Lichtenburg Figures – Toner

Equipment

 Metal Sheet
Acrylic sheet (8mm thick)
30Kv PSU
Wires
Needle or Pin
Photocopier (or laser printer) Toner

Diagram

 Lichtenburg-toner

Method

Clean the Acrylic thoroughly, ideally using an alcohol based cleaner. Ensure the sheet is clean and dry before applying the voltage.

Attach the high voltage source between the pin and the metal plate, If you don’t want to support the pin, heating it up and punching it a couple of mm into the acrylic works ok, Ensure the wires are as far away from the acrylic as possible.

Apply the high voltage, carefully dust the toner onto the acrylic around the pin.

The toner should stick where there is a static charge on the acrylic, but leave fine strands visible as lichtenburg figures.

Turning off the high voltage leaves the toner and pattern.

It is possible to transfer the pattern on to paper, by laying the paper on to the pattern and carefully rubbing the bac of the paper, ensure that the paper doesn’t move during the transfer process.

Results

Img20130818_10006 Img20130819_10013 Img20130819_10019

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