[Gaffboat]

I got the style of this frame from a recent Kreg newsletter. I didn’t construct mine the same way (mine’s smaller and doesn’t use pocket screws) but the look is basically the same. It is made out cypress and stained with mahogany gel stain.

The 5” x 7” light panel came from Evergraphs. The owner is an accomplished lithophane artist in her own right and provides exceptional customer service. She also has some nifty little attachments for making lithophane night lights which are on my Christmas To Do list.

This lithophane was cut out of 1/4” Corian. If you have a cnc and haven’t tried a lithophane yet, you should. I used Vectric’s PhotoVCarve to create the cutting files.

 

[Stick486]

excellent Oliver...

 

[Semipro]

+1 on the excellent Oliver

 

[honesttjohn]

+2

How difficult is PhotoVcarve to work with??

 

[Gaffboat]

Working with PhotoVCarve

+2

How difficult is PhotoVcarve to work with??

PhotoVCarve is a pretty simple 4 step process. First you import your photo. In step 2 you set the material size you want, the XY origin, material thickness, and units (mm or inches). Step 3 sets the cutting parameters: bit, max depth of cut, line spacing, line angle, gives you the option to invert light / dark areas (for lithophanes) and calculate which gives you a preview. In the final Step 4 you can preview in various materials, see estimated machining time and save your tool paths.

The tool paths are then imported as vectors into VCarve, VCarve Pro, or Aspire so you can position them on larger pieces of material. I found some great guidelines for lithophane production on Vectic's Forum that I used for my carving. I'll be happy to send them to you.

 

[Shop guy]

+3

 

[honesttjohn]

I should be able to find them ......... maybe.

Thanx

 

[hawkeye10]

Oliver you guys with the CNC machines are coming up with more and more ways of turning out some excellent work.

 

[old55]

What they all said Oliver.

 

[TenGees]

Very nice, looks like a hologram. The frame has clean and simple but effective lines.

 

[Herb Stoops]

I like it, Oliver, nice job, you are really getting with the program on the CNC work. Keep it up.

Herb