Workshop
Cold Cathode
I have been experimenting with cold cathode lighting for use with the Lithophanes. This is just a setup on the work bench. This looks like it will be a superb method of displaying these carvings. This picture layout is a bit crude but you can see all the parts. Two bulbs on the foil and the high voltage balast in the small shiney box (with ears). It is potted with black tar-like material. The systems is actually powered by a 12V DC “wall wart” power supply off camera.
Lithophane Making
Here is my latest creation. The carving is called a Lithophane. In the first picture you can see that it is a reverse relief carving. The darkest details are raised in the design The material is 1/4 inch thick Corian produced by DuPont. Its the stuff from which counter tops and wall covering is made. As it turns out, it is very easy to engrave.
The second picture is the same carving with back-light. As you can see, when illuminated from behind, it shows a very high detail gray scale photograph. You can even see the reflection in my glasses! The detail is outstanding.
In this example the photo area is about 4 x 5.75. Just the right size for the CnC Taig Micro-Mill. I don’t have a step-by-step example in my hobby web site yet, but I will soon. Probably this week end. I’ll post a link here.
What is hard to believe is all I used was two ball end mills to machine this picture. The first was a 1/8 inch mill for roughing out, followed by a 1/16 inch mill for the finish pass. That was almost 1000 lines. Total machining time was about 2.5 hours.
Update 4/20/08:
As promised, The Hobbyist Machine Shop has the lithophane making process in the web site. From the menu bar select “Projects” then select “Lithophane” from the drop down. Enjoy! ~ Dan’l
Machining in Wood
Want to see how this was made? Follow this link to my machine shop, click on “Sawdust” at the right end of the menu line and select “Vectric Cut3D” from the drop down menu. I made it myself today (Sunday).
Low Fire
I did some musing about producing commercial (hobby) model steam boiler kits. I posted some articles here in RD (Ramblin’ Dan) awhile back. I drew up some detailed sketches. I have literally and figuratively put that project on low fire for awhile. One reason is cost of copper has gone bonkers lately. Any small boiler is going to be expensive. I also haven’t found a reasonable priced set of roll forms to make custom size boiler shells. Hand forming is the slow alternative. “K” copper pipe is also expensive in larger sizes and limits to available pipe diameters. Lots of reasons but these are a few.
The idea and desire is not dead. The material cost will not decline. I just don’t see a reasonable market to gear up for this and I don’t have a personal project to show off the product. Looks like this will be an AR (after retirement) goal. ~ Dan’l
V-Carve Engraving
This is some more photo engraving work done with the VECTRIC software and the Taig Micro-Mill. The mill working area is only 5.5″ x 12″ but that is good for making these 5″x7″ engravings.
The first picture is Shopdog VAC “Bingo”. You can see he looks better here than in the top down view farther down the page. The second picture is daughter Shelley who sometimes makes comments here in the RamblinDan Blog.
These are fun to make and are unusual gifts. I figure a lot of folks may like to have their pet immortalized in this fashion.
The value is not the photographic quality but rather the highly unusual presentation. Shelley’s dog Belle is the next intended victim to be rendered in red oak. There’s a hint why she signs her comments as “ShelBelle72”
