A few months back I intimated that I was working on my own Lithophane display stand. I’ve gone through a few designs, but today I’m going to present the 2 main ones.
The face is blurred because I don’t have permission to post it.
The push-button switch is an interesting story. I tried to find some simply push-on push-off type push-button switches on Amazon but could only find momentary type, at least ones that would suit my purpose. So, I ordered some tiny push-on push-off and resigned myself to having to design & print a switch housing.
It may be a little overkill, but the LEDs do produce a little heat, so I decided to 1st stick the LEDs to the back wall of the light frame using the supplied 3M adhesive, then hot blue the edges down.
I also ordered a pack of female Micro USB connector boards to provide power to the LEDs.
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I decided it would look better to have the front face completely flat, at a slant of course.
To continue the power switch story, I looked again on Amazon for push-on push-off switches. That’s when I realized that the supplier actually used the same photo for both types of switches. That’s how I missed it the 1st time I searched; I thought the 2nd photo of the switches was just a 2nd reference to the same product. Now I know better. Anyway, I ordered a pack of the switches, which you can see mounted in the stand.
I also changed the way the lid of the base is held in place, by having it screw down from underneath.
I wasn’t completely happy with the fit of the top of Rev1, so I tried making it taller & reducing the main body of the frame shorter. I am not completely satisfied with this 1 either.
Future Developments: [LIST=1]
I want to try using printed registration pins to help align the lightbox to the base. I'm thinking of maybe using traffic cone shape pins. I would create pillars on the inside corners of the base and use the extra space to hold the pins. I will have to think about how I'm going to modify the lightbox to match. I may even try printing the whole thing at once, like I did with the hinges on the mouth guard containers.
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The registration pins would be located at the plane where the lightbox meets the base.
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Those switches look nice. I thought about battery power, but decided USB power would be a better fit for these displays. I even thought about a hybrid approach: battery and USB power, but decided I was getting too fancy.
