I am looking into getting one of these in order to bring ARC in-house. We are flying out to see it in Oregon this month. It is an unusual ARC setup, so I thought I would seek opinions and advice prior to the trip. Thanks!
I am looking into getting one of these in order to bring ARC in-house. We are flying out to see it in Oregon this month. It is an unusual ARC setup, so I thought I would seek opinions and advice prior to the trip. Thanks!
Don't have much info on Fusion-M but Quantum Unity Coater is really good.
Their first delivery date is scheduled for August. It's pretty new. I am wondering what ARC lab techs think of the concept.
We have one of the reps drop in on occasion and I am quite impressed. VSP's Capital lab is using the bigger machine and I believe there coating as well. I have been happy with the results I have seen.
The potential is amazing. Quantum does a top notch job on their processes and machinery, Norm is previous Vice-President at Satisloh I believe.
The Fusion-M, for those of your don't know, is a 3 chamber single pair AR machine. What that means is that a lab can run a single pair through at a time, which takes all of 12 minutes I believe. All 3 chambers can be active at the same time (doing different phases of AR). Since each chamber is isolated, the cleaning is less frequent and will not effect AR final color. The operator can choose the AR type (and color) with the push of a button. It won't require degassing (so they say) so its fast. Right now the biggest time contsraint in AR processing is waiting for rack to fill, this will eliminate that completely. Since different materials all require their own AR stack (usually) it takes a long time to fill up a rack for 1.67 and 1.60.
This machine could change the entire AR and small lab industry. It will be a huge winner for small to medium labs, even if they have another AR machine, this will increase their yield dramatically.
Those are all the older Quantum machines, the only live version of the Fusion-M is at the Oakley lab.Originally Posted by jmainwar
A warm welcome to Optiboard Jarhead Daddy, most of the techs are impressed. Its a game changing technology.
Anyone know the cost for the unit and cost per pair?
Can't post prices here Don... sorry... only in the Pro's Forum.
Is there a website for this??
Thanks. The site is quite a resource. Do you work for Quantum, or are you involved with another lab?a
I will be taking a day trip to Oregon next week to see the machine in action!
No, I don't have any interest with Quantum... I don't work for them. I am in a wholesale lab.
I fly next week to see the Fusion-M. I'll report my observations when I get back. I am new to ARC processing, so part of my problem is that I don't know all the questions I should ask. Perhaps some Optiboarders could suggest some questions for me to ask. I'll ask them, and report back the answers when I return.
I am the engineer in charge of the Fusion system at Oakley. I agree that it is revolutionary in nature. Since the unit we have is one of the first of its kind it has taken quite some time to get it production viable. Many of the initial issues present in the Fusion machine have been taken care of in the Fusion-M. Had I built this machine in house I probably would have used PC control versus the PLC control currently used. When it's running well it's an amazing machine, but there are still some inherent bugs that I am working through, mainly, the wheel/sector rotating apparatus inside the chambers and the in-chamber wheel present sensors. Overall it's a cool machine. Cheers!
Thanks for the feedback Autocoat. The Quantum folks reminded us several times that the Fusion is currently being used at Oakley. If we are getting close to purchasing, I might PM you to ask a few other specific questions.
The trip to Oregon was wonderful, whether or not we needed an ARC machine. The weather, mountains, and trees made for a nice day trip. The staff at Quantum was also very helpful and accomodating. They treated us like kings, but kept it casual enough that we were able to ask the questions we wanted to ask to the people we wanted to ask.
Findings:
1. The Fusion-M is not ready yet. It looks very promising, but they only have one prototype, and they are still working out the bugs.
2. The Fusion-M will require all the same prep work that box ARC machines require (ultrasonic cleaner, dip coat, oven, etc.). We are excited that Quantum is working on technology to speed up, scale down, and automate this process. If they are able to acheive this, it will be as much of a game-changer as the Fusion-M itself. But it is a tall order. The ARC process is a finely-tuned attention-to-detail process that requires discipline, cleanliness, calibration, record keeping, etc.
3. If Quantum is able to acheive their goal, companies like Lenscrafters, Eyemasters, etc. will be producing high-quality ARC and mirror coatings in house with same day service. The market will take another step in the direction of in-house labs rather than centralized production. From what this less-than-qualified observer saw, quality one-hour ARC and mirrors are on their way, and will be in a retailer near you within the next 10 years.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks