Here is my documentation for building a lightbox. Anyone who needs help building one can reference this page. I have tried to explain everything in a way that will really increase your odds of building a nice Lightbox for your movie posters without too much trouble. Hopefully the time I’ve spent researching from others and building one will save you some time and trouble. I have tried to include as many detailed pictures as possible to show what I did and what I used. Best of luck to anyone who decides to build a box. I believe that you will really enjoy it and start buying more posters to put in the boxes.
There is a lot of stuff I did on my boxes that most people don’t do so take what you want from this. I also had to use a skill saw to cut the wood since my table saw was kind of jacked up, which caused me to have to take another step and plane down the edges before sanding. I used a standard wood planer.
I made countersinks in the boxes so the flo’s would be further back and prevent hot spots on light colored posters. I used this white Inglourious Basterds poster to test with. I also used white reflective paint instead of foil to make sure and give the box a more true white color light and not a yellow tone. Others have used foil but I find it is a bit of a mess and wrinkles pretty easy. Also it might cause an uneven de-fraction of light giving small hot spots on light colored posters due to the unevenness of the foil.
I used a back on my box because I plan on moving it to another location at a later date. Some people just drill the lights and ballast onto their wall while using angle bars to hold the sides up which eliminates the backboard. I wanted a true box and I didn’t want a ton of stuff to clean up off the wall. I’d rather take it down as one whole piece, I just think it’s cleaner and more portable.
Also I used a black power cord, which I hate, but I don’t have an electrical outlet that high on my wall, nor did I want to get one installed by an electrician until I get my own house that I’m going to be staying in for a good while. So eventually, when I move, I will remove the black power cord from the outside of the box and drill a hole in the backboard for an out lit making the box cordless. Which is the look I prefer, but until then I’ll have to make due.
Snap Frame - Front
Snap Frame - Back
Plexi - With Protective Film
Lightbox Materials
Wood Trim for the Sides
Four Flo's Per Box
Flo Specs
Lightbox Wood Size
Lightbox Wood Type
30x40 cut back board
One Sheet Box - Wood
Quad Box - Wood
Sand Paper
Excess Wood
Measuring for Countersink
Drill Countersink
Chisel Countersink
Chiseled Out 3 out of 5 Layers
Another Slot Showing Layers
Quad Size Board Chiseled
Quad Box Test
Quad Box Test With Frame
Quad Box Test With Frame
Inside Boards Painted White
Drill Holes
Liquid Nails
Wiring
Wiring 2
Wiring Set Up
Flo Box 1
Flo Box 1 Dark
Dowels Added to all 4 sides
Dowel Holes in Side Panel
Dowels and Holes Lined Up
Power Plug Pieces
Power Plug Pieces - Closed
Inside Power Cord Plug
Power Cord Plug From Box
Putty Nail Holes
1:8th Inch Plexi Sheet Behind Frame
US One Sheet Box on Wall
British Quad Box on Wall
Lightbox Turned Off
The Fountain - US One Sheet in Lightbox
Side of One Sheet Box on Wall
The Prestige - Quad in Lightbox
Quad Box Side on Wall
Inglourious Basterds - Quad in Lightbox
Side of Quad Box on Wall
Batman Begins Quad in Lightbox.
