Lithophanes on the 3d Printer

Well, gave this one more try and these things shake the dickens out of the printer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF-UQEQC65E

I'll be drawing up some supports for the upper frame area, there's one guy that posted some, but only posted his gcode and they didn't work so well when I tried printing them.

The shaking this time caused my Y belt to skip a notch. I have since updated it with the new frame braces, tensioners, and some fiberglass re-enforced 6mm, Gt2 belts. Luckily it was on what appears to be the first layer with any detail, so it's not noticeable except on the top and bottom edges where things show they are shifted from that point on.

This was a pic of my parents when they were dating, planning to send it to my dad for his birthday.
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Last night I ran a couple of more lithophanes, re-did the one of my son and his wife. It's the best one yet, but there are several light spots, where light is shining through brighter. I think this may be due to the glue stick that I've been using on the bed and those are spots where it is clumped up. Tonight I'm printing some using glass with hair spray on it. I tried just glass, but wasn't getting good adhesion.

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These are starting to look really really good Darren.

Personally I think some of the small flaws add a lot of character and wouldn't strive to hard to completely eradicate them.

I can see some lamps in the future! And maybe a jewelry box or two with a back lit lid ;) Just in case you were running low on projects :D
 
These are starting to look really really good Darren.

Personally I think some of the small flaws add a lot of character and wouldn't strive to hard to completely eradicate them.

I can see some lamps in the future! And maybe a jewelry box or two with a back lit lid ;) Just in case you were running low on projects :D

Already got some led strips and night light kits on order. ;)
 
I found that if I make the minimum layers a little thicker I wasn't seeing the light spots. I also started adding a border to the panes. Here is the first curved one.

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I also included a night light clip on the back of this one.
 
I ran one more today, but got a skipped step about half way up on my Y axis. I tightened the belt after I saw it, even though it felt tight enough, but may have been a hang on the filament too that caused it.
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Forget the night light, how about a nice wooden lamp and shade design with place to set the curved panels in and make a multi panel lamp of the whole family.

Says i that cannot do Cad design. Lol

The potential is just mind blowing.
 
Might be a good time to think about mounting a spool holder that doesn't hang up....

True, I've been holding out until I build an enclosure for the printer. I was planning to mount the spools above it at that point, but may have to do a temp
orary setup

Forget the night light, how about a nice wooden lamp and shade design with place to set the curved panels in and make a multi panel lamp of the whole family.

Says i that cannot do Cad design. Lol

The potential is just mind blowing.

I've got some idears for something like that, had thought about doing a arts/crafts style lamp shade and replacing some of the mica with lithophanes or doing the shades panels entirely off it.
 
Just a few updates. I think I've worked out the issue with skipped steps, which seemed to be due to an over-tightened belt. So lately I've been finding other ways to display these.

First is using suction cup hooks. I got a package of 6 for $1 at Menards the other day, ended up going back and buying a few more packs.
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Next up is a votive stand I designed.
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Gives off just enough light in the dark
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And lastly, some decorative binder clip stands. ;)
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Been a while since I posted any of these, but the quality of them is so much better on the AM8 aluminum frame than the original frame. There is a noticeable difference in the smoothness of the layers over the old frame.

Of course my wife has caught on to them and started requesting them for just about every bridal and baby shower, wedding, and birthday since it requires her doing little shopping. :rolleyes: I just ordered another 40 light night bases to have on hand they've been going so quickly. I've also started getting requests to make them to sell, so need to figure out what a fair price would be and what formats I should make them available in.

This is one I did Friday for my nephews fiancee's bridal shower. They take about 5 hours to print.
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