For about 10 years I printed with the fluorescent fixtures I had inherited
from my son who had built a greenhouse in the cellar for illegal botany &
left them behind when he went away to college. These were plain hardware
store fixtures, singles, with an on-off switch and plug-in cord. I laid
them on the work table , about 4 as I recall, put in BL bulbs and stuck
wooden strips on either side with some metal "l"s nailed to each side to
keep them from falling over. The wooden sides extended about 1 1/2 inches
above the bulbs, and I rested a glass on them. I didn't have a
contact frame.
So I put negative down on the glass, paper over that, foam pad over that
and sheetrock over that, and gallon of water over that. It worked fine for
small sizes. When I began working larger than 8x10, contact was a problem.
But what was especially convenient was that nothing was nailed down or
together. True, it fell over a lot, but when I needed the space I could
pick the whole business up & stack it on a shelf. Also, when I needed a
light table, I changed the bulbs and laid on white plexi instead of glass.
However, Bill Laven has e-mailed me explanation of his system which
sounds a bit more "polished" (tho not too much). I'll take the liberty of
forwarding that to the list...
Judy