What lens Drill do you recommend?

[sharpstick777]

I have very limited experience with drills, and wanted some opinions of what drills you would recommend (or not) and why. I am considering value in the equation too.

It would be a plus if I could do the notched Lindberg lenses too.

Thanks

[kat]

Trivex, it will not crack or star on you.

[sharpstick777]

Originally Posted by kat

Trivex, it will not crack or star on you.

Thanks Kat, but I was hoping for information on the drills themselves, not the lenses... Smart Drill, Santinelli, etc.

[Jacqui]

I've seen or used most of them, I'd buy a Smartdrill if I needed one.

[DragonLensmanWV]

I use the Hilco drill, which is OK for a manual drill. I see they have re-designed the lens clamps - that needed done.

[mshimp]

smart drill. however I like the digital scales (personal preference)

[Thumbs]

Own the Digital Smart Drill for about 5 years and would not part with it. Very well made and little to no problems that I could fix myself quickly.

[Barry Santini]

Mine's for sale, if interested.

PM me.

$500.00 plus shipping

Barry

[gemstone]

Salem has one that works well.

[optical24/7]

SmartDrill, (non-digital is just fine)..Unless you use AIT type blocks.

[Jacqui]

What's this about AIT style blocks??

Anyway what I use here is an OLD AO for glass lenses and a Dremel with a homemade stand for plastic. I only wish I could afford a Smartdrill.

[kat]

Sorry about giving you the material. We use a CNC Optidrill with a Proxxon drill. If you are looking for a lab quality drill it is the best. We have also used Hilco and the drills in lour Optronics edgers, but none are as good as the CNC. Hope this helps.

[optical24/7]

Originally Posted by Jacqui

What's this about AIT style blocks??

.

Do you know how AIT style blocks have an "L" shape on the back for chucking? The "L" can be either up or down, depending on how your blocker and edger are set-up.

The good engineers at SmartDrill decided to make their chuck/block holder for AIT styles double cut away for use with "L" up or down. The problem is with this double cut-a-way design you can rotate the lens up to 5 degrees off 180. You have to be very careful on how you "rotate" your lenses prior to drilling.

The funny thing is....that their chuck/block holder can be taken off easily and rotated L up or down. In other words, there was/is no need to have the double cut away design to begin with!

[cmhargrove]

How many drilll jobs do you do a day? A month?

There are a lot of great drills, but economics definitely come into play.
If you do 5-10 a week, the smart drill is probably the best financial option. If you do 5-10 a day, you may want something a little more automated.

More info on your drill load?

[snowmonster]

I tried the Hilco one for about $1,000 and it was terrible for some reason that I can't remember. It went back after only two days.

We have a digital Less Stress II and it seems to work pretty well. As far as I can tell, it appears to be similar to the Smart Drill. I've talked with Chuck a few times prior to buying, he seemed like a good guy at least.

[scriptfiller]

I ABSOLUTLY love my Santinelli Less Stress drill. It's the best investment we have made in our little lab. We do 10 or more drills a week and it rocks!

[LilKim]

I'm with Kat on the CNC Optidrill. I've been using ours for years now, and even with it being ten years old, it still rocks the work out. When our original company was in operation, I'd do about 10-15 drills a day. We'd have to change out the Proxxon drill once, maybe twice a year, and if you could find a low-cost distributor, you'd end up saving more money than buying straight from the manufacturer. Once thing I'd highly recommend using in ANY drill machine: PSI's drill bit. That sucker lasts forever and won't cause Trivex material to heat up and wrap itself around the bit. We also have fewer stress cracks forming on poly lenses over long periods of time. The bit cuts cleaner, reducing the stress on the lenses.

[snowmonster]

I haven't really messed around with slotting/notching on our Less Stress, most everything we do is 2-hole compression mounts.

What drill bits are best for that? I've just been using the Santinelli bits for now.

[LilKim]

The PSI drill bit works for anything--holes, notches, and all materials (except for glass of course!). It's a standard 1mm bit.

[snowmonster]

That doesn't really work for a non-CNC drill though.