Introduction: Tattooists / Artists Tracing Lightbox

By
About: Tattooist, artist,

This instructable will show you how to make a very inexpensive professional looking tattooists / artists lightbox used for tracing images and designs onto paper from recycled things and out of things you may be able to find around the home or in the back of the garage.
This is my first ever instructable so i hope it can be understood ok and be of some use to someone :)

Step 1: Equipment and Tools.....

For this instructable i used an old scanner that i had lying about in the garage, an old bedside lamp fitment, complete with wire and plug.
Flat headed screwdriver, 
Cross headed/phillips screwdriver,
A pair of pliers,
Large tie wraps,
Energy saving 40w bulb,
Scissors,
Clear sticky tape/Sellotape,
Piece of tracing paper,

Step 2:

First of all i used the cross headed screwdriver to unscrew the two screws holding the two halves of the scanner together (top and bottom) and carefully removed the top half taking care not to damage the casing or the glass surface.
 Once the top was removed i again used the cross headed screwdriver to remove the inner workings, the rail, the motor and the circuitry.
 I then removed the connectors and power unit using the pliers, from the metal panel that made up the side of the casing and put it aside for later use, leaving me with a totally empty scanner case.
.

Step 3:

I got some tie wraps and used two holes that were already made in the bottom of the casing, you could make your own, and threaded a tie wrap through that could be used to secure the light fitting in place.
Then i just mounted the light fitting and fastened the tie wraps.....the original holes are in an ok place as to give a good light coverage but you can make your own and place the bulb in a central position.
I trimmed the excess tie wrap off with the scissors.

Step 4:

I removed the plug from the lights wire with the flat headed screwdriver, and threaded it through the metal side casing......and re-fitted the plug.

Step 5:

The whole thing was put together for a test......it works!!!!!

Step 6:

To even the light surface i taped a piece of tracing paper to the underside of the glass.....perfect! then stuck a guitar tattoo sticker on for good measure and thats it, job done! now i can make my tattoo stencils quickly and easily without the added hassle of trying to find a decent enough light spot so i can see the design i want to trace :) 

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