diamond turning

[gits]

Hello!

I hope somebody can help.

Need an advice on germanium diamond turning. Hoping to make lightweight IR lenses, it needs to be aspheric, can make calculation for the lenses but don't know specifics of diamond turning, can anyone suggest what I need to take into account at design stage - it is for commercial product and price cutting suggestions are welcome.
Also need to find out good contacts in the UK or elsewhere, where this job can be done. I will need about 15 -20 lenses sets / month

The diameter of the biggest lens will be about 120 mm

Thank you

[underthetire]

We do a lot of Diamond turning for optics here. What I can tell you is the equipment to turn them on is quite expensive. Not sure of your capital or if this is a hobby, but our machines are 250K + each.

[gits]

Originally Posted by underthetire We do a lot of Diamond turning for optics here. What I can tell you is the equipment to turn them on is quite expensive. Not sure of your capital or if this is a hobby, but our machines are 250K + each.

It is not a hobby, but I am not looking to buy a machine, need to understand how costs per lens are calculated and what can I do at design stage to make it cheaper in production. I understand that DT is more expensive in comparison with conventional lens making.

[underthetire]

Well, nanotech and precitech are the leaders in small diamond turning. Sounds like you might have a option here.

[Geof]

You need to go back in time. Seriously, there was a member of cnczone using the name Imancarrot who specialised in diamond turning for IR lenses, and other optics. He is/was located in Manchester. Here is his members page. You could maybe scan through his threads and see if he ever gives any non-cnczone contact info.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/members/imancarrot.html

Maybe a faint hope but nothing ventured nothing gained.