Stereolithography of acrylic lenses?
Stereolithography of acrylic lenses?
(OP)
Good morning,
Has anyone worked with a plastic rapid-prototyping company that can quickly make acrylic lenses? The ability to make refractive optics using STL appears limited, due to the "step-wise" structure of an STL part. Neverthless, I would like to find a company with this capability.
Thank you,
SD
Has anyone worked with a plastic rapid-prototyping company that can quickly make acrylic lenses? The ability to make refractive optics using STL appears limited, due to the "step-wise" structure of an STL part. Neverthless, I would like to find a company with this capability.
Thank you,
SD






RE: Stereolithography of acrylic lenses?
I'd expect STL to produce _really_ crappy lenses, both because of the stepwise geometry inherent, and because of the difficulty of getting the lens' axial thickness correct, which is fairly critical.
Given the amount of polishing needed on _any_ STL part, you'd basically be using a fancy and expensive process to make very rough lens blanks.
If you don't care much about imaging, you might be able to make a useful lens with SLA by putting the Z axis on a diameter of the lens, building slowly.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Stereolithography of acrylic lenses?
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Stereolithography of acrylic lenses?