Bigger Boob Tube

Step 3 Preparing the Box

Grab the box that you sized up, and find a box cutter or some kind of knife. First thing to do is cut one end of the box off, real simple. Just make sure not to completely mangle the box. Minor tears are acceptable (lets have a round of applause for duct tape). Now is the tricky part. You must cut a square hole onto the side of the box you want the image to come out of. The cut must be in the correct spot or else you TV image is going to bounce off the mirror and miss the hole. I made my cut 5" from the top edge of the box. This lined up almost perfectly with the 13 X 13" mirror sitting at a 45 degree angle within the box. Don't worry I've included a rough diagram of what you are supposed to be getting at. Make the hole small to start with, you can always make it bigger easily but making it smaller if you cut too big is not so easy. So now you have one end of the box completely open, and one side with a small hole about 5" from the top edge of the box. Now you want to make a space to insert your mirror. Draw a line down both sides of the box at an angle of 45 degrees. You can measure this easily with a protractor... but if you don't have one handy you can take a piece of paper and fold it to make a triangle, carefully matching the edges up. Use this as a guide for drawing your 45 degree line. Now use your knife and cut along the lines you drew. Be sure that these two cuts line up with each other; if the mirror is tilted to one side your image will be distorted. After making the cut take some sandpaper and smooth the cuts over to the mirror will easily slide into place when the time comes. Your box is now ready.