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.
