I had read how you could use Corian to create lithophanes so I thought I’d give it a try. I got some free scraps from a kitchen counter company. The first thing I discovered was that not all Corian is semi-transparent, so lot of my free samples could not be used for a lithophane. The next thing I discovered was that most people don’t want a plain white countertop, so the materials that were semi-translucent had speckles or wavy swirls in them. The speckles and swirls ended up showing up in the lithophane.
After the lithophane exercise I decided to try making something else from my stash of free Corian. Ended up doing an epoxy inlay to make a light switch cover for my daughter who has a thing for penguins. I was quite pleased with how well this turned out.
The material was too thick for a litho so I first created a pocket using a 45 deg chamfer around the edge, sort of like a picture frame, then I cleared the pocket. After that I cut the litho and finished by cutting out the outside perimeter of the frame.
Pocket chamfer:
90deg V bit
50"/min travel
17,000 rpm
0.19" max depth
0.1" pass depth
Clear pocket:
1/4" end mill
60"/min travel
19,000 rpm
0.19" max depth
0.1" pass depth
Photo V-Carve
60 deg, 3 flute V bit
19,000 rpm
150"/min travel
.356" max cutting depth
Cutout:
1/4" end mill
60" min travel
19,000 rpm
0.495" max depth
0.1" pass depth
Your cutting depths on the litho would change if you had a different material thickness.
Yes, it was two sided. But there is still a minor issue with the mounting screws not being long enough depending on whether or not the switch is installed flush with the wall or if it’s recessed a little bit. But that is an easy fix to get slightly longer screws.
