Backside hardcoater.

Greetings, I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day weekend!!

Our lab, which is a smaller lab is presently in the market for a backside hardcoater. We do not have a ton of knowledge on which brands and/or models may be best suited for what we do and would greatly appreciate some input that some of you may have first hand. We presently run approximately 30 jobs a day as we have a smaller O.D./Optical Office. We are capable of generating trivex and polycarb, we just do not have the backside hardcoater. Doing so would open up so many more lenses options for our patients. We are trying to find something that is good quality and is close to what we're looking for in terms of job put out. We obviously do not need a top of the line backside hardcoater that can do 300 jobs a day. But we are hoping to find a quality product that we will not have to worry about in terms of consistency with the quality of work and functioning on a regular basis.

Again any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

There's only 1 worth buying...

Ultra optics Mini II

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Originally Posted by braheem24

There's only 1 worth buying...

Ultra optics Mini II

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Any idea on price? Ballpark would be more than sufficient.

Look around for a used hand spin coater with UV cure and you can save tons of money for the few jobs.

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Originally Posted by dave.fant.lab

Any idea on price? Ballpark would be more than sufficient.

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usedlabs.com $6-7K Used make sure it is retrofitted/updated for the current coating sold by ultra-optics.

You can also call ultra-optics themselves, they have wonderful customer service and you'll be talking to a tech in less then a minute.

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Originally Posted by braheem24

There's only 1 worth buying...

Ultra optics Mini II

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+1 :smile:

You can't go wrong with ultra optic coater

Most AR Companies recommend dip coating now. Still some advantages to spin, but dip out ways them by a hair. If you have an AR machine, talk to your AR manufacturer both machine and process to get their recommendations.

What is the advantage of spin coater?

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Originally Posted by LENNY

What is the advantage of spin coater?

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A spin coater (in general) will be faster, and have higher yields, and less likely to have mistakes. But its only coating the back of the lens. A drip coater can cause "runs" streaks across the lens if everything is not perfect, but gives slighty harder scratch coat and better consistancy for AR (both sides are coated). In general, many premium AR's require dip coating with thermal curing.

We will have a small spin coater, hopefully by the first of the year, with a UV cure. Built specifically for us by the largest spin coter in the USA. Operation is manual ie. Lower to wash, raise and lower to coat, raise and lower to cure. If you can wait, will be worth your while. Estimated cost $7000 to $9000 new. EM me and I will let you know when available don@superoptical.com

Keep us posted Don. It sounds like an interesting product.

It should be noted that the Hard Coat has the single greatest impact on AR. A UV cured coat is faster, and less expensive, but with UV curing some small degree of catalyst remains un-reacted because UV does not penetrate 100%. Thermal curing takes longer, but heat penetrates all the way through. Spin coating requires less viscosity, so it needs more catalyst. Drip coating less. So a value AR with Drip Coat and Thermal (heat) curing can exceed some high end AR's with spin coat and UV curing. The top AR coat has a lesser effect on net AR durability. I am just saying that buying the best coater for your needs is not a just coating decision, its also an AR decision.

I thought the best ARs were done by vacuum deposition.

The AR itself is done with vacuum deposition. The hard coat that serves as its foundation is what is being discussed.

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Originally Posted by sharpstick777

A spin coater (in general) will be faster, and have higher yields, and less likely to have mistakes. But its only coating the back of the lens. A drip coater can cause "runs" streaks across the lens if everything is not perfect, but gives slighty harder scratch coat and better consistancy for AR (both sides are coated). In general, many premium AR's require dip coating with thermal curing.

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Redundant post..my bad

Dip coating materials are very sensitive. They have to be shipped in dry ice. Kept in a fridge. They have to be applied in perfect conditions in the way of humidity. If the you coat a lens that has already a front surface coating you have you have to strip that one first.

UV cure is easier to do, and the materials are easier to handle.

Would it be a better choice to finance a new Ultra mini 2 or purchase a used ultra mini 2 used?