Lithophane System

Original Post March 14, 2020

Lithophanes are great! Take a picture, convert, print and that image now has a 3D effect to it. Lots of oohs and aahs.

I started out by using someone else’s design to display my lithophanes. In fact, I originally designed the base to be used with their design. After playing with and printing many lithophanes, I had a wish list of things I wanted to see in a display so I decided it was time for me to try my hand at designing my own.

Some of my wishes…

• First and foremost. I wanted more detail in my liths. So they needed to be thicker. After
  
  some trial and error, I settled on 4mm.
• Tough. They need to be durable.
• Easy to print and assemble.

There were many other things I designed in but ultimately I wanted to build a lithophane system. A system that gives you all the pieces to display your own lithophanes. Power, lighting, and help converting your images. I am trying to make it easy for everyone to print and display there own lithophanes.

Some of the components…

This is the LED board that is used for lighting. This version will have to be soldered but I’m currently working on a new design that will allow it to be assembled without being soldered.

Originally, I debated about 4 batteries but settled on 3. This battery pack will power the LED for many hours.

To help the battery pack to stay in the the opening, I glue in two 49mm pieces of this fastening tape to the side of the battery opening. It works pretty well.

In order to help you convert your images so they can be used, I wrote and included a cropping and converting guide.

In the end, I have printed and assembled many of these to make sure they were ready for prime time. I hope you like it and find it easy to use.

I only use Paramount filaments