maintainable - light gets poor, change tube

As you can mount the control gear next to the tubes in the box, it can
be all quite neat

robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to bui

ld an A3 size lightb

ox by a lady who is d

oing a botanical art co

urse and has need of suc

h for tracing leaf sh

pes and the likes ont

o paper.

I can get what is bi

lled as suitable opaq

ue perspex off Ebay - A3 and 5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitab

le light source wo

uld be part of one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.

R

ob

What colour balance is required? LEDS might not be suitable.

When I built a similar thing I found it was best to have the LEDS
pointing backwards at crinkled up bacofoil. This diffused the light very
nicely.

Bill

On Friday, October 24, 2014 7:53:40 PM UTC+1, Bill Wright wrote:


What colour balance is required? LEDS might not be suitable.

When I built a similar thing I found it was best to have the LEDS
pointing backwards at crinkled up bacofoil. This diffused the light very
nicely.

Bill

Colour balance is not important. My friend writes
"It is for transferring initial drawing onto watercolour paper and is only faint lining for giving plant outlines etc."

I'll give the LED's a try as they aren't going to break the bank. The bacofoil idae is good - thanks.

Rob

On 24/10/2014 23:19, robgraham wrote:
On Friday, October 24, 2014 7:53:40 PM UTC+1, Bill Wright wrote:


What colour balance is required? LEDS might not be suitable.

When I built a similar thing I found it was best to have the LEDS
pointing backwards at crinkled up bacofoil. This diffused the light very
nicely.

Bill

Colour balance is not important. My friend writes
"It is for transferring initial drawing onto watercolour paper and is only faint lining for giving plant outlines etc."

I'll give the LED's a try as they aren't going to break the bank. The bacofoil idae is good - thanks.

Rob


Do remember that an A3 light box is only about £66-£65 when considering
how to make one.

On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and the likes onto paper.
....

I read the title as 'has anyone built a lighthouse' and thought that is
an impressive DIY project :-)


--
Colin Bignell

Most of the ones I've seen have used fluorescent tubes with a specific type
of phosphor that is colour neutral. However for the use its going to be put
to, this might not matter, and neither might the variation in intensity.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"robgraham" wrote in message
...
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a
botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and the
likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and 5mm
thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of one of
those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.

Rob

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
...
Most of the ones I've seen have used fluorescent tubes with a specific
type of phosphor that is colour neutral. However for the use its going to
be put to, this might not matter, and neither might the variation in
intensity.
Brian

You could use a strip of RGB led's and a colour mixer controller, then you
can set any colour tone you want,

Reminds me of a use i could have had for an old tv.... one of those awfull
DMTech 42 inch jobbies, one of the boards had gone resulting in weird
colours, and incompetent tv bodger (not fit to be classed as an engineer as
they don't even know which way to hold a soldering iron nowadays) cracked
the lcd panel i the process of replacing boards,

new tv bought on the payout, old un left for us to bin,

So i removed the lcd panel, and was left with a nice opaque white flat panel
with about 8 long CCFL tubes giving an even light, all housed in a 'frame'
i thought at the time i'd use it to make an illuminated sign for my games
room, but never bothered and chucked it out when i got fed up of having to
move it when searching for stuff,

Would have made an ideal light box.... mind, just displaying a white screen
on any TV/laptop/tablet could do the same i guess.

On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a
botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and
the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and
5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of
one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.

Rob



why not buy frosted glass in glaziers - be much better, and won't flex.
I built a dummy window in the WC this way ...

So when you use said room, it looks like a window to outside with
diffused light ... also makes room seem much bigger.

I used 2 tube strip lights (15W I think .. whatever TLC carry) and
mounted them behind a stip of ply so the tubes can't be seen directly
the back of 'box' I coated with crinkled up kitchen foil .... light
bounces off that in random manner .. works well for effect I wanted.

On Sat, 25 Oct 2014 19:46:58 +0100, rick
wrote:

On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a
botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and
the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and
5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of
one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.

Rob



why not buy frosted glass in glaziers - be much better, and won't flex.
I built a dummy window in the WC this way ...

So when you use said room, it looks like a window to outside with
diffused light ... also makes room seem much bigger.

I used 2 tube strip lights (15W I think .. whatever TLC carry) and
mounted them behind a stip of ply so the tubes can't be seen directly
the back of 'box' I coated with crinkled up kitchen foil .... light
bounces off that in random manner .. works well for effect I wanted.

In similar vein, just stick the leaves to a window and the paper on
top and use the daylight. to trace the veins.
--
Dave W

On Sat, 25 Oct 2014 07:07:12 +0100
"Nightjar \"cpb\"@" "insert my surname here wrote:

On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing
a botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes
and the likes onto paper.
...

I read the title as 'has anyone built a lighthouse' and thought that
is an impressive DIY project :-)



Especially if his name had been Stephenson:

http://lugnad.ie/book-reviews/book-l...e-stephensons/

--
Davey.

On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and 5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.

I doubt if 5mm A3 perspex will be rigid enough for tracing on unless you
put extra support under it. Be OK for looking at big transparencies.
5mm frosted glass would be a a lot stiffer.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 27/10/2014 09:06, Martin Brown wrote:
On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a
botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and
the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and
5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of
one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.

I doubt if 5mm A3 perspex will be rigid enough for tracing on unless you
put extra support under it. Be OK for looking at big transparencies.
5mm frosted glass would be a a lot stiffer.


He needs to be careful what he buys..

opaque doesn't let light through.
translucent lets light through but is diffuse in some way like obscure
glass or frosted glass.
clear is just window stuff.

You can buy toughened glass shelves in Ikea about 550 mm square for
about £12 and put some tracing paper under it to make the top of a light
box. It would be best to space the paper away from the top by an inch or so.

On Fri, 24 Oct 2014 10:35:34 -0700 (PDT), robgraham
wrote:

I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and 5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.

They were being sold off on ebay for peanuts a couple of years ago as
graphic arts houses/ ad agencies were disposing of all their old
transparency viewing kit.
There will likely be some still kicking around if you have a look.
Cheapest way for me, should I need one, is to use a 2ft square office
ceiling light and put a sheet of translucent plastic over it.

On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 09:29:02 +0000, Dennis@home wrote:

On 27/10/2014 09:06, Martin Brown wrote:
On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a
botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and
the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and
5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of
one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.

I doubt if 5mm A3 perspex will be rigid enough for tracing on unless you
put extra support under it. Be OK for looking at big transparencies.
5mm frosted glass would be a a lot stiffer.


He needs to be careful what he buys..

opaque doesn't let light through.
translucent lets light through but is diffuse in some way like obscure
glass or frosted glass.
clear is just window stuff.

Thank you! I've been resisting the temptation...!
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On 27/10/2014 17:07, PeterC wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 09:29:02 +0000, Dennis@home wrote:

On 27/10/2014 09:06, Martin Brown wrote:
On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a
botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and
the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and
5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of
one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.




You could make frosted glass at home by acid etching, could be messy
chemicals though. Alternative is to buy frosted glass at glaziers -
cheap enough.

On Sunday, November 16, 2014 5:09:35 PM UTC, rick wrote:
On 27/10/2014 17:07, PeterC wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 09:29:02 +0000, Dennis@home wrote:

On 27/10/2014 09:06, Martin Brown wrote:
On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing a
botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes and
the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3 and
5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part of
one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.




You could make frosted glass at home by acid etching, could be messy

look up the MSDS for hydrofluric acid , not a kitchen table operation...

chemicals though. Alternative is to buy frosted glass at glaziers -
cheap enough.

Etch effect window film is available in all sorts of types but for a lightbox want opalescent , milky, there are a couple of grades specifically intended for lightbox use,

"Adam Aglionby" wrote in message
...
On Sunday, November 16, 2014 5:09:35 PM UTC, rick wrote:
On 27/10/2014 17:07, PeterC wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 09:29:02 +0000, Dennis@home wrote:

On 27/10/2014 09:06, Martin Brown wrote:
On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing
a
botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes
and
the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3
and
5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part
of
one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.




You could make frosted glass at home by acid etching, could be messy

look up the MSDS for hydrofluric acid , not a kitchen table operation...

chemicals though. Alternative is to buy frosted glass at glaziers -
cheap enough.

Etch effect window film is available in all sorts of types but for a
lightbox want opalescent , milky, there are a couple of grades
specifically intended for lightbox use,

Another alternative, if you have some clear perspex, is to make that frosted
using finest grade wet-and-dry paper used wet. Use an even circular motion
until the area concerned is all rubbed down, wash with a drop of detergent,
dry, and check for even coverage. Repeat if necessary....

Charles F


---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
http://www.avast.com

On Monday, November 17, 2014 4:38:29 AM UTC, Charles F wrote:
"Adam Aglionby" wrote in message
...
On Sunday, November 16, 2014 5:09:35 PM UTC, rick wrote:
On 27/10/2014 17:07, PeterC wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 09:29:02 +0000, Dennis@home wrote:

On 27/10/2014 09:06, Martin Brown wrote:
On 24/10/2014 18:35, robgraham wrote:
I've been asked to build an A3 size lightbox by a lady who is doing
a
botanical art course and has need of such for tracing leaf shapes
and
the likes onto paper.

I can get what is billed as suitable opaque perspex off Ebay - A3
and
5mm thick - I'm wondering if a suitable light source would be part
of
one of those strings of LED's at around a fiver for 5m.




You could make frosted glass at home by acid etching, could be messy

look up the MSDS for hydrofluric acid , not a kitchen table operation...

chemicals though. Alternative is to buy frosted glass at glaziers -
cheap enough.

Etch effect window film is available in all sorts of types but for a
lightbox want opalescent , milky, there are a couple of grades
specifically intended for lightbox use,

Another alternative, if you have some clear perspex, is to make that frosted
using finest grade wet-and-dry paper used wet. Use an even circular motion
until the area concerned is all rubbed down, wash with a drop of detergent,
dry, and check for even coverage. Repeat if necessary....

Charles F


---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
http://www.avast.com

Done that in the past then discovered this:

http://www.mdpsupplies.co.uk/categor...tbox-films.asp

For the OP they have a branch in Grangemouth.