Mini Light Table Fits Inside A Briefcase

portable_light_box

Hackaday forum member [Mike] was looking for project ideas when his girlfriend, an art major, suggested that he build her a light table to help with her various assignments. Having seen a few of these projects pop up from time to time, he figured he was up to the task. He started hunting around at his local thrift stores and finally came across what he was looking for – a hard-sided Samsonite briefcase.

He ripped out the bottom lining of the briefcase and proceeded to paint the inside white in order to properly reflect the lighting he would be adding shortly. A pair of under-cabinet lights were installed, and wired to be easily toggled on the outside of the case. He located some white acrylic to serve as the top of the table, trimming it to fit snugly in the case without any need for fasteners.

His girlfriend loved the table, though we would be interested in seeing a more portable version – it is built into a briefcase after all. We would love to hear your suggestions on how he might make this more portable, so let us know in the comments.

38 thoughts on “Mini Light Table Fits Inside A Briefcase

  1. Just out of curiosity, how is a briefcase NOT portable? I mean, if there are insane gobs of wiring coming out everywhere, yeah, sure, it’s hardly portable, but… It is a briefcase… Something DESIGNED with portability in mind…

  2. Nice idea. I see a couple of alternate paths that could make this truly portable. First direction – replace the AC powered under cabinet lights with a few feet of LED ribbon that could be powered by an on board battery. Second direction – repurpose the backlight from a defunct 17″ or 19″ LCD monitor and again power the inverter with an on board battery.

  3. i think portable power is what had was trying to say. You could rip some scanners apart for there bulbs and power supplys. they normally run from 9-12vdc. that would be low power and very bright.

  4. Hacker: “Look, I made a portable light-table that’s in a briefcase!”

    HAD: “Too bad it’s not portable, it’s a briefcase afterall…”

    I have to wonder what does hack a day think briefcases are for anyway?

  5. A small scanner would be the best method. You could tap into the original electronics and turn the lamp on with a switch. That way you can still use the scanner for it’s original purpose.

  6. Yes, not unlike how boyfriends suggest that women have their hair in a certain way or that they wear something specific or that maybe she should try something different during you know what.

  7. Portable light tables are commercially available. I have a little one (about 10cmx15cm) that uses a white backlight similar to a LCD screen’s. It can run off a wall wart or a 9V battery.

  8. in my quest to consume less wattage while not knowing how much wattage i was actually consuming, i found a 95W max PSU in an old 400mhz pc. pretty small for a computer power supply, too. stick something conductive (der, copper wire) between a green and black wire, plug in some cold-cathodes and voila! Not that i have any idea what a light table is used for, but one 12″ cold cathode lights my room way too much, and they are cheap, at ~$7.00 for 2 12″ lights and the little blue box i like to burn things with, plus adhesive velcro pads, and an on-off switch + expansion slot cover thingamajig. cold cathodes pull like 3W max, if that. with the proper power supply feeding it 12v, and an extension cord (or inverter and car battery) PORTAbLe. (minus the car battery, extension cord is lighter and easier to cram into tight spaces.)

  9. Why take the voltage up from 12v to 240v with and inverter and then back to 12v again with a psu? a bit wasteful I think.
    Considering the voltage is stepped up for the cold cathodes anyway… Maybe if cold cathodes are to be a must, use thoughs small 12v inverter supply’s you can buy for pc cold cathode lighting? Wire them serial/parallel until you have enough to light larger tubes. (I would suggest insulating them a lot. Even from them selves as they van make half inch arcs on their own)
    Personally I would go with a large number of super bright LEDs. (not luxons

  10. Why take the voltage up from 12v to 240v with and inverter and then back to 12v again with a psu? a bit wasteful I think.
    Considering the voltage is stepped up for the cold cathodes anyway… Maybe if cold cathodes are to be a must, use thoughs small 12v inverter supply’s you can buy for pc cold cathode lighting? Wire them serial/parallel until you have enough to light larger tubes. (I would suggest insulating them a lot. Even from them selves as they van make half inch arcs on their own)
    Personally I would go with a large number of super bright LEDs. (not luxons they get too hot for a small space). And then run it all from lithium batteries. Simple light and won’t break if dropped. (not suggesting in anyway not to trust a woman with tech…).

  11. I had to make one for my daughter and I used the LCD panel from a MacBook which had a smashed TFT panel. The base board was 6 mm plywood and I used an external CCFL inverter for the backlight supply and the whole thins runs off a 12V brick. I had to mount the inverter to the side but the result is a really slim and portable light box.

  12. zacdee316: Have you looked inside a scanner? (just open the lid while scanning) it only has one light tube that is moved back and fourth under the glass, there’s no way to use it as a light table.

  13. Have to agree – how portable do you want ?

    I did a similar build about 25yrs ago with clear plastic and uv lamps for exposing pcb’s and also built into an old brief/attache case (probably 18 or 20 inch). It was beautifully portable and in terms of size it was actually very close to commercial units but lighter (most were all metal construction) and of course a fraction of the price.

    In my case I also incorporated a small electro-mechanical timer which I think came from some kind of kitchen equipment.

  14. To answer the question of “how portable do we want?”, I was imagining something that does not require 120v to run.

    Perhaps something along the lines of a couple of scavenged power tool battery packs with an external charging port and perhaps some CFLs.

  15. Good Idea. And with 10 to the unth power of possibilities and ideas. Just pick your poison or what you have laying around the shop.

    BTW, who let the troll in?

  16. Maybe all the anger and negativity in the comments are finally getting to these hackaday guys. Maybe they are becoming one of us and dig up inadequacies in everything too.

    Or maybe they were just trying to spark conversation.

  17. More portable than that? OK! I got you covered.

    An iPAD or clone displaying a white screen. Possibly as easy as opening up a blank text document or a blank web page. 10+ hour battery life, and it comes with a charger. No hacking needed.

  18. @ Renee – This is why I need to date a geek girl. I can “suggest” she that builds some projects and she can “suggest” that I try something different during you know what!

Leave a Reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.