Walmart Material?

[James RS]

Hopefully somebody might know this, I thought I saw someone using a cutting board from walmart for lithopane work. I did a search and didn't find it any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim

[Kenm810]

This is the only cutting board I've seen used
From Lowes I believe. by JTL
Lithophane of a Gainsborough (http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?t=8514&highlight=lithopane)

[James RS]

Thanks Ken,
That's the one, now I'm going to make an appointment with the eye doctor tomorrow.


Thank You,
Jim

[Kenm810]

I went to Lowes a week or so ago and picked up a couple of the larger size,
but still haven't found anything suitable to carve on them yet.
I read a few post about being careful when do carve it, long spirals of material can get wound up on the carving bit
or melt into beads that could get caught in the "Y" or "Z" drive belts and gears.
Probably best to keep an eye on it while it's carving, just to be on the safe side.

[atauer]

Ken,

How about carving the jesus PNG that LG posted earlier today.

http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?t=9336&page=2

[JLT]

I've done 5 lithos with the Lowes cutting board, and all have turned out great.

There is an "operating envelope", which involves frequent cleanings during the carve. Long strips of shavings do form, probably due to micro melting of the individual shavings that accumulate. Additionally, a good cleaning of the machine afterwards is required, but then again, that's standard practice.

All 5 lithos I did involved flooring the edges of the image to a depth of .185", and although it cut the channels out cleanly, I would not recommend a massive amount of deep cuts in the image due to the nature of material.

Someone else observed that the waste from the cut melted when trimming it down on the table saw. Anyone familar with cutting plexiglass on the table saw will understand how it reacts. Despite this, I trimmed up all 5 of my lithos on the table saw, and sanded the edges smooth for a good clean, presentable edge.

With respect to other cutting boards, I actually stumbled into the Lowes brand first on a lark, and tried 3 or 4 other brands, most notably from Walmart, but did not find any with the translucent qualities of that from Lowes.


Based on other's experiences, if I could get hold of a good supply of 0.25" bone corian in a minimum size of 12" x 18" (same ratio as a 4x6 photo), I wouldn't even bother with the Lowes cutting board, and the extra attention is requires. As it is though...

Jon

[Kenm810]

Hi Alex,

That graphic is one of the Stations of the Cross,
I carved it a few months ago in white Corian when I first saw it.
I'll photo and post it after I build a light box for it.


Jon,

Thanks for the additional info on your Beautiful Lithos,
I keep it in mind when I start carving my cutting boards
I've seen one or two photos I might like to try.

[JLT]

Ken,

Nice choices for future attempts, but as you've probably already surmised, my taste tends towards the classical! Nice thing about paintings, too, is that seem to require less preparation work than an actual photo...

No problem concerning the additional information. Just trying to be fair about the pros and cons of the material.

My next "lithophane" attempt will be this weekend, actually inspired by Rocky's posting a week or so ago when he did a carving involving a walnut veneer on poplar. I have a box full of marquetry veneer that's been sitting around for a while, and got to thinking why stop at two layers?!

So I culled through the scraps, and glued up a stack of veneers from the lightest colored wood on top to the darkest on the bottom, for a total of about 0.2" thick of material. It might turn out to be a mess after the carve, but am curious enough to give it a try. Not too sure about the long term survival of the result either, as the wood movement of a single layer of veneer is touble enough to deal with...

Jon