How to Build an Animation Light Box

Written By
Joshua Dyson
Joshua Dyson
Published: Jan 24, 2011
Updated: Feb 23, 2021
1 minute read

Make cheap tracings and get away with it. Building your own animation light box saves money and can work just as well as a store-bought one. All it takes are some decent materials and basic construction knowledge. A simple animation light box can be made few materials. Put these items together and you get a decent, useful homemade animation light box.

Things You'll Need:

Things You Will Need

  • Hard Acrylic
  • Drill
  • Metal Pegs
  • 1 Sheet Of Plywood
  • Fluorescent Light
  • 4 Boards 1X 8 Inches In Size
  • Screws
  • Drill the four corners of the 1-by-8-inch pine boards together to form the box's structure. Use two screws in each corner. Attach a plywood backing on whichever side will be the bottom of the light box. Screw it to the structure. Drill a hole in the back around an inch wide. This will serve as the opening for the electrical cord.

    Find a fluorescent light small enough to fit inside the 8-inch length of the light box. Mount the light to the bottom inside the light box. Run screws through the plastic mounting holes in the base of the light.

    Cut out a piece of translucent acrylic that is equal to the size of the light box. Punch holes for registration pegs in this. Attach to the top of the light box.

    Joshua Dyson

    Joshua Dyson began writing professionally in 1997. He has been published in the "Palmetto Boys State Citizen" newspaper. Dyson holds a Bachelor of Fine Art in sequential art from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

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