Nathaner dot com

Just talked with a friend of mine and we’re going to try to keep better in touch by holding conversations over video.  This series which I’m calling Future Mail will be unedited stream of conciousness for the both of us.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.  Unfortanetly I’m not by a camera right now or I would post for all to see.  SOON…

In a quest for the perfect balance between cost-effective and high-detail screen printed productions, my first roadblock was to be able to make screens in a short amount of time with little mess.  Instructables and Make both suggest that for very little compromise in quality, you can build your own lightbox on the cheap.

The only problem is that information about ideal conditions for exposing screens is sparse and varying.  After about a year of lurking researching many different sources, it was time to biuld.  The total project materials cost came to about $75.00.
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

• Wood or any other solid construction material.  I bought 11″ planks because they only needed to be cut to form the corners.  The height fits the exposure distance at just under 7″.
• Fluorescent light & ballast sets (3).  I started with 2 as pictured, then decided the third set would help.  Back to the hardware store!
• 18″ x 26″ x 5/8″ sheet of Lexan/Polycarbonate. (Choose whatever size you want just make sure to get enough wood.)
• Misc. hardware (Standard light switch, Hinges, Brackets, etc.)

Tools you’ll want to have ready:

• Drill
• Saw
• Screwdriver
• Wood Glue
• Wire Strippers

Because at the time of the build the only power tool available was a cordless drill/driver, I took as many opportunities as possible to build with materials in their pre-purchased size.  The whole aspect ratio of the lightbox is based on not wanting to mess with cutting the sheet of Lexan itself.  Likewise, the planks that formed the walls were measured and cut around the dimensions of the Lexan which is exactly the same width as the fluorescent light housing.

Buildout

1. I started by measuring and cutting the wood to fit the sheet of Lexan.  Make sure to plan ahead how you will be joining the pieces and cut the necessary overhang for the corners.  In my case we fastened with L brackets on the inside of the box, so the 2 longer planks were cut with an additional width that measured the same as the depth of 2 planks. (2 sides)
2. One at a time, apply wood glue and fasten the L brackets inside the corners of the box.  I used 2 on each corner for stability.  If you measured accurately, the 4th and final wall should fit in perfectly.
3. Place one of your fluorescent light ballasts into the box and make sure they will all fit where you want to have them positioned.
4. Once you’re happy with the light placement, mount 2 cross members inside the box on the edge of the bottom side.  Ideally they should split the area into equal thirds, but anything close that will align with the ballast mounting holes will do.  This area beneath the lights will be used to connect the wiring.  You can place these cross members as high or low as you like so long as you take into account the light distance recommended to expose your screens.
5. On three sides of the box — 1 long edge, 2 short edges — place shims recessed from the top of the wood equal to the thickness of your sheet of Lexan.  The shims should be distributed evenly across these 3 edges to properly balance the weight of the objects placed on top.
6. On the remaining side mount your two hinges that will be attached to the sheet of polycarbonate.  For ease, I just mounted each one parallel to the shims on the opposite (long) edge.  At this time you should set your clear surface of choice in top of the box and make sure that everything lines up flush.  Until you’re done with all the heavy drilling/cutting/hammering work, it’s a good idea to keep the protective plastic coating on the Lexan so it won’t scratch.  If you want you can mark your holes for the Lexan to be attached to the hinges.
7. Take the Lexan back out and place it aside.  Turn the box over and on whichever short edged side you prefer cut out an area for the light switch to be mounted.  If you don’t have the tools to make this cut in one fell swoop, as I didn’t, you can always drill many smaller holes along the path of the cut effectively scoring the wood and knocking out the remains.  Sand/File the indentation as you deem appropriate, then mount the switch.
8. Now place the fluorescent light ballasts on top of the cross members how you want them.  The idea here is to have them evenly distributed, because during exposure, the light should be as even in brightness as possible.  Make sure you can still get at your electrical wires for each unit and mount accordingly.

Electircal

Each lighting unit should be wired to each other in parallel and connected to the power source (120V) and switch in series (Sweet graphics coming later).  Use wire nuts to fasten all of these wires; line voltage doesn’t play well with solder.  It might be a good idea to first wire your switch to your plug and connect one of the lights temporarily to confirm that your wiring is correct.  Once that is done connect the other 2 lights and ground them all together and fire test it again.  Once it’s functioning to your satisfaction, you can close up the bottom with a thin board (MDF, etc.)  All that’s left is to bolt the Lexan to the hinge and you have a fully functioning lightbox!

Debrief

After testing with multiple screen exposures over the last month, the results on the whole have been surprisingly good.  Target screen exposure time is being narrowed down, but for now I can tell it’s somewhere between 15-30 minutes per screen.  Additional modifications to the lightbox can cut down on this time, for example I used normal daylight temperature fluorescent bulbs, however unfiltered UV bulbs (which I couldn’t find) are able to significantly reduce time of exposure.  Shortening the distance between the lights and the surface of the box can also cut time, but you run the risk of uneven light ruining your screen if you get too close.

This being my first and only lightbox, I wasn’t sure how to mount a handle on the Lexan to make it easier to open.  For the time being, a folded over tab of painters tape is doing the job just fine.  I just didn’t want to waste any of the surface area of the box.

Many of the materials costs weren’t necessarily purchased at the cheapest available price only because I didn’t have much time to get them all together, nor did I have a shopping list ahead of time.  With some extra research and price shopping, you could probably build this same tool for under $50.

More pictures of the build can be seen here courtesy Kamil Krawczyk: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamil/sets/72157614035498638/

I am so pumped to have pulled this off successfully. The screen exposed nearly perfect, the resolution was good quality. I only wish more of my projects worked this well. You can get a full play-by-play of my adventure here: http://pumpingstationone.org/wiki//index.php?title=Screen_Printing_Workshop_first_test

Because that’s when everyone was getting in their lists and reflections just before the chime of the new year. However the subject of this post never even crossed my mind until just today. That’s the funny thing about synapses, their paths and goals are convoluted and dormant until they fire and a lucid thought just falls into place.

In that vein, I was talking recently about the Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster whose anniversary was the 28th. That conversation gradually evolved into other NASA tragedies such as Space Shuttle Columbia (February 1) and continued to spin out in many threads to general national tragedies. The catalyst that brought me to the realization I’m now at was a Twitter post by a friend of mine while in his U.S. History class at Columbia College.

“Am I really about to watch bowling for columbine in a American history class? What a fucking joke”

And a waterfall of thoughts follow - a true stream of conciousness.  The one that sticks with me though is the first one.  Is that really part of history?  And depending on your life’s travels and exploration into the human condition, the way this may be interpreted varies greatly.  But it’s not that I don’t classify it as a tragedy, it’s not that it was dwarfed by September 11th two years later - that which defines my generation, I don’t discredit it’s validity in any way.  Quite the opposite actually.

What struck me so about the realization that I came to was the honest dumbfoundedness that it happnened TEN years ago.  And what’s so poignant about it is that this was the event that I consider to be the one that lead me to an awakening.  For the first time ever I wasn’t a kid consumed by my own self-worth in a bubble that was deaf to the world around it.  When we heard about what happened that fateful day I knew that everyone in class including myself had to double-take and ask themselves if their classmates were going to put them in grave danger.  Control, in it’s theoretical form, had been zapped from my mind.  I no longer was the maker of my own destiny.  Every action had consequences.  I spent hours at a time thinking out scenarios and how my interaction would coalesce with the world around me.

Just as that revelation hit me ten years ago, here I sit today having another existential quandry that it has been THAT long that I have been ‘awake’.  That’s a long time for a working-class 24 year-old.

This is what you’re watching right now: