Light boxes

Rennie Heuer

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Eight years ago (yes, I do procrastinate sometimes) I headed up the building committee for the expansion of my church's chapel and education wing. We had stained glass windows that were in the front doors, but the doors were shot and we could not find replacements that would fit the glass. So, ever the generous and unthinking man that I am, I volunteered to build light boxes for the windows so they could be mounted on the wall in the lobby.

This week I decided it was time.:rofl:

So, pulling some white oak I had salvaged from some used pews we purchased for the expansion (poetic, right?) I made a quick mitered frame to hold the glass, a diffuser panel, and a melamine back panel onto which I would mount a 20' rope light. The lines (if you can see them in the picture) show the path the rope will follow. I'm hoping the addition of the diffuser panel (cut from a 2x4 fluorescent ceiling lamp panel) will help disguise the individual bulbs. The rope will be mounted using the little clips that came with them attached to the panel with double sided tape. I tried crazy glue, but it would not stick.:huh:

More pictures to follow!
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Nicely done. Hard to out do your generosity! :thumb:

Is there a reason you did not mount the lights on the Melamine? When I looked at your cross section it seemed there would be plenty of room.

Just wondering....

Now you will have to install wall outlets high enough to plug these lovelies into. See, no good deed goes unpunished. :rofl:
 
OK. Ditch the double sided tape idea.:bang: Not enough holding power to overcome the rope not wanting to follow tight corners.

Any other ideas before I go out and buy about 100 3/8" machine screws and nuts?:dunno::huh:
 
Those are going to be beautiful. I think the plan sounds like it should work more than well. Waiting to see them lit up Rennie! (I hope it isn't another 8 years before we see those pictures! :eek:) :rofl::rofl::thumb:
 
Nicely done. Hard to out do your generosity! :thumb:

Is there a reason you did not mount the lights on the Melamine? When I looked at your cross section it seemed there would be plenty of room.

Just wondering....

Now you will have to install wall outlets high enough to plug these lovelies into. See, no good deed goes unpunished. :rofl:
The lights will be attached to the melamine, just don't know how yet - see my second post on this. These will mount over a plant shelf that I (cleverly) had several outlets installed in a few years ago. I may be a procrastinator, but I'm a heck of a planner!:rofl:
 
#6 sheet metal screws? Might look like a porcupine from the back, but that will be agains the wall correct? Just need a spacer so the wall doesn't get scratched up.
Possibility. I'll be mounting french cleats at the top with an equal depth spacer at the bottom so the box will 'float' away from the wall so clearance should not be a problem.
 
Otherwise, drill holes wherever the clips need to go, haven't seen these things in a while and can't remember their official name, but they usually were made of brass and you used them to hold paper together. They had a round head and like a post from the back, the head was larger than the holes in paper, and then the post was actually two pieces and you bent them down in opposite directions. This might be a safer.
 
Could you use the cable ties that split to wrap around the rope and have a hole on one side for the screw?

I'll see if I can find a pic, but they are pretty common.
 
They have tie wraps with holes. I am not sure where they come from but I knew a small telephone business that used tehm. They would be ideal as the size can be pulled down real small.

Garry

And the Light boxes look great!
 
The diffuser does not disguise the individual bulbs as much as I had hoped for, but overall I like the effect. Thanks for the help! The zip ties worked fine.
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