Create a Lithophane

Rockler CNC Demonstration #9

Create a Lithophane

Aug 8, 2018

Materials Required

1. Photo VCarve Software
   1. I don’t think the Demo version allows creating tool paths
2. Your favorite photos or other clip art
   1. Sample Boy
   2. Today I will also use my pirate painting and our cat Kinja on the couch

1. One of these router bits
   1. 1/8 Ball Nose
   2. 1/16” or 1/32” Tapered Ball Nose (I used a 1/16” for the lithophane)
   3. 90 or 60 Degree V Bit (I used a 60 Degree for the engraving)
2. Acrylic sheet
   1. McMaster Carr sells 12” x 12” x3/16” pieces for $8.28
   2. Also sell 12” x 12” x 1/16”clear for $4.17 (to use as cover if building in to something)
3. You favorite wood or portion of your wood project

Photo VCarve – Making Lithophanes and Engraving on Wood

Once you start the program it will walk you through the following steps:

1. Step 1 – Open Image
   1. Click Load Image and select a file. (JPG, BMP, TIF, PNG, GIF)
   2. Discuss “Make color Transparent”
      1. Use “boy” from sample folder
         1. This file was cleaned up using something like Adobe Illustrator
         2. Show what happens if not cleaned up.
2. Step 2 – Set Material Size
   1. Width/Height as needed.
      1. Once file loaded enter either one and the other is automatically calculated
   2. Enter XY
   3. Enter Material Thickness
   4. Choose Inches or mm
   5. Hit “Apply”
3. Step 3 – Set Cutting Parameters ( most important, may require trial and error)
   1. Select tool and confirm feed rates
   2. Set “Carving Max Depth”
      1. For wood this most likely will be between 0.04” and 0.08”
      2. For lithophanes, I used material thickness minus 0.025”
   3. Set Line Spacing (may be somewhat tool dependent too)
      1. For wood this may range from 80 to 200 depending on overall size
         1. Show what happens
      2. For lithophanes more detail is needed so 15-40% based on tool
   4. Set line angle (I have not used “cross hatch”
      1. For wood 20-35 degrees
      2. Lithophanes 45 degrees
   5. Invert light / dark areas (explain)
      1. For wood do not check this box
      2. For Lithophanes check this box
   6. Adjust contrast
      1. For wood this is easy to see the results, keep trying until you like what you see
      2. For Lithophanes I found it a little harder to visualize so it may require some test cuts
   7. Hit “calculate” to see the results of changing the above numbers

The samples I brought in used the following parameters shown below:

1. Step 4 – Preview & Save Toolpath
   1. Here you can choose a material to help you visualize what it will looks like
   2. An estimated run time is given
      1. As in VCarve, it is not exact but relative to options chosen
      2. Select post processor and save file with a meaningful name

Questions?

Topics for next meeting?