lithophanes in PVC

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brw_racing
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lithophanes in PVC

Post by brw_racing »

I have been having good success carving litho's into thin wall Pvc Pipe. Not as expensive as corian and it does work very well.

I found 12 foot stick of thin wall pvc pipe for around $8.50 at the local hardware store and it carves nicely with cheap 20 degree pcb carving bits from ebay.
Here is a litho i made for my cousin a picture of her husband and daughters.
Image

I found a good deal on some small night lights from ebay also. They work great for backlighting because pvc does not conduct electricity i just cut two small slots on the back to stick the prongs of the light threw and they hold it in place nicely.

Ron

rej
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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by rej »

can you show the set up at your cnc for doing this?
this is very nice work.
thanks
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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by Mick Martin »

Very nice Ron, great contrast
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brw_racing
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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by brw_racing »

Its pritty simple. I plug the rotary table strait into the y axis and calibrate it as for steps per inch on the 3 inch diameter pipe. Here is a pic of the setup
Image

there are two wooden plugs that fit into the pvc. one for the rotary table and one for the bracket that holds it in place.

The only other things i get setup is with the software. I flip the picture horizontal and rotate it 90 degrees to the left and it comes out the same. also i set the cutting dept at .065 and material thickness at .075 20degree bit 4% line spacing.... something like that...
anyways the next one i try im going to spray paint the pvc tube black and let the carving reveal the white and see how that looks?

Ron

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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by metalworkz »

Hi Ron,
The night light turned out great! Thanks for posting your pictures and details.
Best regards,
Wes
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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by PaulRowntree »

Ron, that is very nice, and by the photo, every bit as attractive as Corian. The curvature makes it 'pop'. Could you please also post a photo of it without the light on?
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brw_racing
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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by brw_racing »

ok Here it is without the light I had painted it black after carving but found the painters tape hates sticking in the fine groves and i got some cleaning up to do now.... but it looks better in person
Image

Here is another using the same photo... the mill was running too fast and lost some steps in z and so it turned out to be a practice piece :-)Image

I really like the black border but i believe the next one will be painted first then milled out hopefully leaving much better results. But i guess this is what its all about.... learning by mistakes made

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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by Penman »

Hi Ron,

just wanted to add to the other comments that I have to agree, that has certainly come up very nice. Well done.

Cheers,
Roger.

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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by kilrabit »

What was the tip diameter of the bit that you used?




Roy

brw_racing
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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by brw_racing »

I made another litho last night and what i did is painted the pvc first. I used this black paint called fusion its the paint that chemically bonds to plastic about 10 minutes of drying time was all it needed and it did not chip out or anything.... the border looks great! I think that will be my new procedure from now on.
Image

This is the litho back lit
Image

The bit i am using is a pcb carving bit 20 degree .001 tip. The tip after a while wears down a bit but its still cutting fine. its more like a ball nose now i guess around 0.024? it still feels very sharp to the touch.

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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by MikeUSNRet »

Looks awesome!

And then you said you just cut 2 slits in the back for the prongs of a 4 watt night light to slip through from the inside?
STGC(SW/AW) M. Wenman USN Ret.
1982 - 2005

brw_racing
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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by brw_racing »

That's right the prongs hold it well and keeps the plastic away from the bulb. It's fast and works great

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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by PaulRowntree »

Ron, did you make or buy the 4th axis ? Do you have a write-up on it available?
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brw_racing
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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by brw_racing »

My 4th axis is a rotary table for a sherline mill. My mill is a taig and the 4 inch sherline rotary table fits it nicely. I think I saw one similar in the grizzly catalogue that was cnc ready? Some of your machines could even handle bigger ones too.

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Re: lithophanes in PVC

Post by kaartman »

Very Nice Litho`s Ron, do you Zero the bit in the middle of the material or at the surface?
K

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