I wasn't able to find my soldering iron to repair my tablet today, so I ended up spending time finishing this project I've been cooking up.

I've been wanting to try out more traditional art work, but I have this big issue of erasing and redrawing lines so much on paper that the entire image ends up getting spoiled. I've wanted to build myself a lightbox for the longest time to help deal with this problem, but I also wanted it to be integrated into whatever surface I'm using to avoid having more clutter in my room.

I found someone online selling this cool drafting table and finally saw my chance! It already had a window installed on the desk with a hollow recess underneath it, and I figured I could simply rig up some basic lighting with a light diffuser to soften and disperse the light from the bars. The final result ended up looking pretty dope, and the pictures really make the side lighting stand out more than it does in reality (It's pretty even across the panel). You can't really see it in this upload, but the bottom of the lightbox sits flush with the bottom of the table surface- I even backed it with some wooden hardboard to blend it in with the wooden underside :).

The top pic is with all the lights turned off, and the middle is with all the lights on. I included a toggle switch near the base of the panel to activate the lightbox, and you can kind of see it in the bottom picture (it's the little white box beneath the metal screw on the right side). I also tacked up the wires to keep things neat and out of the way and stuck a power bar on the underside to connect my devices to (the black box on the left in the bottom image is attached to it). I can even adjust table height without messing up the wiring!

Just thought it would be a neat thing to share with you guys. I'm going out to buy a new soldering iron tomorrow, and the stream WILL happen then.

I think the final cost for this project ended up being around 140-160$ which includes the cost of the table, tools used, gas, and materials. As for scale, I believe the lightbox window is 17" tall and around 13" wide- hopefully that helps give an idea how big this thing is XD.