
Adjustable brightness button is too sensitive. Slightly brush the button and it can turn the unit off or change the brightness.(You can use painter’s tape as a substitute). A clip to hold paper still would be a nice addition to this model.

#Light table for tracing portable
#Light table for tracing plus
Choose from Same Day Delivery, Drive Up or Order Pickup plus free shipping on. I could have used one less LED strip now that I think about it. Shop Target for art desk tracing table you will love at great low prices. Super brightīut when you put paper on it it’s just right actually. Now I just plugged in the power source and it works. The screen is VERY bright without paper on it. Then I cut the polystyrene plate to size (basically I just shortened it) so it fit in to the wooden frame. I super glued the power plug in one of the 4 holes in the side panel of the frame. This way I can remove the panel any time I want and mess around with the guts of the box easier. You could also glue it but in case any of your LEDs die out the rest of the strip doesn’t work and you would have a hard time with fixing it. Then I screwed the bottom panel on to the frame.
#Light table for tracing how to
If you don’t know how to solder you don’t have to I just think it looks neater this way. Technically I could have just glued the entire strip uncut but then the strip would create folds in the curves and it would look like a mess. Then I soldered wires across the strip to reconnect it. Because this was a cheapo led strip it had no markings for polarity or direction the strip runs in so before I cut it up I made sure to mark the strip myself. I did this because I was afraid these cheapo LEDs would overheat easily but they don’t so… yeah… The box is about 5cm thick so it’s not really THAT big but it could have been smaller.

I made a wooden frame with a thin wood panel for the bottom. That put me at a grand total of about €15 or $17. I already had some spare wood and wire lying around so I didn’t have to worry about that. The ideal thing would be to use a milky white polystyrene plate because it diffuses the light but they are a bit more expensive (not by much though). You can use any number of materials for the top plate. I bought a clear 2mm thick polystyrene plate. A USB-powered light box with adjustable brightness, suitable for drawing, tracing, calligraphy and more. But make sure you adjust for your LEDs voltage and that you are sure that you know what you are doing. One way would be to use an old computer power supply or an old phone charger. But there are a couple of ways you can make your own power source for projects like this. It came with a power source and converter so I didn’t have to worry about the power source. Well I thought the same and decided to make my own light table from scratch. I bet you are thinking: “Why would I spend all that money on something so simple? It’s a table or a box with a PVC sheet and a light underneath.” Basically they range anywhere from $50 and even up to $600. But those things cost money, especially the high end ones like from Copic. It eliminates the use of rubber erasers and makes your work faster and more efficient. A light table is a handy tool to have if you are an illustrator.
