IDEA 170 - Introduction to Mechanical Design and Engineering
Lithophane
Manipulating material thickness to create images using light
LITHOphane Body (3d print)
CAD Modeling - SolidWorks
For this project, we first completed all of the SolidWorks drawings to send to the CNC mill for routing (though for consistency and time efficiency, a previously constructed file was already pre uploaded onto the mill).
Image Mapping
Next, we designed our own lithophane cylinder, which we 3D mapped an image onto for the laser printer. When dark, the cylinder did not show much, But by 3D printing thicker or thinner lines, once light shone through the piece our mapped image magically appeared.
Skills
This is the image I chose to map onto my lithophane. The high contrast between the white snow-covered field and the dark, solid figures on top of it as well as the building behind made it easier to distinguish shapes and resulted in a higher quality print, versus an image with little contrast where the image might not develop as clearly.
Lighting System
The final element of this project was the actual lighting element, which involved a resistor, capacitor, an LED, and a copper cladded plate. These materials needed to be organized in a way that allowed electricity to run through the LED, hence providing the necessary light for the lamp. To connect all these pieces we used a method called soldering, which involves melting thin metal wires. These connections are conductive, because they’re made of metal, and allow energy to pass through from part to part.
The wooden lid this system sits in was cut using a CNC mill, which takes information from a digital rendering to make precise cuts into a material. The mill takes multiple passes over a material to cut deeper into the shape. In order for the system to sit flush, we had to cut both sides of the material, which involved carefully aligning the wood on the CNC mill bed to make sure the drill bit cut exactly where we wanted it to (it can only cut one side at a time).
Once all the elements were accounted for, we turned in our projects for a week long test to ensure the wiring was correct and the LED would not cause a fire. Since the wood and 3D printed material (PLA) are not connected, I made two interchangeable lithophane cylinders, one of an image from my iPhone, and one from a drawing I made on Adobe Illustrator.