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How to Build a Softbox for a Construction Light

You can build a very powerful softbox by using a quartz-halogen construction light and a homemade reflector. Some softboxes have a flash unit attached in the center of a trapezoidally-shaped "dish" with a white cloth stretched over the front. Construction lights get very hot, so this design of front-lights in an open trapezoid keeps the light from touching the soft box construction material. This design yields the additional advantage of allowing the light to be moved at angles to the reflector for different effects.

Things You'll Need

Cardboard large-appliance box
30/60/45-degree drawing triangle
Mechanical pencil
Yard stick
Box cutter
White duct tape
18-inch long, 1/2-inch wide aluminum bar stock
1/2-inch wide steel L-bracket
Electric drill
5/32-inch drill bit for metal
3-inch fender washer with 1/8-inch hole
5 1-inch fender washers with 1/8-inch hole
3-inch long 1/8-inch bolt
Scratch awl
Box of nylon-insert lock nuts
Box of 1-inch long 1/8-inch Phillips-head bolts
Wrench set
White paint
Black paint
Wingnut to fit standard tripod mount

Instructions

- 1
  Mark two cardboard triangles 30 inches at the base, 45-degree angles at the tips of the base, and coming to a point at the top, using a drawing triangle, yard stick and mechanical pencil. Cut out both of them with a box cutter.
- 2
  Mark and cut two triangles with a 25-inch base and sides as long as the triangle. To mark, bisect each triangle at the base and draw a vertical line the length of the yard stick, then use the triangle to determine the side length from base tip to the vertical line.
- 3
  Tape all triangle sides together into an uneven-sided pyramid, using white duct tape. Tape inside and out. Insert the 3-inch bolt through the 3-inch fender washer. Punch a hole from inside the pyramid through its zenith and push the bolt through. Push a 1-inch washer over the bolt on the outside.
- 4
  Drill holes every 4 inches through the bar stock, starting 1/4-inch from one end. At the other end, lay the back of one leg of the L-bracket over the bar stock to mark holes matching the bracket.
- 5
  Insert the 3-inch bolt end through the bars stock and L-bracket hole closest to the bracket elbow and tighten them down over the 1-inch washer with a lock nut using the screwdriver and a suitable wrench. Bend the L-bracket so that the bar stock lies flat against a box side from the apex to the center of one base.
- 6
  Punch holes through the cardboard at the holes in the bar stock. Push small fender washers over 1-inch bolts. Push bolts through cardboard from the inside of the pyramid out and through the bar stock. Tighten lock nuts over each bolt.
- 7
  Spray paint the inside of the pyramid with white paint, and the outside with black paint. Fasten the other end of the L-bracket to the top of a tripod with the wingnut. Shine the worklight into the softbox from one end.

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