Very first lithophane

Gallery for images of work cut using PhotoVCarve
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CZ75
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Very first lithophane

Post by CZ75 »

Lilly and Acorn.jpg
Fairly pleased with the results of this. size is 5x7, rough with an 1/8" ball nose and finished with a 1/32 tapered ball nose. Done from my wife's cutting board. About a 4 hour run.
I ordered some LED night lights from gofusing.com and candlestone sheets from the candlestone gift co.
Our granddaughter and her mini, Acorn.

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meflick
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Re: Very first lithophane

Post by meflick »

Look great. I hope to give lithopanes a try one day. Hope my first turns out as good as yours. Thanks for sharing.

GEdward
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Re: Very first lithophane

Post by GEdward »

Very nice for a first time endeavor. I am kind of impressed by how even the light distribution is from a singe diode on the night light. I would have never guessed that a single point of light could so evenly light that large a lithophane.

I used to do a rough and finish tool path but have since concluded that a rough pass is not necessary for 1/4 inch or .200 inch solid surface stock.

The detail is pretty good given the 1/16 tbn but I think you would be much impressed with the results you get with a .25 mm radius taper ball end mill. It takes a little more time of course, .03125 diameter vs .0197 diameter, but the detail is amazing.

Thanks for sharing.

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Xxray
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Re: Very first lithophane

Post by Xxray »

quality looks acceptable. Rough pass not necessary one these, finish bits can easily do the job themselves.
What line spacing you use ?
Doug

CZ75
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Re: Very first lithophane

Post by CZ75 »

GEdward wrote:Very nice for a first time endeavor. I am kind of impressed by how even the light distribution is from a singe diode on the night light. I would have never guessed that a single point of light could so evenly light that large a lithophane.

I used to do a rough and finish tool path but have since concluded that a rough pass is not necessary for 1/4 inch or .200 inch solid surface stock.

The detail is pretty good given the 1/16 tbn but I think you would be much impressed with the results you get with a .25 mm radius taper ball end mill. It takes a little more time of course, .03125 diameter vs .0197 diameter, but the detail is amazing.

Thanks for sharing.
Thank you
I don't have the night light kits yet. This was held up to a desk lamp. I do need to order some smaller bits. Any suggestions is always welcome.

CZ75
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Re: Very first lithophane

Post by CZ75 »

Xxray wrote:quality looks acceptable. Rough pass not necessary one these, finish bits can easily do the job themselves.
What line spacing you use ?
Thanks, I still consider myself very new to cnc machines only had this for a few months now. Having lots of fun with it.
The line spacing is @ 10% 2112 lines at .006 between lines and max cutting depth is .09, 80ipm 60 plunge rate. Any help or suggestions are always welcome.

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Xxray
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Re: Very first lithophane

Post by Xxray »

CZ75 wrote:
Xxray wrote:quality looks acceptable. Rough pass not necessary one these, finish bits can easily do the job themselves.
What line spacing you use ?
Thanks, I still consider myself very new to cnc machines only had this for a few months now. Having lots of fun with it.
The line spacing is @ 10% 2112 lines at .006 between lines and max cutting depth is .09, 80ipm 60 plunge rate. Any help or suggestions are always welcome.
Max cutting depth may be able to be increased depending on how thick the material is. If my material is .25 I will max cut .22 to get maximum light transmission. Cutting this close requires accurate Z measurement and perfectly level work surface. I also try to reduce any real bright whites in photo software ,,,, And if I still feel I didn't cut deep enough, I run it through a drum sander face down to get off as much material as possible.
Doug

CZ75
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Re: Very first lithophane

Post by CZ75 »

Xxray wrote:
CZ75 wrote:
Xxray wrote:quality looks acceptable. Rough pass not necessary one these, finish bits can easily do the job themselves.
What line spacing you use ?
Thanks, I still consider myself very new to cnc machines only had this for a few months now. Having lots of fun with it.
The line spacing is @ 10% 2112 lines at .006 between lines and max cutting depth is .09, 80ipm 60 plunge rate. Any help or suggestions are always welcome.
Max cutting depth may be able to be increased depending on how thick the material is. If my material is .25 I will max cut .22 to get maximum light transmission. Cutting this close requires accurate Z measurement and perfectly level work surface. I also try to reduce any real bright whites in photo software ,,,, And if I still feel I didn't cut deep enough, I run it through a drum sander face down to get off as much material as possible.
Wow, you cut to within .03 of the material thickness? I will try cutting deeper but not sure if I want to go that much. Thanks for your input, I will try...

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Xxray
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Re: Very first lithophane

Post by Xxray »

CZ75 wrote:
Xxray wrote:
CZ75 wrote:quality looks acceptable. Rough pass not necessary one these, finish bits can easily do the job themselves.
What line spacing you use ?
Thanks, I still consider myself very new to cnc machines only had this for a few months now. Having lots of fun with it.
The line spacing is @ 10% 2112 lines at .006 between lines and max cutting depth is .09, 80ipm 60 plunge rate. Any help or suggestions are always welcome.
Max cutting depth may be able to be increased depending on how thick the material is. If my material is .25 I will max cut .22 to get maximum light transmission. Cutting this close requires accurate Z measurement and perfectly level work surface. I also try to reduce any real bright whites in photo software ,,,, And if I still feel I didn't cut deep enough, I run it through a drum sander face down to get off as much material as possible.
Wow, you cut to within .03 of the material thickness? I will try cutting deeper but not sure if I want to go that much. Thanks for your input, I will try...[/quote]

Measure material with calipers, very often .25 is nominal and it will be more like .23.

Maximum material removal is critical with works like the one I did below around Christmas, but you do risk punching through if there are any errors in the process.
Attachments
IMG_3366.jpg
Doug

GEdward
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Re: Very first lithophane

Post by GEdward »

Xxray has a very good point in that you should always measure you material thickness before you start. Many distributors offer up material thickness as 1/4 "nominal" which is cover for an actual thickness of 6 mm which is cover for the fact that they are selling something with an off shore origin. Regardless, in the end you want your thinnest regions to be no more than .030 - .040 thick.

When using the Candlestone product I have never found any benefit to having the max depth set to more than .120. The carving max depth is what determines the contrast of the image and is not really intended to determine the final cut depth as it relates to lithophanes. To get to my desired .040 minimum thickness I subtract the max depth plus .040 from the material thickness and then set my Z zero below the material surface by that amount. As an example: Max depth .110 plus .040 thinnest region equals .150 and subtract that from .250 material thickness and thus set Z zero .100 below the surface. I set the rapid clearance gap at .125 to avoid any issue with crashing the bit on any rapid moves. The caveat is that the Z does a .125 up/down number at the end of each line which adds some time to the project.

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