PC box light trap

So I was just putting together my PC brow box and discovered that the light leak from the outlet fan was a big deal. I didn't find any solutions I liked online as most were made of cardboard, but the basic principal was this



It took me lots of daydreaming, but I finally came up with this (based on the above concept). It's basically the containers you get your food in. It will work, as long as there is a gap in the container floor when they stack. Unfortunately, coloured ones are rare. They are nearly all transparent, which makes the job much harder. I had to use a lot of duct tape, which is not very light proof. I should have bought some metallic tape for this instead, but the duct tape was at hand.

I've only used 3 containers here because that's what I had. Perhaps 4 would have been ideal though. Note, the green wire is a failsafe, as this will be directly above my lights (which are side mounted).

For some reason, the light-trap concept image didn't come out so here is another one.

Pretty smart, I like this design. Keep us posted on if you encounter any leakage issues, I might make one myself.

Rick C-137 said:

Pretty smart, I like this design. Keep us posted on if you encounter any leakage issues, I might make one myself.

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Thanks Doc

3 layers of tape and i can still see it shine tru

spraypaint em first next time?

For all of my light traps I use Black Chalkboard paint by Rustoleum, absolutely no reflection from it, works much better than matte or flat black.

Good idea and use of everyday items Hen. Def agree with Huffn & Igmar on painting them instead of using duct tape. One thing you could also do since this appears to be used as an exhaust is to make this into a carbon filter/light trap. Use plastic canvas to cover the two ends of the stack or just the inner deep dish and fill with active carbon. The carbon along with the black paint will help with light leaks while also scrubbing. Down sides of course would be loss of air flow and some heat build up depending on how restricted the air flow is with the canvas and carbon. Also depending on what you are using the pc for, changing out the carbon every so often. Just some more food for thought.

IgmarBudman said:

For all of my light traps I use Black Chalkboard paint by Rustoleum, absolutely no reflection from it, works much better than matte or flat black.

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Oh wow, you can actually use this to make chalk boards out of anything!

Dr 4 four said:

Good idea and use of everyday items Hen. Def agree with Huffn & Igmar on painting them instead of using duct tape. One thing you could also do since this appears to be used as an exhaust is to make this into a carbon filter/light trap. Use plastic canvas to cover the two ends of the stack or just the inner deep dish and fill with active carbon. The carbon along with the black paint will help with light leaks while also scrubbing. Down sides of course would be loss of air flow and some heat build up depending on how restricted the air flow is with the canvas and carbon. Also depending on what you are using the pc for, changing out the carbon every so often. Just some more food for thought.

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I have the exhaust next to an outlet vent in the apartment so no need to worry about smell (I hope )