hobby
New Page About HB2
I just published some new ramblings about the HB2 project. Check out HB2-Stepping Up in the “Special Articles” sidebar.
~ Dan’l
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).
Small But Mighty
If you read the special Article I wrote called Funding HB2 you know I am struggling with the cost of building a large first class CNC router, especially the long term consequences of a large investment. Like many hobbyist, I become very zealous in studying all the details before I leap. Actually that is a worthy trait for the hobbyist that has if nothing else, a lot of time.
What I decided is HB2 is not a machine for business. I discuss that option in the other article. HB1 is definitely too small for the work I want to attempt such as 3D Lithophanes. So is the Taig, but the Taig does provide a 5.5″x12″ working area. I can dabble there. My vision for HB2 has focused in on a working area between 18″x18″ and 24″x24″. Standard quarter and half sheet engraving material can be purchased in 12″x24″ and 24″x24″ sizes. That makes 18″x24″ sound real good as a target size.
That smaller footprint can help provide a very stable platform because of the shorter spans at a reasonable cost for materials. Also that sizes HB2 components so they can be machined on my existing machine shop tools.
The shorter spans reduce the need for high speed rapids and put the controls back into the realm of stepper motors. The best part is I think for me, that it can be built out-of-pocket with no long term finance or pressure to get return on investment. Hmm… a hobby perhaps?