What you see here are photos of a light box built from the ideas in my sketches (below) that I posted at this website earlier. A man named Rich Eisenberg saw the drawings and started working on a version of this box. Richard runs the Bayfront Maritime Center in Erie Pennsylvania, and this facility  has a program for students, reaching out to at risk youth. They build boats. It is an amazing story.

More info here: http://www.bayfrontcenter.org/

When Rich started working on the light box, it turned into a class project. I made one change in the box, installing a different light fixture and an LED light bulb. The photo of the interior shows a temporary set up of the light fixture. The other photo is the box at my work table. It is great to be able to adjust the angle of the light box for the embossing work.

Rich drew a line through the front  right in the middle of the slot, and another one in the back board. It is a great way to include the idea of the cube shown in the drawings. – a way to check to make sure that you are not starting to lean  and get distorted feedback on your embossing… – as long as the two lines look like one line, you are centered…

Here are some sketches of the ultimate light box for embossing reeds. The idea here is to take a piece of plastic pipe, cut it into a half-round and then put on a flat top with a slot cut into it. You could then change the angle of the slot you look at when embossing. The slot would have a hair line above and below it that lines up with a cube that has cross hairs on it. the cross hairs line up when you have your eye centered.

Inside, you have an LED light bulb.

About the “cube”… This is plexiglas cube 1″ x 1”. I used a dial caliper to scrape cross hairs on it in the front and back, centered. Then I rubbed in black ink from a sharpie pen. It is centered above the slot that the light shines through. When you move your eye from side to side, the cross hairs tell you if you’re eye is centered. When your eye is centered The cross hairs line up and it looks like one line. When your eye is centered you see the slot more accurately.

Study the drawings to get the main idea. I am sorry – I tried to make the drawings bigger, but could not get the technical process to work with me…

Here is what I am thinking: If you want to take this idea and want to make this box, I will help you sell it. I just don’t have time to build this thing myself, but i think the idea is a winner. Plenty of people have asked me if I can make them a light box, so I know there is a market.

If you can improve on this concept, I am all for it. So – that is the contest – the winner (s) get to make some money by building light boxes for people who want to hot rod harmonicas.

Questions? – rrsleigh@gmail.com