When you order one of Blue River Digital’s “RigidLyte” series lightboxes, you’re getting a model that boasts upgraded dimensional stability (hence the name “Rigid…”), plus it’s relatively economical, for the reason that only one of the 4 edges is hinged for interior access, instead of all 4 edges. In addition, since on the RigidLyte series, the front edges of your lightbox do not also have to serve as access points, this enables us to engineer the edges to a narrower width as viewed from the front, resulting in a less-bulky, sleeker overall appearance.

Which edge? But with the RigidLyte series lightboxes, since only one side flips open (for access to change the graphics or the lamps), that raises the question of, which side should be the flip-edge side — left, right, top or bottom? As you can imagine, there are pros and cons to each…

Is my lightbox tall or wide? To determine the most practical loading edge for your particular lightbox project, first take note of the size and orientation of your lightboxes. The reason for this is because if your lightbox is going to be both portrait orientation (tall) and if the size is relatively large, such as 5 ft. or taller, then there may be challenges with choosing a left-or-right-side oriented flip edge.

How do I close the flip-edge? The issue with a side (left or right) loading edge for taller lightboxes, is that there is a slight trade-off in stability because that vertical groove has to hold both the clear and white lens stationary over several feet of length, and also be able to open and close smoothly. At this height, the lenses tend to want to sag a bit under their own weight, so when you’re trying to close the side flip edge, you may have to finagle with the lenses to get the flip edge to close properly. To assist with this, some customers tape the 2 lenses together, or use a suction cup to pull the lenses straight while closing the flip edge.

What do other people do? In spite of the extra babysitting that the vertical flip edge requires, it still seems most customers choose a side-loading (instead of top) because either they have more clearance at the install site for the lenses to slide out sideways, and/or it’s just easier to reach the side than the top. For taller lightboxes, our recommendation is TOP-loading, because you get the strongest frame this way, and you don’t have the edge-closing challenges. But of course with top-loading, you need several feet of vertical clearance, plus you may need a ladder, unless —

If these units are being wall-mounted using our provided Z-rail, 2 strong people can lift the lightbox off the bracket (no tools), set it on the floor and access the top-load edge. This approach is entirely reasonable, provided you don’t plan on changing the graphics on a high-frequency basis.

What about bottom-loading? Occasionally, a customer will prefer a bottom-loading flip edge, especially if there’s not sufficient clearance on any of the other sides, such as for overhead-mounted backlit menu boards. For bottom-loading, we provide extra screws to hold the flip edge closed against the weight of the lenses. Also keep in mind that this option is not the safest, because the lenses could fall out during loading or unloading.

What other options are there? Another alternative to avoid the lens sagging issue stated above, is to switch to one of our front-loading snap frame designs such as SnapLyte Premium, but (a) this model is a higher investment due to the extra mechanisms for opening; and (b) they don’t have quite as clean (minimalist) of a look, largely because the frame width as viewed from front is much wider, plus the frame edges have a slight radius to them, as compared to the 90º edges on the RigidLyte.

Lenses are too tight. We received and installed our new lightboxes, which are side-loading design. Then when we tried to slide the clear and/or white lenses (aka “plexi”, plexiglas or acrylic) out to install graphics, we found that the lenses were overly snug in the groove, and difficult to remove. How can we remedy this?

Quick fix. Try applying a small amount of silicone lubricant using a cotton swab, to the edges of the acrylic just prior to installation. You can be a bit more generous with the lubricant on the bottom edge than the top, since there’s not a gravity issue; however, some lubricants may wick upward between lens and graphic if applied excessively, so use discretion.

Could this have been a fabrication defect? During fabrication, our technicians pre-insert the lens(es) into your new lightboxes. Usually the size is perfect because we already know what size to cut the lenses for your size of lightbox. But if when we pre-insert the lenses, we find that they are overly tight, we remove them and shave the edges to fit. Lenses are always pre-installed when shipped, so this precludes an overlooked lens that could otherwise have been cut too large.

Then why don’t the lenses fit now that we’ve received the lightboxes? Often during third-party installations, an installer will anchor the frames to the wall in such a way as to introduce a slight amount of torque or warpage to the frame. All our Performer and Premium frames are aircraft-grade extruded aluminum and the corners are reinforced, but over distance (especially for larger display sizes) it’s easy to accumulate just enough dimensional variance to impede the insertion of lenses, just by being slightly off-square.

Any other solutions? If the above lubrication remedy isn’t sufficient, here are some alternate ideas:

1. RE-MOUNT. You can re-anchor the lightbox to the wall, being careful not to introduce any torque on the frame. This will only work if the snug fit was not caused by the frame being permanently bent the first time it was installed.

2. GRIND THE EDGES. Ask a handyman to grind one or more edges of the acrylic down to fit, using a fine-tooth file or grit wheel. Before he begins grinding, he should pressure-apply some wide masking tape to both faces of the acrylic, adjacent to the grinding area, to minimize chipping.

3. RE-CUT. Or, you can remove the lenses, take them to any local plastics distributor or fabricator, and ask them to cut the edges off as needed. Be careful not to over-cut to the point that the lens edge is visible after it’s installed.

Customers often ask, which type of backlit film will yield the best black color? Or, they often ask in terms of, how black is Duratrans?

First, allow me to clarify Blue River Digital’s definition of “Duratrans”. To many, the term “duratrans” refers to any backlit graphic film that can be imaged with color artwork. This is partially accurate, and may be useful in lay conversation.

For purposes of the question about blacks, I would like to clarify that when a customer orders Duratrans backlit film on our website www.blueriverdigital.com, they’re getting a photographic film that is optically exposed (laser) and chemically developed, similar to old-school photographic film. Some of the advantages of this process include improved color saturation and resolution, over the competing “inkjet” (non-photographic) process, which we also offer as “Economy Inkjet”.

As a chemically-developed film, when you image part of a Duratrans as black, the film is fully emulsified at the black point (for those in photography, the black point has a very high D-max in the 3.7 range). The emulsion simply blocks any light that would pass through. The result is a black similar to a gloss automotive paint, in depth and richness. Mathematically, there is still a bit of light that makes it through even the emulsion, but Duratrans is the process of choice for all high-end commercial and fine art backlit graphics, because of the superior contrast and saturation. Black-accented artwork on Duratrans is very striking and appealing because of this.

To my knowledge there is actually only one, hand-crafted process commercially available for backlit graphics that can compete with Duratrans for black opacity, and it’s got other limitations, not the least of which is price. If you have a very large backlit image to produce and you need the world’s absolute best, solid black in large coverage areas, please call us at 800-706-4276 and ask for Dave Cole, to discuss the hand-crafted super-opacity backlit alternative.

As for the Economy Inkjet backlit product, it is inferior to Duratrans when it comes to blacks for the simple reason that black ink is not fully opaque, as is the emulsion coating on a Duratrans. The properties of ink that require it to be viscous and transmissive work against the opacity vector to result in a somewhat-compromised blackness with all backlit inkjet films (regardless of what the fabricator may say), noticeable mostly in solid black areas, especially if they’re large.

Hopefully this will help with the decision process for you, in evaluating backlit film alternatives.

Backlit poster frames such as the EdgeLyte Econo T5™ lightbox from Blue River Digital Inc., can turn heads and help your message cut through the noise and clutter in your shopping center or retail space.

EdgeLyte-series lightboxes are built to deliver years of maintenance-free performance, but it’s often handy to know the ins and outs of an appliance that’s helping broadcast your message, so you can keep it in tip-top shape. Here are our quick tips on taking the best care of your EdgeLyte Econo T5 backlit lightboxes:

CLEANING – This almost goes without saying, but be careful to use non-abrasive products, since the clear lens is plastic. In terms of visual appeal at close range, lint and dust are enemies of lightboxes, especially in front of the part of your graphic artwork which is solid black or very dark. A good way to minimize lint contaminants between your graphic film and the clear lens is to give a quick burst or two with a can of compressed air just before assembly.
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Earlier this week, a customer came to me with a very narrow set of requirements: He wanted very large backlit display lightboxes, with excellent brightness and diffusion properties, but with a very narrow frame width, as viewed from the front.

Here’s how I presented his options, in my email response:

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