How To Make a Lightbox

Find a photo/image you like, preferably with high contrast, otherwise you won't get as much detail (when you send me a photo, I crank up the contrast if I see that it won't come out ahem as nice).

And then through the magic of coding and software you can make a 3D model (there are plenty of websites which do this, just search online for how to 3D print photo).

Send that thing to a printer and wait... for a while... possibly a long one.

We've reached a milestone here, you could glue this to your window and not bother with a box.

But, if for some reason you don't want to use super glue on your window, read on.

Through the magic of coding and software... Actually, no magic here, we need a 3D model of a box, to do that we need CAD software (computer assisted design, fancy I know). I'm using FreeCAD here, because, you know, free. Point, click, enter a number, spin it around, looks good? It's a bit more involved, see a short film below.

Once we're done pointing and clicking, send it off to 3D printer and wait some more, again.

After some waiting, we've got a box, frame and a logo to stick on the back of the box.

Having a 3D printer helps out when you need random niche tools. I need to glue the logo on the back of the box, if I would do it by hand, it would probably be in a different place on every box, so I've made a jig to hold the logo in place while the glue sets.

Next we need electricity inside this thing, here's another "tool" Ive made to hold the wires while I solder the tips.

I could bend the strips instead of cutting and wiring them, but that's clumsy to handle and the end result comes out as if a drunk person did the job, which is not necessarily true.

Almost done, insert the switch in the back hole, insert strips into rails and connect the wires.

What I've found is that super glue works well on many surfaces, especially your fingers. Sometimes it's the only thing that gets glued together, in those sticky times - acetone is the answer.

Once your fingers are clean and you've got a good buzz from the acetone, time to marvel in this box of magnificence.

I've left some details out, but there aren't many gaps left to fill in. But if you don't feel like making this yourself, checkout and get the boxes I've made, or upload an image and I'll make one for you.