Matt writes – “Well, my wife recently asked me to build her a small light table for her to use to copy the paper patterns that she uses for quilting. I started to design one in my head, and then decided that if I just pull all of the guts out of the old scanner and replace them with a fluorescent light bulb (so as to not generate too much heat), I’d have light table. I also put a translucent piece of plastic under the glass top of the scanner bed to diffuse the light from the light bulb a bit.” – Link.
Matt’s blog has a few other interesting Maker projects (garden railroading, o-gauge railroading, home-built CNC machine, woodworking, PC and home electronics projects, etc) check’em out – Link.
12 thoughts on “Old scanner = light table”
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How about a sheet of that light diffuser stuff they use for fluorescent lighting in office buildings?
You can get varying degrees of diffusion sheets from theatrical lighting stores.
I’ve also seen light tables built out of old backlit beer signs.
Great idea. My wife just sets the desktop color to white on her computer and uses that. I’ve got a scanner or two in my basement not being used. Maybe I’ll try building one of these.
You can get the diffuser stuff right at home depot, with the related fixtures. They come in sheets that you can cut to fit. Its a little brittle however, so cut slowly and cleanly.
I was thinking about doing something just like this the other day ago.
Kudos for beating me to it.
Don’t (as in DO NOT) buy plastics at Home Depot. Lowes or other big stores. If you live near a big orange or blue store, chances are there’s a plastics distributor close by as well. Find the nearest plastics distributor where you can buy what you need sold at about $2 per pound for smaller stuff and $4 per pound for larger pieces.