Customisable Light Up Sign

I have always wanted a light box sign but have never got round to buying/building one. We recently moved house and while sorting out Christmas decorations, lights etc I came across two sets of battery lights that are now surplus to requirements and then inspiration struck as I realised I could use them along with a few other surplus bits to make a light sign for seasonal messages. Everything I used in the instructable I had at home so no cost was involved and it only took an hour to make.

Materials and Tools

You’ll need:
- wooden A4 stationary tray
-A4 laminating pouch
-A4 plain paper
-thick cardboard sheet bigger than the tray
-A4 clear document wallet
-sellotape
-wide foil tape (parcel tape/duct tape will also work)
-adhesive clips (tape etc will work as well)
-battery powered led light string x2
-scissors

Fitting the Lights

To give and even spread of light and stop them all moving to one end of the box when moved I used self adhesive clips that we had used to hang Christmas lights up last year. The tray already had a cut out in one of the short ends so I used this as cable entry point as the battery compartments would be outside allowing easy access to on/off switches and batteries for changing. As I was using two sets of lights I ran both cables together through the clips in an s shape pattern with a diagonal line in the middle to fill a dark spot I noticed while checking the output as I was fitting.

Making the Screen

Firstly I laminated a plain white A4 sheet to act as a diffuser for the sign.
I then cut out a hole in the sheet of thick cardboard fractionally smaller than A4
Placing the laminated sheet on the card making sure there are overlaps on all sides tape the sheet to the cardboard
It was at this point I realised that I should have taped the laminate to the other side as when placed on the box the logo was visible, rather than taking the tape off and risk ripping the card I decided I would use the foil tape to cover it. If using clear tape this would not be possible.

Fitting the Screen

Using two short strips of silver tape I taped one of the short ends to the cable access end, using it as a hinge I did final check of cable positions and then taped cables down as well as remaining three sides to stop any light escaping and ruining the effect.
To make the sign customisable I then took the clear document wallet (type you use for ring binders) and taped it on top of the screen along the two long edges making sure the tape was short of reaching the opening.
This allows you to print off messages and then slide them into the document wallet making into possible to use whatever message, image design you can think of.

And that’s it finished already to spread your messages far and wide