Author Topic: My New Lightbox  (Read 15597 times)

Offline supraman079

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My New Lightbox
« on: December 30, 2009, 01:01:09 AM »
So, here is one of the two lightboxes I've been working on. I think it turned out great. I owe a big thank you to CJ and Holiday for sharing their experience with me. I took a combination of a little bit of what they did plus some of my own stuff to come up with what worked well for me. I'm almost done with my Quad Box, which I'm looking forward to seeing up and on the wall very soon.

Here is the first poster I put in it to see what it would look like. I'm a big fan of the movie and I thought it turned out really nicely. I'll post up other pic's of different posters over time to see how they look. Probably sometime next month as I'm about to head out of town for New Years. Got a College Football Bowl game to go to.  ;D

Here is a link to my website where I break down some of the stuff I did to make it. I will update this page with pictures of the final touches and probably explain some stuff a little better in a week or so. Although, you should pretty much be able to tell by the pictures.

Here is My Lightbox Page

Anyway, more pic's to come.

Chad

Offline kovacs01

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2009, 01:49:05 AM »
Looks awesome!  Good choice of first poster as well.  I am going to have to build a B1 size one eventually.
Schan
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Offline supraman079

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2009, 10:10:29 AM »
Looks awesome!  Good choice of first poster as well.  I am going to have to build a B1 size one eventually.

Yeah, after I finish my Quad Box I want to do a B1 Box.

Chad

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2009, 12:53:48 PM »
Fantastic, great job.

Offline supraman079

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2009, 01:41:32 PM »
Fantastic, great job.

Hey, thanks Bulla. Good to see you on the forum.

Chad

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2009, 02:00:00 PM »
I would love to tackle something like this . But I dont have any kind of work area .. LOL .. Id have to do it in my living room! Maybe this summer when I can work outside Ill give it a shot :)

Offline supraman079

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2009, 03:41:07 PM »
I would love to tackle something like this . But I dont have any kind of work area .. LOL .. Id have to do it in my living room! Maybe this summer when I can work outside Ill give it a shot :)

If you do decide to do it. I can't tell you the feeling you get when its done and looks good on the wall. Partly because it makes the posters you have come alive and partly because you realized that you did all the work to create it.

Chad

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2009, 03:57:17 PM »
Yeah I like building stuff and its relatively easy .. Its just that attention to detail that makes it great!

How deep are your boxes? Ive read somewhere around 4" is good enough to keep hot spots from showing through? Obviously the thinner the better, but we dont want to sacrifice the integrity of the end product either.

Offline supraman079

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #8 on: December 31, 2009, 06:31:57 PM »
I did some tests and I found that 5 inches was perfect for almost every poster. Some posters are lighter than others and some are darker than others. But, with my box I had a back board piece on it so that I could move it around as one whole unit. This added 3/4 of an inch to the depth since I lost a little bit when the side boards were not directly up against the wall. You can see what I mean by checking the link in my pictures. The light tubes are raised up by being on that board, that is why I tried to help compensate for it by chiseling out those slots to place the brackets down in the wood and getting them closer to the original wall as possible.

Plus I have a friend who runs a club in Dallas and wants me to build a few more and put up my posters around the bar area. I'm not sure if I'll end up doing it or not, but I could easily take the box off my wall and put it up at the club since it is one piece and has a back board on it. I think 4 inches wouldn't be bad if you had it straight on the wall. But, if you did this then you have your ballast and all the wiring tacked all over your wall. Once again it's pretty much your preference. I'll try and find a poster that is real light and see if I get any hot spots on it and post up some pic's so you and others will have a good idea what you are getting into before making your own.

Chad

Offline supraman079

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2009, 06:39:06 PM »
Here is a side picture of the box. One thing to note is that I have it over in a corner where no one really goes due to the way the room is designed. This picture probably exaggerates it a bit due to the angle I took it from to show you guys, but we are also talking about 5 inches off the wall too. By the way, the small silver strip is the back part of the frame which to poster and two pieces of plexi glass sit in. I will end up painting the entire edge of this black to be flush. Also, for some reason due to the flash it made some funky pattern reflection from the wall on the side of the box about mid way down. That is not there. It's just some flash reflection from how close the shot was. It's a pure smooth black side like the other three.

Eventually when I move into a place I plan on staying for a long time. I will probably have these boxes built inside the wall like a window frame and then just keep the snap frame on the outside of the wall looking like a regular frame. The only thing is you don't want to do something like that unless you own the house and plan on staying for a good while.

Hopefully everything I'm explaining makes sense. If not, feel free to ask all the questions you have.

Chad

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2009, 07:29:10 PM »
So yours is 5" deep .. am I correct in guessing thats partly because you enclosed the back of this ..

Offline supraman079

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2009, 09:04:29 PM »
So yours is 5" deep .. am I correct in guessing thats partly because you enclosed the back of this ..

Yes, that is correct. Because the board on the back is 3/4 of inch thick, therefore I had to make the side boards a bit deeper and I just rounded up to a full 5 inches.

Chad

Offline holiday

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2009, 10:52:14 PM »
Damned glad it worked out for you Chad.  Also glad that there's at least one other person out there with sense to recognize that the Fountain is a great movie. 

I remember that feeling with the first lightbox I built. I put it The Nightmare Before Christmas and when I lit it up, I just sat down and stared at it for a half hour at least.  What a great memory and feeling!

Enjoy the box.  And, for all those out there who are considering them, if you follow the notes from folks like me, Chad and others, you'll find that it's really really easy to put them together, and much more cost-effective than buying one. 

BTW, I have two onesheets, one quad, one bus shelter and one b1.  You should see the bus shelter in person!!!!
Best regards,

Holiday


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Offline kovacs01

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2009, 11:25:23 PM »
I think I would be more worried about the painting aspect more than anything else.  Did you put any primer or anything like that on it before painting?
Schan
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Offline holiday

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #14 on: December 31, 2009, 11:41:45 PM »
Yeah, I did prime it.  But, it's not hard.  I used a spray primer and then a matte black spray finish.  The primer on the oak I used dried in about 20 minutes, and then I applied two coats of the black, separating each by an hour of dry time.  That's for me here in South Florida at about 80 degrees and 70% humidity (hot and wet).  The dry time will vary based on where you are.  But again, not hard at all.
Best regards,

Holiday


Check out my new place!
Two Parrots Gallery

"What happened to all the people?" Mystified MPF Member, February 20, 2010

"I actually quite like the name Peanut."  Andy Neal on MOPO, April 22, 2010

Thierry:  Type the word APF on MPF and it spells: "Banned due to malicious unsolicited private message ".

Charlie to the guy who lost to EatBrie:  You just got "T-boned"!  Happens to the best of us...  Wait until you get "Holidazed"!

Thierry to Silhouette:  Please tell her it's a tiny part of my collection so she doesn't think I'm a total creep.  Oh wait, no, I am a total creep.

Offline supraman079

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #15 on: January 01, 2010, 03:54:00 AM »
I did not primer my wood. I just put two thick coats on and it looks great.

Here are a couple of pic's from my quad box.

Chad

guest8

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #16 on: January 01, 2010, 08:47:13 AM »
Thats how that poster Prestige was meant to be seen ! That looks awesome !!!

Offline supraman079

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #17 on: January 01, 2010, 10:35:22 AM »
Yeah, I thought it turned out pretty nicely. I don't have many quads to play with and I had a shipment coming to me but I lost contact from the seller who's in the UK. I'm not sure if I'll be able to still get them for cheap. Some titles for around $2-$5. Eventually I'll have to find a few more quads to buy just for my lightbox.

Chad

Offline kovacs01

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #18 on: January 02, 2010, 05:49:18 AM »
I would recommend The World is Not Enough advance
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Offline lynaron

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #19 on: January 03, 2010, 03:19:04 PM »
Those are really cool light boxes!  Have you put UV barrier sleeves on the tubes or is UV a concern for you?

Lynn
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Offline supraman079

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #20 on: January 09, 2010, 12:29:00 AM »
Those are really cool light boxes!  Have you put UV barrier sleeves on the tubes or is UV a concern for you?

Lynn

Well with my design, I'm using three pieces of plexi sheets. 2 are UV and 1 is clear. I have two pieces on each side of the poster when I load it into the frame and I have a thicker sheet that is sitting behind the frame and in front of the box that is thicker as to give it a strong backing to press the poster sandwiched between to plexi's up against it. If that makes any sense.

If you look at the first two pictures on my site from the link I posted you will see an Inglourious Basterds poster sitting in a frame with a sheet of plexi on the front and on the back. Now if you scroll down to the 1st picture in the fourth row from the bottom, you will see a box with a sheet of plexi sitting on top. That is the thicker piece that sits between the box and the back of the poster frame to make it more rigid. That piece of plexi has a paper protective covering instead of a film covering like the sheets that are in the frame with the Inglourious Basterds poster.

Chad

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #21 on: January 09, 2010, 06:53:57 PM »
Excellent work,Chad!
One of these days I'm gonna give that a shot.

Anthony

Offline supraman079

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Re: My New Lightbox
« Reply #22 on: January 10, 2010, 01:21:08 AM »
Excellent work,Chad!
One of these days I'm gonna give that a shot.

Anthony

Thanks Anthony. Man, I would encourage you to do it, because I really can't explain the feeling you get when you put your first poster in a box you just made. And feel free to ask any questions or reference my site to help you out. Plus there are other members on here that can help as well.

Chad