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Rennie Heuer

Rennie Heuer

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Constantine, MI
I have a job coming up to build light boxes for stained glass windows - big windows. They are 30" wide and nearly 8' tall. I have a general idea on the construction and mounting, but I'm kind of stuck on the lighting method. Certainly LED is the choice for light source, but mounting then to insure an even light with no hot spots is the part I'm stuck on. Perimeter lighting with several rows of LED's with some form of light batting to defuse the light with a sheet of translucent acrylic backing up the glass is one method I found, but I can only find it applied to smaller, much smaller, windows. Lining the inside of the box with something very reflective like a foil is also common.

Does anyone have experience in this area? Any ideas on lighting or thoughts on where to go to learn more?
 
How deep are the boxes going to be?

Typically signage, like you see on store fronts has led lighting that is side mounted to wash over a white background (and sides), reflecting in all directions.
 
I subscribe to Sign Builder Illustrated, might look at some resources there for ideas....
www.signshop.com

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Have done a few light boxes with LED's. This was a church rennovation project where the client wanted the appearance of stained glass windows but not the liability of having to frequently replace those broken by hail storms and tornados. Frames inset into the interior walls were 1"x 4" pine put together with pocket screws, and were roughly 18" x 4' in size. The backs were the kind of roof sheathing covered with reflective foil from Lowe's. We used Flexfire tunable white LED's. After experimenting with frosted acrylic, frosted glass, and frosted sheets of various kinds as diffuser material, we ended up not using anything because we didn't like any of the results. We also experimented with running the LED's around the perimeter, which didn't provide an even wash of backlight, and finally found a pattern of lighting that seemed to work. The density of the LED's on the strip is very important in providing an even light source to avoid seeing individual LED's. If you poke around on the Flexfire site you can get an idea of what's available and some design ideas. Since then, my son-in-law has done several more projects of this type, but with much larger windows. IIRC he has switched to using LED panels for these larger boxes, something you might consider.
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Darren Wright said:
Can always call Grimco and chat with someone about your needs, they may have a product that they would suggest...

Grimco |

www.grimco.com www.grimco.com
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Ted Calver said:
Have done a few light boxes with LED's. This was a church rennovation project where the client wanted the appearance of stained glass windows but not the liability of having to frequently replace those broken by hail storms and tornados. Frames inset into the interior walls were 1"x 4" pine put together with pocket screws, and were roughly 18" x 4' in size. The backs were the kind of roof sheathing covered with reflective foil from Lowe's. We used Flexfire tunable white LED's. After experimenting with frosted acrylic, frosted glass, and frosted sheets of various kinds as diffuser material, we ended up not using anything because we didn't like any of the results. We also experimented with running the LED's around the perimeter, which didn't provide an even wash of backlight, and finally found a pattern of lighting that seemed to work. The density of the LED's on the strip is very important in providing an even light source to avoid seeing individual LED's. If you poke around on the Flexfire site you can get an idea of what's available and some design ideas. Since then, my son-in-law has done several more projects of this type, but with much larger windows. IIRC he has switched to using LED panels for these larger boxes, something you might consider.
Click to expand...
Thank you gentlemen! This is exactly the type of info I was hoping for. I had forgotten about the LED panels Ted, but I think you're right. Might be just what I need.
 
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