First Lithophane with PhotoVCarve

Post by **dman** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:13 pm

Image below was cut into corian 1/8 inch thick 4inches wide 5 inches high. .047 ball end cutter. Cut speed was 50 ipm. Took about 1 hr to finish. Very impressive. Picture of litho not back lit did not come out so well but the others show how good it is.

Post by **Phil** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:42 pm

Very good, I want to try a lithopane but I'm having trouble finding a source for Corain. Where did you get yours?

Post by **dman** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:03 am

I got the corian from ebay. Sink cutouts! The stuff I got was 1/2" thick so I cut it into 4.5"strips and then split the thickness down to 1/8" on my table saw. I had to stay with 4.5" strips because that's the max I can split them on the saw. The picture looks even better live. The picture of the litho doesn't really show how good it is. This PhotoVCarve software is great.

Post by **dman** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:36 am

Second Litho carving...

Post by **dman** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 6:04 pm

4x6 lithophane with a completed light box. Light seems very nice and even throughout the picture. I am happy with this attempt. Just painted the inside of the box white. The depth of the box is 3"

Post by **dman** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:53 pm

First attempt with cast acrylic...4x6 with the same lightbox as above. Cut very clean and easy. Material is 1/8" thick and I only cut to a depth of .08. I think I should have gone to .1 and it would have come out brighter.

Post by **dighsx** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:56 pm

What colour was the cast acrylic you used. I've got some coloured laying around but it's pretty dark. Wasn't sure if it would work or not.

Post by **dman** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:50 pm

The acrylic is white. I have some light beige also and am going to try it also. I'll post the results.

Post by **drodda** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:42 pm

what type of light are you using to backlight the box? Size and type and watts?

Post by **dman** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:29 am

I am just using a push in light socket with a nightlight bulb (4watts). The picture size is only a 4"x6" and the light seems to work out very well (no hotspots and even and very little heat). I would think a 5"x7" picture would work well with this setup also. I haven't tried it yet but I will soon. I did use a 7.5 watt bulb also but it seems to give more of a hotspot effect in the center. Also of note, the bulb I am using is clear not a frosted white.For some reason when I tried a normal white bulb I get more of a hotspot also. Hope this helps.

Post by **drodda** » Tue May 02, 2006 8:38 pm

I got my first Lithophane cut last weekend. It turned out better than expected. I managed to get it cut out and did not even break a bit. Thanks for all the great information and tips. I am currently experimenting with the backlighting. The litho that I cut was a 16" x 13" oval in corian. I figured why start out small? If I am going to waste a perfectly good piece of corian then I might as well waste all of it? I have many ideas for lighting this, but am currently waiting shipping of supplies to get this on the test bench. Will let you know how it goes?

Has anyone else messed with this large of a lithophane and the backlighting? I am just trying to get a good starting point on depth of box and all.

Post by **dman** » Tue May 02, 2006 10:26 pm

Let me know how it comes out. Show us some pics too. I am always interested in learning new/better ways. Corian cuts pretty well. The cast acrylic does a very good job also.

Post by **drodda** » Fri May 12, 2006 6:19 am

I posted pictures of the Lithophane in a new thread. Once again thanks for the help.

Dave Rodda

Post by **maldak** » Wed May 24, 2006 3:19 pm

Hi dman,

I have access to Avonite which seems to be the same as Corian. It is 1/8th inch also. I use ArtCam and am looking to buy VCarve as it does things ArtCam doesn't.

I tried lithophanes with the Avonite - 3"x4" as these were the samples I had. I had to route down to
.03" to make a lithophane appear OK - but the material got quite thin. I have seen many people use .250"
material and leave a .03" base - then make the Z height about .1". What is the Z height that you use? Are yours quite thin also when you're done?

I just downloaded the trial version of PhotoVCarve and will give it a try soon also.

Thanks

Tom

Post by **dman** » Wed May 24, 2006 4:07 pm

Tom,
On my lithophanes, I use a cut depth of .08" or .1" - (white areas will be cut to this depth). Yes the white areas are quite thin when finished but the black areas are .125"or close to it. I think it has to be this thin in the white areas to allow the light to pass through and showup bright white. PhotoVcarve is very easy to setup for the lithophanes using 1/8" material or any other thickness. It is a very user friendly. After you play around with it for a while you'll like it very much I believe. Let me know if I can help anytime. Below is another example of a litho I did. Picture on the left is the original black and white scanned picture and the one to the right is the litho in the lightbox. I need to get a better digital camera as the litho comes out much brighter and with more contrast than it appears in the photos.

Damian