Lithophane lamp

[roon4660]

I have decided that I want to make a lithophane lamp with these criteria. The lamp itself would hold lithophane flat panels perhaps 4 inches by 6 inches in a box if you wish with four lithophanes and the supporting structure but perhaps the lithophanes could be changeable and the lamp should be rotatable either by hand or with a slow motor. Perhaps the light and the rotation speed could be controlled and it would be working on batteries with no wires dangling everywhere to give maximum portability. My take-off idea inspiration came from this lamp on thingeeverse but it has many shortcomings in my opinion. I like his light idea and shall order some but it doesn't rotate and I am doubtful that it is very good at all. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1651800 . I think it would be a great present for nearly anybody because of it's ability to be so personalized. And perhaps with the help of this great community we could come up with a great design that I am not really capable of on my own. We will see.

[Ender5r]

My own feeling is that rectangular pillows are good for "flat sided" litho lamps. For the best viewing overall, I suspect circular lithos give the best results. I also think they offer the greatest potential in that it's possible to tell a story as the litho rotates. Also, if desired, part-circle lithos should be possible. The part circles could be separated by black vertical bars. If the bars are removable/relocatable, different sized part circles could be used, and they could be mixed and matched, as long as the total circumference of lithos & separators matches the lamp's base.

[roon4660]

That sounds interesting. A question of equal illumination throughout. I think I will start by ordering the lamps and printing this lamp just for a point of departure. I was not very impressed by any of the lamps on thingeeverse/ Round cylindrical lamps distort the images too much for my liking even though they would be the easiest.

[Ender5r]

One of the ideas for using cylindrical lamps is to get the lighting as even as possible across the litho. I think it is possible to get pretty even lighting with 4 or 6 sided lamps, but I suspect it would take multiple light sources for each side.

[roon4660]

I've got this version that I posted from Thingeeverse printing now and the lights and batteries should come tomorrow. We'll see how it does. It won't be hard to add a spindle underneath and just turn it manually when you want to see another lithophane. I think it will illuminate the four panes with one little lamp.

[Ender5r]

Looking forward to seeing the photos.

[roon4660]

I have to wait for the lights and finish printing everything but so far it's looking better than I expected.

[Ender5r]

The tricky part is the lithos themselves. It takes just the right photo and treatment to get an image truly suitable for making a lithophane.

[roon4660]

I've made a few of them. They're not too bad. My daughter and her husband like them and they are waiting for a baby in September so it will make a nice gift. It looks like there is no gluing so changing lithophanes will be easy.

[Ender5r]

I think you've seen the photo of the one I printed of John Lithgow, the so-called Lithgowphane.

Question: do you print them vertically or horizontally? I printed the Lithgowphane vertically.

[roon4660]

I've done both but decided vertical was best. I don't remember seeing your lithophane.

[Ender5r]

I did a search & just realized that I haven't posted a photo of the completed good version of the litho, especially not 1 viewing it as it's supposed to be viewed, so here it is:

[roon4660]

Who is John Lithgow? I just googled him and found out he was born a day after me. I never heard of him before as far as I know.

[Ender5r]

He's a pretty well known actor. He was in Mash for several years, as well as 3rd Rock From The Sun, and Dexter. He's done a bunch of other stuff but those are probably his most well known gigs.

[roon4660]

I lived off the grid in the Caribbean for thirteen years and haven;t watched TV since 1980. I don't watch many movies. Once a year I'll watch three in a row and then wait till next year. I try to watch them sometimes but I usually look for a documentary after ten minutes of holywood drivel.