3D Printed Lithophane Lightbox

Hi everyone! If you are in the IDEA Center makerspace right now, check out the instructions below which will guide you through the process of making one of these awesome little lightboxes. Let's get to it!

Updates: 

• Smiley faces added to both parts to aid in alignment.

Step 1: Assemble your tools and materials

• Grab the “HUEFORGE” laptop from the laptop cart by the front desk.
• Grab the flash drive for “McLovin”, our multicolor 3D printer so that you can export files onto it a little bit later.
• The following parts can be purchased on your own or as a pack at the IDEA Center
  • A 16 inch length of a 12v white LED strip with an adhesive back.
  • A barrel jack connector to connect the LED strip to power.
  • A charger with a matching barrel jack connector that can supply 12v power.
• At the end you will need to use super glue. Have some ready after completing step 3.

Step 2: Turn an image into a print file

• Checkout the youtube video attached here to learn how to make your 3D printed lithophane. Leave a comment on youtube with any questions!
• Make sure your image is cropped to a square. 
• Make sure your image is sized to 101.6mm width and height when you reach that step in the video.
• After this step we will create the lightbox which the lithophane will get attached to.

Step 3: Print out the Lightbox parts

• Download the parts from this project page. There should be a thin part called the reflector and a thicker part with walls and a hole in the bottom for wiring called the shell. 
• Print the shell in any color you would like. I prefer black.
• Print the reflector in white, this is meant to increase image brightness.

Step 4: Wire up and finish the lightbox

In the future I hope to have a video out for this! For now just follow these next steps outlined below.

• First you want to take your 16" length of LED strip and connect it to your barrel jack connector part. You should now have an LED strip with a barrel jack connection hooked up to one end.
• Feed the LED strip into the shell from the back until the connection point (usually a white box that snaps shut) is inside the shell.
• Make the connection point stick out about ½ inch into the shell, then glue and insert the reflector. It should fit around the cable and help hold it in place.
• MAKE SURE to slit the paper backing and expose an inch of the adhesive next to the connection point but DONT RIP IT OFF! Leave a tail so we can pull it later on to adhere the rest of the strip.
• With an inch of the paper backing hanging off now, lets glue the connection point to the inside wall of the shell. Make sure LED's are parallel to the layer lines of the part and the connection point is aligned to the inside bottom of the shell. Glue it on and make sure you can still pull the paper backing tail we made earlier!
• Once the connection is stuck, you can start pulling the tail to reveal more and more of the adhesive back to the LED's, all the while pressing them onto the wall so they stick. Make sure to slightly angle the strip every time you reach a corner so that when you complete a full lap around the shell you can avoid any collisions with the beginning of the strip.
• That's it! At this point you can insert your lithophane, completing your lithophane lightbox! If you ever want to change out the image, don't glue it in. The inside edges have a slight, inward bevel that will help hold in the lithophane without the need for glue. If necessary or if you want it to be super permanent, go ahead and glue it in.