I don't own a lightbox, and because we're now super poor and there are no shops locally that stock them anyway, I thought I'd have a stab at building one, to aid me in perfecting my illustrations (no Mum, tracing your own work isn't cheating!)
After finding a broken picture frame and a broken lamp in a cupboard here, I hunted for some lengths of wood to create the sides, nailed the picture frame to them, and used the back of the frame as the base of my new unit, which I covered in tin foil to reflect the heat upwards away from the desk. The whole thing was bolted together using cheap brackets and bolts from the hardware shop, although if you're any good at woodwork, you could build something without these.
I used electrical tape to affix the broken lamp guts to the foiled base, and popped in a 25w bulb (it only sits a couple of inches from the glass, so it needs to be dim to stop the whole thing getting too hot / cracking the glass / catching fire / melting your fingers.
I also bought an on/off switch for a couple of quid, to ensure ease of on/off-ness, and finally, I taped some tracing paper to the back of the glass, to defuse the light, and dropped it into the upturned frame (from where it originally came).
It's hardly stylish, if not a little dangerous with an inquisitive toddler always at hand, but it works as well as a £100 studio light box, and given it cost me less than a tenner, I'm very please with it!
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