lithophane

[menewfy]

yup you read right it took me three times to say it right.

that is what it is called when you take a pic and carve it into a clear or translucent plastic of some sort.

have a look at one I did last night

this is the first I have tried it is on 1/4 plexiglass clear witht he carving set at .100 depth and height at 75

the names and date are too deep at .063 so the next one will be around .02 just to try a difference I think it will show up very nice at that depth.

in the middle right over my face you will see discoloring and this was due to a burr on the bit as it turns out and instead of carving away it was scraping away. (I think)

my intention is to make a shadow box and perhaps have a back light. I am also going to carve the same pic in white lexan to see the difference.

when I looked at the other people who have done lithophanes I have seen almos black and white but with the clear it all frosted. I don't mind this look but It would be nice to see the difference in that as well.

I did absolutely nothing to the image except flip it horz so that it would carve on the back and the fromt would be smooth.

I had trouble getting the cw to measure this because it was either clear or too thin so I set it on a piece of pine at the end and let it go.

to keep it attached to the pine I used two small strips of rubber approx 1/8 thick to stop it from slidding around. no glue or anything else asside from the rollers.

let me know what ytou think of the idea and the pic.

don't worry about my feelings my buddy told me today that I was a skunk because of how it looked.

[3DPhotowright]

As I mentioned in a communique relative to ArtCam I also had a sample of a lithophane. Lithophane is nothing new. If I recall it's history it goes a long way back. The sample I had was of a milky white plastic with the portrait image of a woman. When held up to a light it did not glare. I guess the proper word would be translucent rather than transparent. I do not recall the type of plastic nor how it was produced except that the 3D company I represented at the time had a dozen or so samples to hand out to prospective individuals interested in 3D. I understand your depth setting.... what (and where and why) is the height setting? (75). I'm new to Designer and the machine.

[3DPhotowright]

Just for reference.... A few years back I copied a page from a miscelleanous catalog which had a 'lithophane product. It was an image of a sleeping woman. The carving was mounted on a bronze finished filigree pedestal Victorian picture frame 9.5hx4.75wx3.75d. The description stated... "...(the image) takes on new depth and richness as a translucent porcelain Lithophane." "Illuminated by an included 25 watt max. candelabra bulb." I realize that the CW machine cannot cut porcelain. But I thought this may provide ideas on what can be done in plastic and the Lithophne process.

[menewfy]

Thanks for the input and reply

the height is to the right of the depth when you are in designer.

basically if height is set at 100 which is the norm then the range from 0 to 256 shades of gray will be represented as normal this number can be increased or in the case decreased as you desire. the lower the number the less 3d the image will look and the higher the number the more 3d it will look.

because I was not going too deep I did not want too much of the image to be at the surface so I reduced the height and voila

thisnk about it this way if you will

if you carve an item onto a piece of pine that is an inch thick and you set the depth to be 3/4 of an inch you will be taking away alot of wood especially if the height is set at 100 but if you set it at 400 say then even though the background will be 3/4 of an inch deep the image will stnad off the background more.

give it a try in designer and you will see the difference, just try any image like I just described and then tilt it before you play with the height.
also make your depth .100 and see what happens to the image.

good luck

[leesheridan]

I'm getting ready to try my first picture on some 1/8" material in white. Which in our rual area I feel rather lucky to even find that. But I just wanted to confirm with you "menefy" that the height and depth should both be sat at 100 and .100 for best results is that correct? The pictures are of the grand daughters so I can't mess them up.
Thank-you, Mike

[Charles M]

Mike,

I'm not menewfy and I haven't done plastic carving yet but 0.100" depth is pretty deep for 1/8" (0.125") thick material and will leave only 0.025". In fact, a lot of what is sold as 1/8" is actually 3mm (0.118") which would leave only 0.018".

[leesheridan]

Which is true. But that is why I am looking for the answer. It dosen't leave much that final .025 thickness. And all I know about carving plastic is what this thread has had to offer. I realize I'm going to have to have a board under it.

[menewfy]

no I carved into 1/4 inch so I would def not do that deep on your thin stuff I would back it up to .06 and see how that looks maybe even .05 you can always try to take more away later hard to add any.

good luck

[Hawg_man]

Having carved about 6 pictures I have found that to pass the right light and look like a photo image I set the depth to leave .020-.030 and set the height to 750 for my best results on .125 thick white opague material......just my experience though.

Bob

[Bill]

Bob,
How about posting the pictures so we can see how they look. :)

[leesheridan]

Thanks guys. I'm going to try and do my first one tomorrow and I'll let you know how it turns out. But that's why I asked, I knew it wasn't going to leave much room for error. I can burn alot of bad wood signs but what do you do with alot of bad plastic?

[Hawg_man]

I only have a picture of the last one I did for my granddaughter's birthday which is today........just started taking pictures of my work for customers to see a range of what is possible with this machine. I posted this last week but forgot which thread so here it is. This was done in white Delrin about (.125 x 5" x7") and made the box for a night light in her room.

Bob

[Bill]

Thanks for posting the pictures, I see what your talking about that the light that it has to be just right... very nice.

[leesheridan]

I tried two diferent pics in the .125 material today at the .060 depth and 100 height, and I came away unsatisfied. Tomorrow I'll go for the .80 and
750. In the .125 material what type of material has had the best luck. I live in a county in Oregon that when I bought a small sheet of the white I bought almost one half of what was available in the county. So I know I'll have to either order it or travel 100 miles to get it. I just need your advise. One problem I did have untill I added tape to the top of the plastic were board errors.
Thank-you

[Hawg_man]

I tried two diferent pics in the .125 material today at the .060 depth and 100 height, and I came away unsatisfied. Tomorrow I'll go for the .80 and
750. In the .125 material what type of material has had the best luck. I live in a county in Oregon that when I bought a small sheet of the white I bought almost one half of what was available in the county. So I know I'll have to either order it or travel 100 miles to get it. I just need your advise. One problem I did have untill I added tape to the top of the plastic were board errors.
Thank-you

What do you see if you shine a light from behind? You should see a well defined photo like image. I would not leave any more than .040, so your depth should be at min .085 in .125 material and a minimun height of 400. I use White opague natural nylon type 6 or Delrin, you can get online at USPlastics type 6 sheet of 12" x 24" for $16. Your image won't look like a photo from the front but more like a crude carving they need to backlighted to see the desired result and a good grayscale image to start with.

Bob

[leesheridan]

Yes the pic was there and you can even see the pattern in her dress. But yes thats what I'm going to try today is the .085. I'm trying to get to were just putting it in a window and outside light will work. Is that to much for the material as far as not enough light? But other wise yes I will build a box. Think-you for your help.