Lightbox

Lightboxes are all the rage nowadays, and now that I have one I can see why. Photos taken in the lightbox are much clearer and brighter than the usual rigs I set up on my desk.



Construction was simple. I got two sheets of 20" x 30" foamcore, and cut them down to four 20" x 15" pieces. On three of them, I cut out a rectangle in the center, leaving a 2" border along each edge. I taped the four pieces together (with duct tape, of course) into a long box, and cut pieces from the cutout sections to fill the back. If the foamcore is colored on one side, make sure the white side is on the inside of the box. The open sides were covered with tissue paper cut to size, held in place with double-sided tape.



The box is held onto a cheap wooden tv tray with a pair of binder clips. Two cheap clip-on lamps provide the light; each has a 100W broad-spectrum bulb in it. Position the lamps so they are right against the tissue paper to ensure all the light goes into the lightbox instead of reflecting off the outside.



The backdrop is some light blue construction paper taped to a long piece of posterboard. You can use pretty much anything, as long as it's fairly long and can curve. That curved backdrop hides the corner at the back of the lightbox.



And, last, a cropped image of the figure. Right now I'm lacking a lamp for the top of the box. Placing another light there should take care of the shadows on each side of the figure.

The workbench

I've finally got everything moved into my house. While I'm still unpacking, I've finally got my workbench set up again.



I've also got a table to play games, now. The Jackson Gamers are without reliable gaming space at the moment (Dragon's Lair has closed, unfortunately) and I'm holding the wooden tabletops we have been using for a play surface there. Hopefully we'll have another place to use them, but for the moment they are set up in the "den" in my house.


Now I just have to get some stuff put together to run games with. :)

The ever-popular spray booth

So, I built a spray booth for airbrushing and spraypainting minis in a controlled environment. Of course, I didn't think to take any in-progress photos, but here are shots of the completed booth.

The cabinet is made from foamcore, and the ventilator is a cheap bathroom exhaust fan. Light comes from three small flourescent under-cabinet lights. The black strips around the fan cover are velcro; they hold a sheet of charcoal filter material in place.

Here is a shot of the back of the cabinet. A piece of 3" dryer duct attached to the fan housing directs exhaust out the window if I'm spraying something with fumes. Yes, that is duct tape holding the cabinet together. The tape on the fan housing isn't holding it in place; it's just sealing the gaps around the opening. For once I'm using duct tape for its intended purpose. :D

Another shot from the front of the cabinet. The filter is a standard furnace filter; behind it, held in place by the velcro strips, is a piece from a replacement charcoal filter for an air purifier.

The shape of the cabinet was driven by three things: the size of the air filter (14" x 24"), the size of the exhaust fan (and it's cover), and the space between them. I cut a piece of foamcore to the width of the filter sheet, then cut a hole near the bottom center of the sheet to fit the fan housing. The foamcore was scored above the fan hole to allow it to bend. On another sheet, I marked out the shape of the cabinet sides, based on the three important dimensions above.

Another sheet of foamcore, cut to the width of the filter, is the base of the cabinet. I taped the cut-out sides to the base. I taped the back of the sheet to the sides, then cut another slightly wider piece for the top and taped it in place.

The fan was wired to an extension cord. I'm using a power strip to switch it on and off at the moment; if needed, I'll wire it into a switchbox. After wiring, I fit the fan into place. Scraps of foamcore were stacked and taped into place below it to match the height of the hole. Last, other scraps were taped into place inside the cabinet as stops for the filter.

It seems to work well. We'll see how it performs once I start putting it to use. One important note: this fan's motor in the airflow. Using this setup with flammable solvents can be dangerous. If you use the same sort of fan for a similar project, be very careful with cans of spray paint.