Polarized Lens Tinting?

[PAkev]

I was recently at an ABO seminar where a polarized lens Rep indicated their lenses could be tinted from the original casted colors of grey and brown. He indicated other colors can be added to customize a tint for a patients specific optical demands. I tried this once about 6-7 yrs ago, ended up s****ping the lenses, and never tried again since. With the price of polarized lenses, this could be a very costly mistake if things don't work out.

Any shared experiences, thoughts, suggestions, or recommendations appreciated.

Kevin

[Jerry Thornhill]

Kevin,
Polaroid lenses can be tinted with no problems. I recommend that you do this before the lens is edged. I realize that the lenses are supposedly in mold and not laminated; that is true until they are edged and then there is three pieces. Sometimes you can add a small amount of tint after edging but I do not recommend it.

Jerry

[abockid]

Kevin,
I tint polarized lenes all the time. I normally tint them after I edge them to reduce that clear edge look. I have never had a problem. I haven't tried to change the color I will have to try that tomorrow. I will let you know.
Abockid

[Mike Hunt]

Kevin,
So far we have heard some good replies. One thing to look out for is over-heating the lens. Think of it like a poly lens. Turn the temp down on the tint machine or tint it in intervals. It is more time consuming using these methods but you can save some breakages and do some custom work. Put the temp at 190 degrees or if you don't have the time to adjust temp, leave it at the usual temp and dip for a minute or two then cool it in water, dip, cool, dip, cool, etc. Good luck.
Mike

[Joann Raytar]

We also had a seminar with a lens rep. He said polycarbonate and poly polarized can be tinted but run the tint units hotter than you would for CR-39, above 205 degrees. The hotter the tint bath the quicker the coating will absorb tint and the less time the lens will need to remain in the tint bath.

[JERRY HUANG]

MIKE IS RIGHT AMOUNT ALL THE COMMANDS. POLARIZED LENS SHOULD ONLY BE TINTED WITH VERY LOW HEAT, OTHERWISE, THEY WILL SPLIT APART WITHIN A PERIOD OF TIME.

[Jeff Trail]

One thing that I havn't seen posted is that it DEPENDS on the type of polarized lens. (how it was produced)That and the lens of today are alot BETTER then the polarized technology we had to work with as few as 3 years back...
That said , Jo what you were told is NOT correct. The heat will start a delamination and since the majority of us will pop the lens into the frame right after dipping it and cleaning it that xtra heat will even cause MORE problems.
The tint part (what color etc.) is the easiest part of the process, you want to make sure that you MAINTAIN the quality of the polar sheet. So if it takes a little longer to tint it, that's cheaper then eating it because it delaminates.. :)
I believe what a "rep" tells me about as much as the car salesman selling me that 8 year old car with 150,000 miles and telling me his "mom" owned it .. case in point, I had a rep that was explaining to techs and opticians how those "dark" areas you see in a poly through a polariscope was a GOOD thing it was like checking for a hardend glass lens cross.. go figure I always thought those "dark" areas were DISTORTION especially where the gate is on the injection mold!
Sometimes a rep is going to tell you what ever you want to hear or what ever will sell the PRODUCT... go figure :)

Jeff

[Joann Raytar]

Jeff, now that you mention it a rep told me the same thing about polycarbonate under a polariscope. I seem to remember thinking "yeah, right." I had been taught that tinting polarized was bad at any point. We were running Weco edgers which can put a bunch of stress on lenses, depending on how they are balanced, not to mention the heat they produce.