Lithophane Lamp Frame — Optimized For Minimal Frame Thickness 3D Printer Model

Author: @
License: CC BY-NC-SA
File formats: stl,f3d
Download type: zip
Size:751.4KB

The file 'Lithophane Lamp Frame — Optimized For Minimal Frame Thickness 3D Printer Model' is (stl,f3d) file type, size is 751.4KB.

Summary

UPDATE LOG:
2018-12-25: Added spiral LED guides, raised the supports for the top pane, and expanded the holes in the lid for easier fit. Added improved renders.

A lithophane uses backlighting to shine through a sheet of plastic where thicker portions of the plastic appear darker and thinner portions of the plastic appear lighter. The resulting effect is a glowing, black-and-white (grayscale) photo that "pops-out" of the plastic. It's really beautiful!

This lithophane lamp arranges 5 images in a cube that sits on a table and illuminates all sides simultaneously. It was inspired by the good work of Mafo [https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1370792], I just had different design goals (as explained in the "How I Designed This" section, below).

A few notes:

  • This lamp accepts five 100 mm × 100 mm × 3 mm lithophanes. It is optimized for lithophanes that have a 3 mm bezel around the edge.
  • This lamp has a post in the center upon which you can spiral an LED strip for illumination. For best results in illuminating the top panel, a little bit of soldering is required.
  • Since this lamp is designed for LED strip lights, heat production is not a significant concern.

Needed supplies:

  • LED strip lights (I purchased mine for about USD$4 from ebay, though this was with 30-day shipping from China).
  • Power supply for LED strip lights (not all LED strips come with one; I had plenty of suitable ones lying around).
  • A few small scraps of thin-gauge wire (I think I used 20 awg).
  • Soldering iron and related supplies.
  • Five 100 mm × 100 mm × 3 mm lithophanes (instructions on how to produce these are provided in the Post-Printing section).
  • One small zip tie for strain relief of the power cable.

Please click/tap Like/I Made One to help other people find this model.

I put a lot of effort into these designs. Even a small tip is greatly appreciated!

https://youtu.be/r6nVYvqCGN8

Cube_Lamp_Base.stl 203.8KB
Cube_Lamp_Lid.stl 7.1KB
Lithophane_Cube_Lamp.f3d 720.9KB