New and Unique Type of Lithophane

[JJWMACHINECO]

A friend of mine showed me how to engrave a new and unique type of Lithophane using a laser diode and a mirror. It has opened up a variable goldmine type of gifts that I now can make with my CNC router. Thanks John!

The picture is laser engraved on the back of the mirror, so the image has to be flipped first before brought it into PVC. Mirrors are harder to burn then the wood that I usually engrave on, so I had to start my analog modulation voltage at 2V which is .0095" Z depth deeper then with the Birch plywood. I also had to use a slower feedrate. The screenshot is the PVC settings I used.

The first picture is the laser engraving lit from the back and the second picture is not back lit. What makes this process very unique is that the image is visible no matter if you light up the back or not. Making a Lithophane with translucent type plastics such as Corian, does not give you this same unique type of effect. My laser diode beam is is focused down to a .007" diameter burning spot which makes the detail allot sharper too. This compares to if I could have used a .007" tip 20 degree engraving bit in Corian. As you can see, Lithophane mirror engravings are not easy to take a picture of.

Jeff

[citrusguy]

Great job, Jeff,
Your work with laser diodes is inspiring. Thanks for sharing.
John

[JJWMACHINECO]

Thank you John,

Everyone, this is the Master of laser engraving mirrors that taught me this very unique Lithophane process.

Jeff

[RickCNC]

very nice

What size is the mirror and how long did it take to engrave / burn?

[Ms Wolffie]

So you are cutting the picture in the centre of the mirror and the rest has the usual mirror effect?
In your picture with the light it looks like you can see right through the complete mirror or is it a mirror picture of yourself taken from the front?
Cheers
Wolffie

[Ms Wolffie]

Looking at the picture again I think I just answered my own question.
Cheers
Wolffie

[JJWMACHINECO]

Thanks Rick,

The mirror is 12"X12" and it took approximately 3-1/2 hours to burn the image.

Wolffie,

Yea, that's me in the mirror taking the picture.

Jeff

[scribi]

Love the results!
Do I understand this correctly?
a) Flip the photo left to right
b) Bring the photo into PVC
c) Save the output file with the parameters shown in the PVC Screenshot
d) Engrave on the COATED (back) side of the mirror

How did you do the "engraving" with the laser?

I'm considering a "desktop" laser cutter. My original hope was that I could cut lithophanes in corian similar to what I do with my CNC Router. I sent samples of material and a couple of my not-so-good lithophanes to a vendor to see if they could make their machine do what I want. I got a call back saying they would have to have their graphic artist spend a couple of weeks working on the photo to even get close. Using PVC it takes only a few minutes to generate the G code. I was hoping to get something figured out so it wouldn't take hours to do the cutting. Maybe a laser cutter isn't a good solution for my "wants" after all?

[Xxray]

Ok I'll bite ,, Where does the "CNC router" come in play here ?

Might want to try lasers on plexi mirror if you haven't already done so. Has the major advantage of not being prone to shatter, probably others as well.

[jhop]

I really like the result! I have access to a laser engraver and have tried various projects on it. That laser doesn't require a G-code file though. It's more like sending a file to a printer. I am not an expert so maybe I can send G-Code to it, I just don't know how. I don't understand how you mounted a laser to your CNC router.

Jim

[JJWMACHINECO]

More info here.

http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?t=13405

And here.

http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php? ... 61&start=0

Jeff

[ssflyer]

Jim,

What kind of file is the laser expecting? Perhaps the Generic HPGL post processor might work? Just a shot in the dark...