QA

Quick Answer: How To Make Curved Lithopane For 3D Printing

Can you print a Lithophane flat?

​The first option for your 3d printer setup is to print your Lithophane laying flat on the bed, with the textured side of the image facing up or print your Lithophane vertically. ​As each layer is printed it the filament is “squished” into the print bed.

How thick should a Lithophane be?

The first one is “MODEL” and it allows us to adjust the size and resolution of the lithophane. I recommend you start with a Maximum Size of 150 mm, a thickness of 3 mm, and 0 for the border. “Thinnest Layer” allows us to choose the smaller width of the image.

Is Fusion 360 free?

How long is Fusion 360 free for hobbyists or for personal use? Fusion 360 for personal use is free for 3-years for qualifying non-commercial users. A hobbyist user must generate less than $1,000 USD in annual revenue, using Fusion 360 for home-based, non-commercial design, manufacturing, and fabrication projects.

Should I print lithophane flat or vertical?

Layer heights should be as small as possible to avoid visible vertical bands, and the lithophane should be printed in a vertical orientation, to avoid the print sagging due to a lack of support. Infill is best set to 100%.

Do Lithophanes have to be white?

Lithophanes don’t have to be white but light passes through white filament a lot better, so it produces higher quality lithophanes. It’s definitely possible to 3D print lithophanes in different colors, but they don’t work as great as white lithophanes.

Can you print Lithophanes horizontally?

The first method of printing the lithophane horizontal to the Z-axis is the most common method. Although there are many great benefits to using this method, the quality of the finished 3D printed lithophane can be lower than expected.

What is the best way to print lithophane?

Print slowly (40mm/s) with small layer height (perhaps 0.1mm) inside of an enclosure and use your best adhesion control. Print at the same temperatures at which you normally print your filament. Print framed lithophanes so that their long dimension goes in the same direction that your bed moves.

What is the fastest way to print Lithophanes?

If you’re going to print your lithophane vertically, it’s best to set the layer height as low as possible. Since we want all the details, it’s better if you don’t print at high speed. Try to keep it lower than 2000 mm/min. Setting the infill to 100% will let the light do its trick better.

Should lithophane be positive or negative?

If you want a lithophane, then set the Positive or Negative Image? value to Negative. If you want the dark parts of your photo to recede and be darkened by shadow, then select Positive. The Lithophane Resolution is the distance (in mm) between unique thicknesses on your final lithophane surface.

How do you print lithophane Prusaslicer?

RE: How to print a Lithophane ? In Prusa Slicer click Printer Settings tab and then on the right side Advanced. You will see the advanced menu on the left side where you can see the option speed. From there you can tweak your and lower it.

What is lithophane resolution?

The lithophane resolution is the distance between pixels in the printed lithophane, so a value of 0.3 mm/pixel means that each unique lithophane thickness is 0.3mm apart in the x and y dimensions. The overhang angle determines what becomes your overhang angle when you print the lithophane vertically.

What is lithophane filament?

Lithophanes work by letting light pass through the 3D printed model and create shadows that show your original image. Darker areas print with more density, and lighter areas have less density to let more light through. So the best filament for lithophanes is any kind of white PLA with a decent dimensional accuracy.

Can you paint Lithophanes?

For those particularly artistically gifted you can go through the process of either painting the inside or outside with paint. This will block some of the light but traditional lithophanes were often painted and the results look gorgeous.

Is Fusion 360 a CAD software?

Fusion 360 is free cloud-based 3D CAD, CAM, CAE and PCB software for qualifying students as a 1-year subscription.

Is Fusion 360 worth learning?

Modeling with Fusion 360 is easy, simple, fast, and powerful enough for most design projects, so it is worth pursuing. Fusion 360 has many standard features of a professional CAD program. If you want to learn simple, free, yet powerful CAD software, Fusion 360 is the right choice.

Why is Fusion 360 so cheap?

* It is still quite expensive for a hobby software. And that’s a market that autodesk targets with fusion 360. CAD products are usually niche but fusion 360 is one of the few that hopes to sell in large quantities. That is why it can be cheaper.

Do I need supports for lithophane?

Supports. Normally you don’t want to use supports with a lithophane as it can automatically place supports in the lithophane which will screw up the lithophane. But for some lithophane shapes supports are needed, such as for the circular, christmas star and heart shapes.

How many walls does lithophane have?

Walls/Shells: 8(or more if you are making a particularly thick lithophane) to allow mostly walls, the infill will take care of the rest(frames etc). Bed Temperature: First layer should be 60c for PLA, then 55c for the 2nd followed by 50c for the remainder of the print.

What material is used for Lithophane?

Avonite is a material with translucency properties similar to Corian and gives good results when used for lithophanes. Plexiglas or Acrylic (white translucent) can also be used and although cheaper and more widely available, these materials are often more difficult to machine.