Lithophane Lamp [NO "HIDDEN" PAPER!]

thingiverse

This is an academic write-up of my innovative Lithophane Lamp. Adjustments have been made to ensure it fits within a MakerBot build volume seamlessly. This is a captivating picture lamp, utilizing lithophanes in a unique way. Note: this does not use an actual hidden picture! It is a piece of plastic where the thicker spots absorb more light (black) and the thinner spots absorb less light (white), giving a striking photo effect. Lithophane source. How I Designed This The support structure was designed in FreeCAD with precision. It's a relatively simple yet effective support structure. If you decide to deviate from the process, you may want to redesign the support structure. Alternatively, adjusting the scale of the support in your slicer tool is another option. Project: Lithophane Lamp [NO "HIDDEN" PAPER!] Objective The overall objective is to design and print a lithophane lamp with WiFi connected device control. The sub-objectives are to understand the basics of image production, constructing a simple structure, utilizing a transistor, circuit basics, programming, and setting up a website. Audience This project is best suited for high school aged students who will benefit from it. While adolescent students can accomplish the steps, older students will absorb the concepts better and have a higher likelihood of successful deviation. Preparation While not required, having taken some or all of these courses would allow for successful deviation from the listed steps: Basic Circuits, Computer Science, Technical Drawing (CAD), Physics. Steps (Lithophane Lamp) (1) Use this website to make the lithophanes with ease. Note that you may need to use Chrome as IE sometimes fails. Adjustments: * Include Hole: No * Hole Diameter: Doesn't apply * Layer Height: 0.2 * Number of Layers: 20 Slicer: Height from 4.4mm to 3.2mm (Change the print height in your slicer and the x, y dimensions should be correct.) (2) Print your lithophanes and scale to 76 x 76 x 3.2 mm. (Change the print height in your slicer and the x, y dimensions should be correct.) Printing anywhere 0.1mm - 0.2mm is great with 100% infill. (3) I used ABS; the LEDs get the structure up to 50-60C. PLA will work by limiting the LED brightness if it gets much hotter. (4) If you normally use "ABS juice", use a glue stick this time. Cleaning the residual slurry off the flat side will be unsightly (as it is the outside part of the lithophane.) (5) Print the lithophane support structure at your standard settings with no support required. 100% infill is not required for these. (6) The LED tower is glued to the base with something strong such as J-B Weld. (7) Two versions can be constructed. A single level, or two levels. Just print the appropriate light holder STL. Steps (WiFi LED Driver - Not Required) Materials (for exact copy; substitutes would surely work): (1) LED Strip + its power supply (link above) (2) Particle Photon (3) D24V10F5 Voltage Regulator (4) 3 ZTX689B NPN BJTs (I highly recommend these transistors over TIP31s.) (5) 3 resistors ~330 ohms (driving this with 3.3V PWM signals from the Photon) (6) (Optional - Highly Recommended) Heatsinks for the BJTs (7) (Optional) Breadboard, Heat-shrink Tubing, Solder (8) (Optional) Web server for Photon to talk to (I'm using a BeagleBone Black.) (9) WiFi Device (Cell Phone, Computer, iPad, etc) There is a photo schematic for how to connect these components. The website's javascript and photon code are fairly straightforward. Here is my photon code and a JavaScript example. This will enable you to control the LED strip with your WiFi connected devices, such as your cell phone. Here is a demonstration. If you skipped these steps, you can control the LEDs with the included remote control. Results The final result should be a WiFi driven Lithophane Lamp which your friends will demand you reproduce for them!