Light the Way to Perfect Pattern Tracing

artty1 writes: If you are able to use a drill & hammer/nails you could make a way more user friendly sized light table/box for a small amount of $. All that is needed is a square/rectangle box frame (wood or metal), some fluorescent light fixtures/bulbs in a size slightly smaller than your box, .5" square dowels, & either translucent white plexiglass or could be clear or even glass with vellum or freezer paper used to diffuse the light, hardware to mount the lights. You would mount the lights either 2 opposite sides from each other or one for each side, attach the dowels deep enough to allow your top to lay inside flush with the frame, drill holes for your fixture power cords to exit the side or the back, to improve the light distribution you could use some sheet metal as the bottom or even a sturdy piece of cardboard covered carefully with tin foil. Could also use tinfoil on the inside walls before mounting the lights. A great source of an almost complete box frame is to recycle a wooden pallet which you could easily obtain for free from a local business that is just going to throw it out. If you go that route try to look for a good sturdy well made pallet as the quality of the wood can vary greatly as well as the general quality of construction. This is really an easy DIY job that doesn't involve tons of complicated construction or $$$ materials. Plus you can customize it to the size that will fit your specific needs and space as the light fixtures pre-wired come in lots of sizes either to plugin or you could go battery powered if only for short use time now and then.
Posted: 1:57 pm on August 17th

ChildfreeTrophyWife writes: This is only a good idea if you are still using a CRT monitor - you know the big boxy old ones with the glass front. If you have a wide or flat screen LCD monitor NEVER do this, don't even press your finger on it because you can severly mess it up. You may be able to do this with an old boxy tv that has a glass front as well since it's bigger but do not do this on the new flat screen hd tvs. Just stick to trying this on a window or a sliding glass door, even against the window of your car. I realize that there are still a lot of people out there who have antiquated computer equipment but this is just not a good tip to have floating out there since those types of monitors aren't sold anymore and lots of people have moved away from CRTs.
Posted: 10:36 pm on August 28th