Creating Your Own Lithophane Lamp With Your Own Picture

I am a huge fan of everything glowing. And as I saw that some other people made very beautiful lamps I also decided to make one. After designing all parts in MatterControl, printing them out and wiring everything I was so impressed of this lamp. Now I created this short Instructables for you to make this lamp with your 3d printer at home. So let's get started...

Step 1: Downloading the Files and Printing Them Out

Before we can start, you have to download the project files from the link below or from this website: https://elkos-prints.de/download-lithophanie-leuchte/. Unzip the folder and open the files with the .stl-ending in a 3d slicer your choice. I prefer Cura, which is free to use and very handy. But you can also use other programs like Simplify3d, PrusaSlicer, Sli3er or others.

Next we need to design the lampshade. Go to the website http://3dp.rocks/lithophane/ and upload a picture of your choice. Switch to "model" and take "Outer curve". In the "Model settings" you should change the last point "Curve" to 360. With the other settings you have to play around. It depends on your picture, so there are many different options. After downloading the file from the site you should open it in the slicer. In Cura you see the mearurements of the lampshade in the bottom left corner. This should be about 99.5×99.5x195mm to fit perfectly on the other parts of the lamp.

After slicing all parts, it's time to print. For the socket I used wood filament, which give the lamp a beautiful rough touch. The other part was printed with standard white PLA. Take your time, because if you print to fast, you will fail with this complex shapes. Print with 50mm/s or slower. The printing took me about 48 hours for all parts.

After this step you should have four 3d printed parts. Now we are ready for building up the electronics.

Lithophanie_Lampe_Elkos&Prints.zip
Download

Step 2: Wiring the Lamp

To make the lamp light up, we only need a hand full of parts. So wiring isn't much work and should be done in a few minutes. First we need to connect the USB cable, which goes thow the small hole on the backside, to the swith on the front site. If your cable has two plugs, cut the one which does not fit in the USB wall adapter. There should be four wire inside (sometime there are only two wires). We need the red and the black one. Solder the red one to the switch. Then we need the XL6009 boost converter to change the voltage from 5V to 12V. Connect the other pin of the switch with the VIN+ pin and the black wire of the USB cable to the VIN- pin of the XL6009.

Next we need to adjust the boost converter. Plug the lamp in and mesure the voltage with an volt- or multimeter between VOUT+ and VOUT-. You can adjust the voltage by turning the screw. If the voltage is 12V the XL6009 is adjusted exactly as it should. If you skip this part, it can damage your lamp, so please take your time to adjust this right!

Now we can make the last wirings. Wind the led strip around the rod and connect the red wire to the VOUT+ and the black wire to the VOUT- pin of the boost converter. Now fix loose part with hot glue and screw the rod part on the bottom part. Put the lampshade on it and fix it by screwing it with the lid.

The lamp is ready to light. I hope you like my little Instructables. If you made this project, please send me some pictures of your lamps. See you then ;-)