Maybe you guys can help :-)

[Jeff Trail]

I do some work for Raydon,NASA and abunch of weird places as a consultant, I helped design a one pc. molded lens a month or so back and now AT&T is going to pick it up.. the problems is I need to find a coating lab that can handle a volume of lens to be coated
I have tried 4 places so far and am running out of places :-)
Well any idea's? BTW the first order is for 3,000 and over a year the range is going to be 500,000 to 1 million coatings..told you it was VOLUME!! :-)

Jeff

[Jim Seebach]

Hi Jeff;
With volume like that why would you not want to put your own coating system in. It would be much less expensive. Jim

[Steve Machol]

I don't think you'll find an ophthalmic coater that can handle his job. Try:

Optical Coating Labs, Inc.
Santa Rosa, CA
(707) 545-6440

They do a lot of large volume government work. This kind of stuff is right up their alley.

------------------
Steve
OptiBoard Administrator

[Jeff Trail]

Steve&Jim,

Thanx..Steve I'll add that to my list of numbers..and sice you guys are behind the times (East Coast) I'll have time to get the samples and get that all set up to ship out ..
Jim... a few reasons, one.. This is a "weird" shape so it may take a "basket" type coater..which I don't want :-)... the volume they want one machine would not take care of it all running two shifts (which I don't do now).. it's one of those deals , by the time I got enough machines to do the work and be on time then it would be profitable.. and since I only do around 20 or so AR's a week for my wholesale accounts..having all those coaters would end up being over kill!! :-)
Last but not leaast...I'll get the price, handle all the shipping etc. etc. and tack on my "little" fee..right now I have two other contracts that I work the same way..it's easy money for really not much work..BUT I sure saved my accounts a ton of it from doing the consulting for them :-)
Sad to say ..money makes the world go round..I just like to go fast!!:-)
Thnx again Steve.. I'll give them a call Monday

JeffT

[Matthew]

What exactly is this lens you want to coat? SV..BI..PROG?

[Jeff Trail]

Originally posted by Matthew:
What exactly is this lens you want to coat? SV..BI..PROG?

Matthew,

It's a SV lens (13.75 TC convex with a plano ocular surface) and it's mounted inside of a rectangular mounting.. its a one shot molded injection .. it fits into something I have not seen :0 and then does something "else" I have not seen!! LOL
When dealing with all these guys I hardly ever get to see any of the finished products or even know what they are for .. they just supply me with the "mathmatic's" and the parameters they want met and then I produce the optics they need.
Just part of working with the types of companies I do this R&D for...It's a nice break from the "usual" grind...

JeffT

[Pete Hanlin]

Jeff,
On the same subject (coating oddly shaped objects) but on a different scale (as in, just one)... do you know of any coating lab that will AR coat non-ophthalmic products (e.g., the clear covering on an automobile instrument panel)? Of course, I realize one problem will be finding the index of refraction of the object to be coated, but do you know of anyone who can AR coat a large object?

Just Curious,
Pete

[Jeff Trail]

Originally posted by Pete Hanlin:
Jeff,
On the same subject (coating oddly shaped objects) but on a different scale (as in, just one)... do you know of any coating lab that will AR coat non-ophthalmic products (e.g., the clear covering on an automobile instrument panel)? Of course, I realize one problem will be finding the index of refraction of the object to be coated, but do you know of anyone who can AR coat a large object?

Just Curious,
Pete


Pete,

A couple of things can be done..is if a "plastic" or "glass" cover?.. if it is glass I found a company that makes a really neat thing where you can get a "film" of AR coating that adhere's to the surface..you just pop it out place a sheet on both sides and TADA it's coated!! ..one thing is that this works great on "glass" but any of the "plastic's" are a little to rough and it will bubble after a while...
If you want it coated then you may want to check with Optovision Tech. in Dallas Tx.
..call someone named Vince Mioli, I have been dealing with him all week on my project and he is real easy to work with and knows his PRODUCT :-)... they do some stuff for Bell helmet (the face masks) so it may not be to much different then that.. the thing I found that was tricky was they have to customize the units to fit your pc. while its in the coater.
You may want to check on it, the # is 800-688-7575 ask for Vince Mioli...
If you get the instrument covers in glass then use that "sheet" stuff...its pretty good.. you can get in with or with out adhesive and in different thickness' in micron's.

Jeff T