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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2015 4:34:20 GMT -8
And the result....  |
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Post by soccerjoe on Aug 4, 2015 8:50:09 GMT -8
Thanks to all for the replies to this thread and the other thread on this subject. A few questions remain: * does it matter (or which is preferred) to have the smooth side facing out or the carved side facing out? * I just got my corian and one side is real smooth and the other side is not as smooth/polished. * does it matter what side I carve on? * I'm thinking of carving on the not so smooth side since most or all of that will be carved
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2015 10:17:06 GMT -8
For me I would carve the design into the rough side, so that the smoother side would be out. The magic of the lithopane is you don't see anything until it is backlit.
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Post by soccerjoe on Sept 5, 2015 22:44:41 GMT -8
I finished my first lithopane. I made it from 1/4" white dorian. When I have the smooth side out, the picture doesn't show good at all when lighted from the back. When I have the carved side out, the picture shows very well when lighted from the back. Any thoughts as to what's causing this?
I forgot to mention. I used CorelDraw for a horizontal flip and Inverted in iPicture. I did NOT convert the picture from color to black-n-white or grayscale. Would that cause the issue?
I'm also considering buying cast acrylic from Rockler (10 sheets at $69.99) if that works better.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 17:40:14 GMT -8
My first thought is that the corian is too opaque a material in white, and that if your cut wasn't deep enough then enough light can't get through to highlight the picture as you intended. I have not personally done a lot of lithopanes yet but I'd think cast acrylic might work a lot better because you can purchase different colors that are more transparent. Ebay has pretty good prices on some of this stuff, you just have to search harder to find them.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2015 7:40:20 GMT -8
Need some advice on litho's. I carved my first one yesterday, pictures below. Essentially I have a 1/2 x 8 x 12 piece of clear cast acrylic that I carved into, at a depth of .11. The top half of the picture came out pretty well, but I didn't adjust for the dark pants/etc and when inverted for carving the machine took them as white and didn't carve anything. Some questions I have before buying more acrylic, which isn't that cheap: 1. I didn't put a white border around the picture. Do you think that would have helped 2. I have noticed that most posted litho pictures are not done on clear acrylic. Is that for a specific reason that I'm not aware of? 3. What is the normal thickness of the acrylic used, is 1/2 too thick? 4. What is the normal depth (z dimension) that you've had good luck with. 5. I grayscaled and flipped horizontally the picture before invert carving it. If I had left it as a color photo would the pants have come out better?  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2015 10:45:32 GMT -8
Clear acryllic is best used to make signs and such which would be "edge" lit which makes the carved areas pick up more light than the non carved areas. Only thing I have used is white or bone colored corian. Whether you use corian or cast white acryllic, they show the detail by being backlit. The area in yours where you say it did not carve anything at all would be fine in the white stuff, the carves show light coming thru as lighter in the deepest areas and darker in the highest areas. All of the corian I have ordered was 1/4 inch thick, I would think 1/2 inch would be too thick because it would require a much brighter light behind it to show the details. For depth , 3 mm depth should be enough in the 1/4 inch material.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2015 12:51:54 GMT -8
Thanks Bob. The only corian I've used to date is 1/2" thick global white, it carves like wood and gives a really cool marble like appearance. I never thought corian would be transparent enough to allow light through it, but I guess 1/4 inch might be thin enough....just having a tough time envisioning it. Buying 1/4" thick will be a whole lot cheaper than the 1/2" though.  |
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Post by mroliver on Nov 5, 2015 14:28:52 GMT -8
  ERE ARE SOME I MADE SORRY ONE YOU CANT SEE WILL |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2015 18:22:50 GMT -8
Bob, in trying to salvage something out of this carving I did above, what do you think of the idea of very lightly sanding the back of the piece in order to scratch up the parts that did not carve? I'm thinking that it might make it a little more opaque, and stand out better. I'm going to end up tossing it anyway so maybe I'll go ahead and try that.
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Post by newbie on Nov 5, 2015 20:45:09 GMT -8
Carve it all at .11 and a light sanding and you still have more than 1/4 inch for the next try.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 16:22:00 GMT -8
I know a long time ago we discussed buying backlights already designed for this application. Are you guys relying on the sun for your lighting, or have you designed/bought something that would be preferable?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2015 7:06:31 GMT -8
I understand now the sidelighting on clear acrylic, the enclosed picture is the same piece as above that I didn't care for......I took some fine grit sandpaper on my orbital sander and lightly went over the piece to rough up the parts that hadn't been sanded. The results were better than expected, and when set into a sideways position to the sun beaming in through my office skylight I get a fairly decent result. My technique obviously needs work, but my first piece wasn't a total loss I guess.  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2015 14:42:07 GMT -8
Since this was my first shot at litho's, and since a 8 x 10 x 1/2 piece of cast acrylic isn't cheap, I decided to take this whole project to it's conclusion to see if it was salvageable. So I scuffed the picture as you can see above, which took away the clear spots on the pants and gave them something to reflect light. Next I bought a cheap LED power supply and a string of lights, then built a u-shaped holder that would allow me to change this litho any time that I choose. Mounted the LED strip inside the holder along the bottom, and got a result that I'm reasonably happy with for a first effort. Still need to finish the wood and wiring for a final product.  |
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Post by alexnc on Dec 22, 2015 15:11:25 GMT -8
Since this was my first shot at litho's, and since a 8 x 10 x 1/2 piece of cast acrylic isn't cheap, I decided to take this whole project to it's conclusion to see if it was salvageable. So I scuffed the picture as you can see above, which took away the clear spots on the pants and gave them something to reflect light. Next I bought a cheap LED power supply and a string of lights, then built a u-shaped holder that would allow me to change this litho any time that I choose. Mounted the LED strip inside the holder along the bottom, and got a result that I'm reasonably happy with for a first effort. Still need to finish the wood and wiring for a final product. The light really makes it pop! Looks really nice. I'm going to have to give that a try. I'm not sure where you are located, but I get all my cast acrylic and HDPE from Norva Plastics (www.norvaplastics.com) in VA. He's on ebay too ( www.ebay.com/usr/hman16), but you can probably get a better price contacting him outside of ebay due to the ebay fees. Tell Howard that Alex Kelly sent you. He offers decent prices all kinds of machinable materials. |
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