I wanted to make a lithophane lamp for a friend's wedding, but I didn't want to do something so basic as a cube. I also wanted to make it something that was reusable and could be updated with little effort - and thus The Lithomid was born!

I'll warn you now - you'll have to follow these instructions carefully!

There are six plates in this project (seven for the A1 Mini). Frame body is obviously a requirement, the TPU feet are not (but suggested!) and can instead be replaced with stick-on rubber pads if you have them available.

There is an empty and an example for both a lithophane and a light box panel.

ADDING A LITHOPHANE PANEL

The lithophane panel will require you to make a lithophane. I used itslitho.com for mine because it makes it very easy to give a specific dimension for your output file. It should be less than 200x200mm, but ideally more around 150-180mm so you have some room to move it around and center it. Flat lithophanes look best when printed face-up with very small layer heights, so keep that in mind when you look at your orientation - if you are printing an inverted image to use the smooth side out it will look blurry!

From the objects list on the left, find the “Lithomid Lithophane” assembly. Right-click it, choose “Add part” and then “Load.”

Add your lithohane STL from the menu. It'll probably go wild somewhere on the plate. Rotate it so it is flat, center it to the plate, and move it down to the plate surface. Ensure the lithophane does not go lower than the frame!

In my example, the lithophane needed to be at Z-1.29, but this will change depending on the height of your lithophane! Look while you move the lithophane down so it just barely does not show up underneath the negative.

Take care to check your preview to ensure it is positioned correctly. This might take a few tries! A clean first layer is a great way to check.

Make sure to check the preview to ensure it looks correct before printing. You may want to move the X/Y position of the lithophane to better center it's features to the frame. By adding to the assembly the negative and pre-configured settings (0.32mm lines, 0.08mm height, 100% infill) will be applied to the lithophane. If you build your own profile, please make these considerations!

ADDING A LIGHT BOX PANEL

The light box panel is the same process - just add your STL/SVG file, scale and orient it as you see fit, then uncheck “uniform scale” and set the Z height to 0.6mm. This will ensure it prints properly with the rest of the frame. It needs to be kept as a part of the assembly for the preferable lightbox settings to be retained.

This video shows the process, however once scaled your added elements should have a Z position of -0.70mm.

ASSEMBLY

Assembly is super easy! The bottom part has a channel for a COB LED strip to be inserted in to. I suggest starting with the retainer tab at the base and carefully following the screw path along the shaft while removing the adhesive strip protector. I used an inexpensive COB LED that also had a touch dimmer, but any LED strip 10mm wide or less should fit fine

When you reach the top of the shaft, simply cut your light to length and stuff the loose end in the retaining slot.

The LED strip is now bound at both the top and bottom and should not come unraveled.

The TPU feet can be glued to the bottom using a good adhesive such as E6000. I do not recommend CA glue for use with TPU. I would really encourage the feet as it provides a little room for air to enter from the bottom and allow the light to move air through convection out the top to prevent it from getting too hot. This should not be a problem either way, but if you are using lights that get really hot I think it's best to be safe!

Insert your panels in to the top portion and snap the two together. The pegs on the top will mate in to the holes on the bottom.

I printed my first few tests using Flashforge Burnt Titanium PLA and the final product in Flashforge Burnt Titanium PETG. I really like the warmth of eSun Warm White PLA+ and used that for my lithophanes. Looks great with a warmer ~4000k COB LED strip!

There is a version in the raw files that uses 5x3mm magnets, but I found it didn't really stay together as well as I wanted it to, so would recommend using the peg version as provided in the profile.