View Full Version : Review: Kappa Edger from Gerber Coburn
Product: Kappa Edger w \ 3-D Tracer\ Auto Blocker
Vendor: Gerber Coburn (http://www.gerbercoburn.com)
Category: Lab Tools/Equipment
Reviewer: Sean
Ratings:
Quality: http://www.optiboard.com/images/5star.gif
Ease of use: http://www.optiboard.com/images/5star.gif
Customer service of the manufacturer or distributor: http://www.optiboard.com/images/5star.gif
Value: http://www.optiboard.com/images/4star.gif
Overall: http://www.optiboard.com/images/5star.gif
Review:
First off I should point out that the price is for both the edger and tracer\auto blocker. I gave this piece of equipment very high marks for it’s initial learning curve and so far…. reliability. Sales rep was in charge of delivery and setup. Company has a recommended calibration interval of once a month; this has been done, even though there has been no apparent need to. Edger can be ordered with different wheel options, glass/plastic-poly/polish. Has auto groove for rimless, as well as safety bevels front/back (all of these options can be user defined i.e. depth of groove and degree of bevel with 4 different user assigned presets each for preference. On board software has been updated since gamma series resolving issues with e-line’s. Also equipped with bar code scanners for both the blocker and edger with an initial memory of 200 orders, which can be upgraded to 400. To this day I’m impressed with the accuracy of this machine. As for company’s assumption that “Just about anyone can run this equipment” is a little off the mark. You need to have the concept of what you are doing and what you are trying to achieve. In short, to think just pushing a series of buttons will result in a perfect pair of glasses should not be the foundation to have a person start working with this piece of machinery.In fact the only thing you will achieve is damaging the machine, as the equipment does have flaws when it comes to inexperience (this can result on any piece of optical equipment mind you). Users should have a good degree of knowledge in the lab. Not unless you would like someone to start edging crown glass on the poly wheel. Yes the machine is hi tech…….but we do have a human equation to work with here. In the hands of someone with experience it is capable of producing an excellent product. I have personally cut lenses from +13.00D to –15.00D along with Bi-Concaves, Aspheric Lenticular’s, Myodisks ……….just to name a few. To consider buying this equipment, I would have to say your work volume should be at least 15 to20 orders per day to be beneficial /cost effective, as the Kappa was made and designed for high output labs. On a final note the Kappa comes fully designed to interface with their line of surfacing equipment as well.
hcjilson
02-24-2003, 02:03 PM
Sean,
Years ago I worked for a company that distributed Briot edgers. Their patternless originally priced at about 21 K. We figured that if you did 5 jobs a day it would pay for itself. That was when finishing was about $5 per job. The average finish job now is about $8.If you extrapolate 15 jobs X $8 X25 days in a month you come up with 3K. You'd have the machine paid for in 10 months!
Why do you think you would need 15 to 20 jobs a day to make it feasable.
Great Review!
hj
Harry,
15/20 jobs a day on average..........what about those days when you do nothing but repairs? I.E. last week with the snow storm.......4 day's straight not a customer/lab job to be had. These are the things that have to be considered when you go out and spend 30,000.00 dollars on just one piece equipment. I think that if everyone here could be be guaranteed 15-25 jobs per day Coburn would sell even more of them. Purchasing one with the figures you mentioned in your above post would seem feasible but more than likely this would not be the case. And i would not recommend purely relying on such a figure to justify going out and buying one.
Mikol
02-24-2003, 08:53 PM
Sean
My machine is on order to be delivered in 2 weeks I will be raplacing a Optronics Horizon III..:D We have the Kappa in one of our other stores and I have run a few jobs on it with no formal training;) ..........I have pushed the HIII to its limits and I can not wait to get my hands on the Kappa and see what she can really do..........
I enjoyed your review and already know that you are so correct on all your points......
Sincerely
Mikol
:cheers: :cheers:
Mikol,
Be sure to come back here and let me know what you think,after you have had a bit to really put it to the test:D The kappa actually retired three edgers in the lab.....a Briot,Daytona and a Profile M. Did you order it with or without the glass wheel?
jofelk
02-25-2003, 07:31 AM
I had dealt with Coburn many years ago before they were bought by Gerber.
I loved the products, reps and tech assistance was great.
I purchased a pricey edger from them with extended coverage. The edger was a lemon.
I needed to puchase extended coverage every year for three years, just to keep the machine running, until Gerber Coburn refused to honor another warranty period. In the fourth year we had to scrap the edger.
With the service charge on phone calls and the worst machine I had in 22 years , I am still open to hearing about quality equipment.
I hope you feel the same after the warranty period is over.
hcjilson
02-25-2003, 07:35 PM
jofelk,
Did I understand you correctly? You bought a machine from Coburn (before the merger) and you renewed a warantee on that machine for 3 years (which made it a total of 4), and you expected the new company to renew that warantee for a fifth year on a machine they did not manufacture?
I just want to be clear on what your complaint is.
tx harry j
jofelk
02-26-2003, 07:17 AM
Sorry about my time line. I usually review this site first thing in the morning and the thoughts are sometimes scattered.
I had bought equipment (edgers, generators, reclaims, etc.) from Coburn years ago (15-20) and was very happy wirh them.
After they were bought by Gerber I purchased the pricey edger. It was a warranty we purchased each year for a total of three years.
I do not want this forum to be my retribution against Gerber Coburn. This was my experience with their equipment and service. Like I said in my previous thread, I am always glad to hear about quality equipment that makes our job simpler and more pofitable.
Good luck with the edger!
Texas Ranger
02-27-2003, 06:34 PM
Mikol, I started out in '93 with the Briot patternless, then in '96 went to the Horizon III, and in 2001 went to the Horizon 6E, big improvements; still liked the "dry cut" units better. but like most things these days, with drill mounts, etc, you best have some finish lab skills beyond pushing a button on the edger. Sean, there is more than the cost saving factor to in-house edging; it's a matter of value added service too. I've never had a problem with the paying for it; seems like we've always had a flucuating business loan, and when we pruchased a new edger, or other equipment, we just added it to our existing note, and kept the payment the same, just added time, which is eternal, and there are some buyiny benefits to paying the seller cash on delivery.
Texas Ranger said: Sean, there is more than the cost saving factor to in-house edging; it's a matter of value added service too. I've never had a problem with the paying for it; seems like we've always had a flucuating business loan, and when we pruchased a new edger, or other equipment, we just added it to our existing note, and kept the payment the same, just added time, which is eternal, and there are some buyiny benefits to paying the seller cash on delivery.
Taxas Ranger,
Point well taken,good info.
Mikol
03-05-2003, 07:26 PM
Sean,
I got the machine installed yesterday and ran 17 jobs the first day. What a joy! I was not to impressed with the speed but I will take the quality of the finished job in exchange. I only did rimless and bevel jobs I will be in the office tomorrow and see how well the groover works. We carry the Lindberg collections and I can't wait to make lenses for the RIM & STRIP collections.
The barcode system is really great I can just tell you now that that feature will save us a lot of headaches.....we do one hour jobs and sometimes the HIII would be all loaded and ready to cut and a customer walks in and mixes up the order of the trays:angry:
A great new toy , but I will keep my HIII set up and at the ready.
cheers
Mikol
:cheers: :cheers:
hcjilson
03-06-2003, 07:52 AM
Mikol,
Gospel according to Sean is: you won't need it!
LENNY
03-07-2003, 10:57 PM
Is this their top of the line edger or they offer something even better?
LENNY said:
Is this their top of the line edger or they offer something even better?
Lenny,
Gerber/Coburn just introduced a new version called the Kappa SP.
shanbaum
03-08-2003, 07:48 AM
There's the Titan, but that's intended for high-production environments (i.e., constant-duty, and/or automated).
http://www.gerbercoburn.com/06-Finishing/index.html
OdTech
05-04-2003, 11:28 AM
Hello Sean
You gave a very optimistic review of the edger. in which case i would buy with closed eyes relying on the review you offered.
Right Now there is a better lens material "TRIVEX"
Did you try cutting this material on your machine.?
Rarely it is so, that edgers has limits like BRIOT, this edger shakes when it cuts the trivex so now we send it to lab to do the trivex.
Mikol
05-04-2003, 04:35 PM
:)
I run trivex on the edger without any problems.........
Make sure that you process the trivex just as you would a polycarb and all will be fine...
Still in love with my new Kappa:D
Mikol
:cheers: :cheers:
Unlike most edgers......the Kappa allows you to set the pressure on the lens chuck,and by doing so it will adjust the drop speed of the lens touching the edger wheels. In fact it is capable of automatically detecting a 1.0 CT and make the adjustment on it's own if need be. I have not encountered a problem with Trivex at all.:)
OdTech
05-04-2003, 10:39 PM
Hello and thanks for replying
Now i know what to get thanks to this web site and to all who know about it.
Several months later, I have finally checked out this thread, since I am in the market for a new edger. The Kappa and the Briot Access CL have been suggested to me. I am somewhat of a perfectionist; I prefer an edger that can consistently cut jobs on axis (not just "close enough"). We do a lot of drill mounts, so axis is really critical. Anyone have any comments? Thanks!
shanbaum
09-15-2003, 08:34 PM
Ruth said:
Several months later, I have finally checked out this thread, since I am in the market for a new edger. The Kappa and the Briot Access CL have been suggested to me. I am somewhat of a perfectionist; I prefer an edger that can consistently cut jobs on axis (not just "close enough"). We do a lot of drill mounts, so axis is really critical. Anyone have any comments? Thanks!
The blocker may be the more critical factor. Consider the Step Two.
(Shameless plug).
Ruth,
I have not encountered any axis problems on lenses edged with the kappa. As far as 3 pc mounts , i do several of them a week and have been using a drilling system from smartlabs for the last couple of months now. It has been made to accept the blocks from the kappa system so the block stays on the lens throughout the entire edging/drilling process.The lenses come out right on the money. I am working on a review of this drill system and hope to have it completed in a bit.
I have recently stumbled on some kind of program glitch with Innovations. It seems that if a SV stock lens order for a nylor frame is put through the kappa without first going through Innovations (as though being a order that needs to be surfaced) the kappa just plain refuses to groove. Is this a known problem or do you know of any fix ?
:confused:
Hi Sean,
I'm not familiar with Innovations, but I do know that if your stock lens, when cut, won't have a thick enough edge to support a groove, the Kappa will refuse it. I think it's a great feature.
Hi Sean,
I'm not familiar with Innovations, but I do know that if your stock lens, when cut, won't have a thick enough edge to support a groove, the Kappa will refuse it. I think it's a great feature.
Innovations is the software used for data/communication between OMA equiptment.
Thanks for the input on this :) Bt alas..it seems that any lens from stock will cut , bevel , polish, pin bevel........no groove :( But then to my surprise when i had to make a pair if prog for a nylor frame, it grooved with out a hitch. So i decided to disconnect the Kappa from inovations and run it all by it's lonesome......it grooved :shiner: Seem's as though it will only groove when told to do so when data for a nylor frame is put in for something being surfaced. I have been grooving by hand as of late because it's a real pain in the behind to stop everything to enter data for a stock lens( just to make it look like it was surfaced). My problem is not with kappa (this edger rocks).If you have any other suggestions or ideas pleas fill me in. They will be greatly appreciated.
hcjilson
05-15-2004, 10:02 AM
Sean, have you thought of sending this info to cousin Robert who might be able to shed some light on it?
hj
Sean, have you thought of sending this info to cousin Robert who might be able to shed some light on it?
hjI did.............. it's about two post's above ;)
shanbaum
05-16-2004, 08:45 AM
I have recently stumbled on some kind of program glitch with Innovations. It seems that if a SV stock lens order for a nylor frame is put through the kappa without first going through Innovations (as though being a order that needs to be surfaced) the kappa just plain refuses to groove. Is this a known problem or do you know of any fix ?
:confused:
If an order isn't processed by Innovations - that is, all it has is a tracing - the ETYP record (that's the OMA record in which one would specify "groove") will contain a question mark, which is the "unknown data indicator" according to the OMA standard. That certainly shouldn't prevent the edger from being set to groove manually. Can the edger be set to do a flat bevel in that case? I'm sorry I can't just go test this myself, but I'm not in the office, and won't be for a few days. I'll ask someone to investigate.
Yes.........the edger can be set to do a flat bevel and completes the task. It seem's the only thing i cannot do is groove.When i manually set the edger to groove it goes through the entire edging process then when it comes time to groove the pin bevel wheel comes out then stops as it's about to come in contact whith the lens.:cry: Any input you have would be great !
hcjilson
05-16-2004, 07:48 PM
Ahh, that you did, I just missed it! sorry, I'll pay better attention after I've met Ava!
shanbaum
05-18-2004, 06:57 AM
I'm still not back in the office, but they tell me this: To work around this problem, select a custom groove and modify the grooving depth. Press start and the edger will process the lens.
Apparently, the issue is that the edger in this case doesn't know the groove dimensions. We can set Innovations to provide groove dimensions in those cases in which they're not otherwise specified. Can you send me your e-mail address please?
Thank You !
I will give this a go this A.M. as i have some nylor jobs that are in line to be edged. I will let you know how i make out. Thanks once again for your help and quick repley on this.:)
The edger went through all the steps ,cut , flat bevel .......then put a groove about 2/10"s of a mil.Then proceded to polish ........everything went fine up to that point. After the polish cycle the wheel came up to lens to groove and stalled, and gave me an error code of A8~7 :(
shanbaum
05-19-2004, 06:30 AM
The edger went through all the steps ,cut , flat bevel .......then put a groove about 2/10"s of a mil.Then proceded to polish ........everything went fine up to that point. After the polish cycle the wheel came up to lens to groove and stalled, and gave me an error code of A8~7 :(
What values did you enter for groove width & depth?
I tried changing the values for each on separate occasions. I moved the specified values by .05 to see if i could get a different outcome. I even tried eliminating the polish cycle to no avail.........it still want's to come up for a second time and stalls.
shanbaum
05-20-2004, 08:56 AM
I tried changing the values for each on separate occasions. I moved the specified values by .05 to see if i could get a different outcome. I even tried eliminating the polish cycle to no avail.........it still want's to come up for a second time and stalls.
I'm thinking that you may be using values that are out of range for the machine. I'm pretty sure that 0.05mm is outside its resolution. That's why I'd like to know what values you're using.
Groove depth .60
Groove Width .80
Groove% 40
I'm thinking that you may be using values that are out of range for the machine. I'm pretty sure that 0.05mm is outside its resolution. That's why I'd like to know what values you're using. I just wanted to say thank you for all your help with this matter.The values that you sent to me do indeed fix this. Again thanks for all of your time and effort.
shanbaum
07-25-2004, 09:13 AM
I just wanted to say thank you for all your help with this matter.The values that you sent to me do indeed fix this. Again thanks for all of your time and effort.It's all part of the service, and thank you for shopping with Gerber Coburn.
Tigger61
12-03-2005, 11:09 PM
You Just have to Love a Kappa
Ed_Optician
12-07-2005, 05:54 PM
I worked with one in a small private practice in NYC. THe owner and I had gotten thoroughly frustrated with the Novamatic patternless we were working /fighting with. I suggested selling the novamatic to a boater who might need a mooring anchor. Inside of a few hours the machine was cutting beautiful jobs. Inside of a few days working with it you could almost make it sing. Regular bevels were beautiful, normal nylon mount rimless were great. Took a while to perfect settings for strip titanium and Ait Titanium Rim frames...either a wider groove or a deeper and wider groove needed once we wrote a cheat sheet, all was fantastic
If at all possible set up this or for that matter ANY machine for fresh water plumbing rather than a recirculating bucket. I used a fabric bag inside of a holding tank and a pump with float switch to pump the water overboard
Ed
I worked with one in a small private practice in NYC. THe owner and I had gotten thoroughly frustrated with the Novamatic patternless we were working /fighting with. I suggested selling the novamatic to a boater who might need a mooring anchor. Inside of a few hours the machine was cutting beautiful jobs. Inside of a few days working with it you could almost make it sing. Regular bevels were beautiful, normal nylon mount rimless were great. Took a while to perfect settings for strip titanium and Ait Titanium Rim frames...either a wider groove or a deeper and wider groove needed once we wrote a cheat sheet, all was fantastic
If at all possible set up this or for that matter ANY machine for fresh water plumbing rather than a recirculating bucket. I used a fabric bag inside of a holding tank and a pump with float switch to pump the water overboard
Ed:) Bump
Thumbs
12-08-2005, 09:07 PM
Welcome back Sean! How's things down South?
jessecd
01-10-2006, 03:48 AM
Ive used a kappa for 3 years now. I've had to fix it 6 times now. Not a big deal, it produced great results. The motor that lifts the groove unit went out. Gerber wanted 600 bucks i think. It turns out it was just the optical encoder that mounts to the back of the motor. no big deal, it costed 60 bucks. Gerber tech support stinks...its better to figure it out yourself.
Does anyone have a recomendation on what retail software best integrates with innovations? Let me know
Thanks,
jcd
Thumbs
01-10-2006, 07:15 AM
I believe CC Systems now has a retail program and I know that they had used the innovations platform for their surfacing program.
JERRY HUANG
02-28-2006, 07:54 AM
[QUOTE=jessecd]Ive used a kappa for 3 years now. I've had to fix it 6 times now. Not a big deal, it produced great results. The motor that lifts the groove unit went out. Gerber wanted 600 bucks i think. It turns out it was just the optical encoder that mounts to the back of the motor. no big deal, it costed 60 bucks. Gerber tech support stinks...its better to figure it out yourself.
I am going to get the new Kapa edger with drill unit even thou I don't know how to fix any Gerber equipement!
aheinz
06-08-2006, 09:44 PM
Ruth, If your doing alot of dril mounts-take a look at the Briot Axcell CLD. Interested in a live demonstration or chat on the phone about capabilities?
. The Kappa and the Briot Access CL have been suggested to me. I am somewhat of a perfectionist; I prefer an edger that can consistently cut jobs on axis (not just "close enough"). We do a lot of drill mounts, so axis is really critical. Anyone have any comments? Thanks![/QUOTE]
Thumbs
06-09-2006, 04:41 PM
Hands down the Kappa CTD is a superior drilling edger over the Briot Accell. Kappa can drill perpendicular to the lense surface, has the best pin bevel available, the smallest edging capability on the market, etc., etc....
Call your local rep at 800-843-0379 at GerberCoburn. Visit www.Gerbercoburn.com (http://www.Gerbercoburn.com)
For-Life
06-09-2006, 05:08 PM
Hands down the Kappa CTD is a superior drilling edger over the Briot Accell. Kappa can drill perpendicular to the lense surface, has the best pin bevel available, the smallest edging capability on the market, etc., etc....
Call your local rep at 800-843-0379 at GerberCoburn. Visit www.Gerbercoburn.com (http://www.Gerbercoburn.com)
Do you work for Gerber?
shanbaum
06-09-2006, 05:33 PM
I'm betting he does...
shanbaum
06-09-2006, 05:35 PM
Does anyone have a recomendation on what retail software best integrates with innovations? Let me know
The former COS system used to integrate well. It's now owned by Marchon, who (I think) have an updated system - but I'm not sure about the integration.
mhorwitz
06-11-2006, 06:12 PM
does anyone have an opinion regarding the Briot Axcell CL-D? Does it drill well?
How about the Santinelli 9000LEX with intelligent Blocker?:hammer:
macularry
06-12-2006, 12:55 AM
I recently purchased the Kappa CTD. I also own the Kappa that doesn't drill. Both units have performed well. One thing to keep in mind with the drill mounts, regardless of edger type, is that operator experience/skill is imperative. :hammer:
Thumbs
06-12-2006, 09:30 PM
I agree. I have experience with both the Briot and Kappa drill units. The Briot has some nice features, but does not drill perpendicular to the front surface of the lense. It also could only edge down to about 38mm "B" measurement when drilling and I found the auto blocker to be very inconsistant. The Kappa CTD has been performing flawlessly and I am very happy with Gerber's service when I did have questions.
I looked at the Santanelli/Nidek ME-1000 drilling system, but had a hard time justifying the cost difference of about $15,000 compared to the Kappa.
mike.elmes
06-24-2006, 01:57 PM
I have purchased the Kappa CTD and am loving it to death!! Would anyone know of a piece of software that would enable me to upload shapes and drill hole data so that I would not have to use the onboard camera.There is a cable connector (RS232)on the back of the tracer that hooks up to my computer...but the essilor rep did not know of any software that might allow the communication.
Anyone??
shanbaum
06-24-2006, 04:58 PM
I have purchased the Kappa CTD and am loving it to death!! Would anyone know of a piece of software that would enable me to upload shapes and drill hole data so that I would not have to use the onboard camera.There is a cable connector (RS232)on the back of the tracer that hooks up to my computer...but the essilor rep did not know of any software that might allow the communication.
Anyone??
Innovations Edge software. Contact your friendly and talented Gerber Coburn sales representative.
mike.elmes
06-24-2006, 06:03 PM
Can you give me a name and phone # of someone you would suggest?The essilor reps don't seem to know anything in Canada.
thanx
mike
Chris Ryser
06-25-2006, 03:59 AM
Can you give me a name and phone # of someone you would suggest?The essilor reps don't seem to know anything in Canada.
Optique Gerber Coburn
(514) 326-7930
9125 RUE PASCAL-GAGNON
SAINT-LÉONARD, QC H1P 1Z4, Canada
Talk to Isaac who is the sales rep for Canada.
http://gerbercoburn.com/ (http://gerbercoburn.com/)
mike.elmes
06-27-2006, 10:59 PM
Thank you Chris!!
Grubendol
08-10-2006, 01:21 PM
Our office just purchased an AIT Maxima, with the Opera drill and I am extremely pleased with the choice. We brought in the Kappa, the Santinelli ME 1000 and the AIT for testing, and I also visited some large scale labs to look at the Optronics 6E and 7E. The AIT was a perfect fit for our office volume and pt. needs.
We do about 10-18 jobs a day. Or rather I should say I do, since I'm the only one edging ;)
jcwest94
10-19-2006, 03:05 PM
Grubendol- Is your opinion still the same for the AIT?
Grubendol
10-19-2006, 03:54 PM
My opinion on the AIT has adjusted slightly...The edge polish is not quite as nice as the Santinelli, and I would say that retouching doesn't come out as nice as I would like, after a second cut, however, almost every issue I've had has been immediately fixed by consulting with their tech support.
The biggest gripe would probably be the safety bevel, but that is being fixed when we get the new Evolution model in a few weeks.
Clive Noble
07-08-2007, 02:47 AM
I agree. I have experience with both the Briot and Kappa drill units. The Briot has some nice features, but does not drill perpendicular to the front surface of the lense. It also could only edge down to about 38mm "B" measurement when drilling and I found the auto blocker to be very inconsistant. The Kappa CTD has been performing flawlessly and I am very happy with Gerber's service when I did have questions.
Sorry to resurrect this thread. We took delivery a couple of months ago of a new Kappa CTD with all the toys attached, drill, bar-code scanner etc.
Even though it appears to be an easy machine to operate, a few years knowledge of optics and edging helps enormously, the possibilities of what can be done to a lens are just endless. It could be an amazing state-of-the-art tool.
The auto grooving and faceting are quite awful, so every job is done with operator control, that's fine by me as I also insisted on doing this with our previous Accura.
Before I go any further I have to say I have been edging for nearly 40 years...so I do know a little bit..... but
we're obviously doing something wrong somewhere with the Kappa..... lenses are breaking, 10% of jobs are coming out off axis, the local technicians have been endless times and reset everything and funnily enough everything is OK when they are with us.
The worst problems are with Phoenix (Trivex) I've been using this material from 'day one' with no problems, and we use a lot of this stuff. The Kappa takes sometimes 12 minutes to finish a lens, using gallons of water in the process. (water is precious here)
On our old Accura, Trivex was cut dry on the rough wheel and wet on the finish. It's the opposite on the Kappa.
We end up with tons of swarf which finds its way to the drill, builds up and leaves marks on the front of the lens.
High cyl lenses and high minus Rxs are too thick for the plastic rough wheel, so they hang over the edge, when they finally break away, the break nearly always travels to the centre of the lens...... I have wasted many hundreds of dollars on replacing expensive lenses..... but no more, because now, I roughly mark the lens with the approx shape of the final eye and go back to my roots and spend 5 minutes hand edging the lens to an approximate shape so I can put it on my $40,000 state of the art machine.
Do I sound annoyed?...... you bet I am.
I wonder where my old Accura is today!!!!! Quite honestly I only changed the machine because of the drill facility....... it is good, but my old hand method with the Dremel was just as good, certainly faster!
I'd love to hear from others with more experience of this animal
mike.elmes
07-09-2007, 01:51 PM
The trivex lenses should be rough cut dry and pretty much edged like a poly. The only difference from cutting trivex to poly is the feed speed.
Contact hoya, as I did about the edging of Trivex and that was their advice....and it definately saves some time and PLENTY of h2o.
obxeyeguy
07-09-2007, 05:26 PM
I agree with mike. I have 2 Kappas, (not the ctd), no drilling, and cut all trivex as poly and change the edger to the slower feed rate. 2 stars on mine, it feeds the lens slower, but doesn't take more than 4 minutes total.
I cut most lenses on this setting, 75 mm blanks into 48 eyes is a lot to come off quickly, to much tork on pad.
MarcE
07-09-2007, 11:06 PM
Yes, Trivex= dry rough, dry finish, wet polish. If I try to cut trivex wet, my edger will push down so hard that the roughing wheel finally stops! It just won't cut wet, in my experience.
Get some "G/K" blocks from BPI, and throw away the plastic gerber blocks. These new blocks are flexible (silicone rubber, I think) and get much better adhesion to the lens. In fact, I sometimes can hardly pull them off with the deblocking pliers!
The reason that the lenses are slipping is that the blocking pad is soaked in water for 12 minutes. After a while the water works it's way into the pad and it starts to de-block.
I think the previous posts nailed it. Trivex must be rough cut dry.
HarryChiling
07-12-2007, 12:35 AM
Sounds like you may hav some pumps or hoses hoked up wrong.
LENNY
07-16-2007, 05:21 PM
Get some "G/K" blocks from BPI, and throw away the plastic gerber blocks. These new blocks are flexible (silicone rubber, I think) and get much better adhesion to the lens. In fact, I sometimes can hardly pull them off with the deblocking pliers!
.
What color are those?
LENNY
07-16-2007, 05:25 PM
We end up with tons of swarf which finds its way to the drill, builds up and leaves marks on the front of the lens.
I'd love to hear from others with more experience of this animal
You HAVE to clean the drill every time you drill the thicker lens!
It is very easy just press the move the whell botton when nothing is in the chamber!
MarcE
07-16-2007, 10:01 PM
What color are those?
They are Red. If you got a BPI sales flyer in the mail today or Saturday, they are on the front cover. They are called "G/K" blocks. Stands for Gamma/Kappa. Best investment I ever made. Off axis lenses are much reduced.
ian lindsey
02-21-2008, 02:19 AM
Hi wit
h ref to your comments about the Kappa edgers i have found the machines to be very unreliable .We run two edgers and have had many problems with both edgers.Allthough this is an industrial site we also run two Nidek 9000 and have found them to be far superior in every aspect ie, quality production and reliability.Hope this helps.
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