Lithopane

[kaartman]

This is my first lithophane, I took this picture during a falcon hunting trip in Khazakhstan, cut it from 6mm thick solid surface material, 300mm x 210mm.used 60deg 12mm engraving bit, total cutting time was 15hrs, backlight is two 8W fluorescent tubes.

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[Gerald D]

Wow!

[sailfl]

Koning

Very nice work.

[domino11]

Koning,
I have seen Lithophanes before on other sites and your ranks up with the best ones I have seen.
Well Done! Let us know what software you used please.

[Castone]

Very nice Lithophane !!

[Kobus_Joubert]

And we thought you were just a pretty face. Well done...What is the Material that you used?

[Gerald D]

. . . . cut it from 6mm thick solid surface material . . . .


We have the brand name Corian (http://www2.dupont.com/Corian_Global_Landing/en_US/index.html) around here, not popular for kitchen counter tops yet, but already popular with medical labs.

[Alan_c]

Sorinno (http://www.surinno.co.za/) is another local option, but only in 12mm, from the PG Bison group.

[sailfl]

Corian and solid surface material have been and are still hot for most people for counter tops though marbel and granite are also hot but more expensive. It is easy to machine. Most homes have a solid surface counter top in them.

[kaartman]

Thank you for the nice feed back, i used this material Almond pearl, http://www.lghi-macs.com/LGHI-MACScolors.html it gave the carving a nice sepia look almost old school, not by choice but by luck, I used photo Vcarve from vectric, i was lucky with this picture, It was not needed to do anything in photo shop or corel. Solid surface is very popular here in the UAE, but to try and buy it----better luck with schedule drugs, every dealer will manufacture what you want, they all want me to give the design, i bought it on the BLACK market so to speak, now that i have showed the dealer what i do with it did he agree to sell me one sheet arctic white as they call it

[kaartman]

This is not a Lithophane but same effect, this is a well known 3dmodel posted on the internet, (thank you to the designer and the good Fella who posted it)
The material is extruded foam, http://www.arabianbusiness.com/504929-e-foam-helps-to-conserve-energy used here for insulation and construction, when I ran the rough cut with a 6mm end mill the finish was smooth, then I did the finishing path with a 6mm ball nose and a step over of 0.6mm, small groves are visible but the finish is that of velvet material—fluffy, nice to show , ill play with it to see if I can get it to look like a stone carving. I used Cut 3D from Vectric

[sailfl]

Nice effect.

[Greg J]

Koning,

Very nice work.

I've been wanting to do a lithopane back-lit with LED's for my next project. Your current work will be the impetus for myself. :)

[sailfl]

Before I had my MM, I had a guy with a shopbot cut me a litho and it turned out really well. I like the horses alot.

How long did it take to cut the horses?

[Kobus_Joubert]

Can one use opague perspex for this. Maybe also known as cast acrylic I think

[kaartman]

Hallo Nils

The horses took 4hrs to carve, not knowing the material, I used conservative settings, I have found that the foam lifts up as it gets thinner, effecting the depth of the cut, if you dont have a vacuum table then you will need to push the foam down as cutting progress, comments from our friends with the knowhow of cutting foam are certainly welcome, here is the screenshots of the two toolpaths settings I used. i will gladly send you the *.stl, zipped it is 15Mg
Kobus I did cut the falcon in Plexiglas before I got hold of solid surface, you will need to play with the backlight for the perfect effect, i used a xray light box when i took this picture, just holding it infront of a window also gives it the WOW factor, also the plexiglass tends to lift away from the table surface, word of advice... dont push the plexi down halfway during the cut, let it finish as is, otherwise you will have a definate line depth variation and you will need to start over again

[sailfl]

Koning,

Thanks for sharing the cutting information. Not into foam yet but I think after I see Sean cut some big pieces of foam I might change my mind. I have been going back through all the Aspire tutorials again. I have picked up some techniques I missed the first time. It has some cool features that I am going to start using.