Lithophane Garden Luminaries

thingiverse

These luminaries are perfect for any garden... so here's what I did... PHOTO: I chose a photo with a light background, heavy detailed or darker pictures won't work very well as solar lights are not very bright to begin with. I cropped my photo to 3:2 scale; if you choose something different, the sizing goes out of whack and the lights won't work. I used Microsoft Photo, but anything you're used to works - as long as it's crisp and clear. LITHOPHANE: I used itslitho.com... an amazing program. The photo shows all the settings; again, the ratio of the photo is important for these in order to fit the lamp. You don't need to make your photo black and white; the more detailed and clear it is, the better it will turn out! All my settings that I needed to change are highlighted in the photo. PRINT: I sliced everything in PrusaSlicer. This particular print took about 13 hours... but it's very light background. The longest print I've done is 17 hours. I used PETG so they can be in the sun as they're solar lights. I used my Prusa Mini, and I jotted down my settings on the second photo with the itslitho settings. The only thing to note with my mini was that my first layer I set the nozzle temperature at 240, and the rest to 245. This eliminated the usual globbing that seems to be characteristic of PETG. LAMP: Picture three: I got these through Amazon. I also got black ones at Princess Auto in Canada. The next four pictures are modifications I made to house this lamp. 1) I used my rotary tool to notch where the switch landed. This allows me to just twist the top to turn on and off instead of lifting it off. 2) I trimmed the included collar so as to keep the shadow down. 3) I trimmed off the attachment housings so that the lamp would sit flush to the top. ADDITIONAL PIECES I thank ToriLeighR for all her help in getting these pieces from my drawings to STLs... check out her Thingiverse page; she has done some really nice designs! She used Fusion 360. These are also printed in PETG. The reflector and tube screw together, allowing me to mount the luminary on either the wall mount (Base) or a dowel to stake into the garden. I covered the cone-shaped reflector with silver duct tape so the lights would be a bit brighter. The ID for the tube is listed on the picture. I printed the cone with brim and supports pointy side down, as it's easier to clean up than trying to clean out the screw grooves; the tube was printed skinny side down with just a brim, minimal cleaning needed for nut grooves. 15% fill. .15 layer height.