EZ question about lithos

[bizbiki]

Carved my first litho in 1/4 corian and had a great result, built my light box and insert a LCD lite. Not enough brightness. After looking at the packaing (which was torn to shreds, no hope of a return) saw that it was only 2.5 watts. What and where can I get a better light source that will not get hot (like halogen does).


Thanks;

[Kenm810]

If you do a quick search (there's that word again) on puck lights,
they come in Led or florescent that give off very little heat and last a long, long time. http://forum.carvewright.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

Ps. I like the Florescent myself, about $10.00 at Lowes

[bizbiki]

I left the house and headed to a local Lowes that is exactley the light source I bought. I also bought a halogen puck as I thought 9watts wouldnt be enough brightness, I hope it works. Will post later with results.


thanks again for your quick reply

[mtylerfl]

Halogen is likely to be waaay too hot to use safely.

Flourescent would probably be better.

[cnsranch]

I grabbed hold of a lighted halogen puck light at HD the other day to see how hot it was, and literally burnt my fingerprints off - that dude was HOTTT

I did find a 2' rope light there for $3.00 - I'm going to give it a try in a litho - imagine coiling the light inside the box - may work well.

[bizbiki]

The light reccommended by Ken did the trick. Thanks guy.

If I only knew how to post pictures on this site I would.

Anyone interested in giving a very basic tutorial on this (I do have a digital camera). I would need to have this explained like you would to a two year old.



thanks

[mtylerfl]

I grabbed hold of a lighted halogen puck light at HD the other day to see how hot it was, and literally burnt my fingerprints off - that dude was HOTTT

I did find a 2' rope light there for $3.00 - I'm going to give it a try in a litho - imagine coiling the light inside the box - may work well.

The rope lighting sounds like a great idea. I have had a special project in mind for over a year now that rope lights might be just the ticket for. Please let us know how it works out for you.

[HighTechOkie]

My first litho light box I created I used rope light. It works well and only required about 4" depth to light evenly. To get uniform lighting, I had to coil it pretty tight (2" bend radius) for it to completely light a 5x7 using a 3ft length. Talking with a couple rope light manufacturers, each informed me that a bend radius of less than 6" will greatly reduce the life (by as much as 1/10th rated life). That alone killed it for me as it would mean the customer would either need to send in the box to be restrung with lights once a section(18") goes out, I would have to send them the rope and they attempt to restring it themselves or I send out a replacement back panel with lights attached. The other aspect is getting a 3ft length premade was expensive and buying bulk rolls and assembling myself voids UL certification. Not real sure of the need/importance of UL certification, but in today's litigious society, I'd rather not risk it.

I've had good luck with fluorescent lights. I'm working on an led backlight to provide long life, low power, uniform coverage and less than 2" deep. I plan to have a prototype worked up this weekend to see how many leds are needed.

Rob

[dustyshp]

Here are some pictures of the lights that I use for my litho boxes.
Hope that it might help someone decide.
The fluorescent lights are from Lowes ($10.00)
The led lights are from Cosco ($18.00) you get 4 lights but only one cord with a switch but there are three jumper wires with the right ends so you can just add a plug.
I put the same light in both boxes to show the difference.
The lithos are carved on bone corian .13" deep.
The yellower light is the fluorescent light.
Hope this helps

[Kenm810]

Your Lithos look Great, Really nice job on the display light boxes too.
Thanks for the comparison Photos to help the folks see the difference in lighting.
I'm kinda partial toward the fluorescent lights myself. http://forum.carvewright.com/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif I like that Warm glow

[MetroGnome]

I have access to a lot of clear polycarbonate scraps (8"x10", 5"x7" and 3"x5") there are the cut-out scraps from the guards for one of our machines. Is clear polycarbonate useful for lithophanes?