I'm looking to upgrade edgers. Who has the Briot Accura, the one that safety bevels and grooves for $30,000? How has the machine been?
I'd prefer just to hear only about the briot, Their customer service here in Mass has been outstanding (unlike their major competitor).
Harry
Harry, I live out in Israel and have had Briot Patternless edgers since 1988, this Accura is just a great machine and you can teach an inexperienced person to be using it, up and running within a day or two.
For someone who knows what they want from a lens, it's a delight to work with.
We average out about 25 jobs a day, mainly CR39, 1.6 and Polys, maybe a couple of glass also and the machine handles the lot.
As far as I'm concerned the beveller is a total waste of time and just destroys the finish on Poly, the final glossy polish wheel is good, the rimless bevel is good, but you have to learn the art of scanning a 'dummy lens' first.
Good features are speed, precision of glazing, reliability, and in Israel, service too, but you say that already exists in your area.
I personally enjoy the feature of being able to put the bevel or groove on a lens where I want, and not where the machine tells me.... (there actually is a 'Expert Wizard' feature if you want to use it.)
Without doubt the best I've used so far
Good luck... and I have no connection with Briot!!!
I also have no affiliation with Briot.I have had it for about 8 to 10 months. Love it!!!!
I was using a pattern essilor edger not too bad before, had horrible time trying to get help when I needed it. I have called a few times into Briot not having any problems with them yet. I do mostly cr-39, different indexes,"polycraponite", and glass. The safety beveler is ok. We don't use it much.
The polisher is ok and I love the groover "hate to groove by hand myself,but I can".Still might want to spend a few minutes touching up the polishing by hand, if you want a real nice job. I would full endorse it even though I don't get anything from it.
Also It is smaller than a lot of others out there. Go for it.
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Bruce Dixon
I've found with the Briot that the safety beval feature is pointless because the angle it edges at is not accurate. I do however find it god on polys as it removes all the offcuts from the edge for me :D
Depeending on how its plumbed up it can be a pain in the rear to clean it as there is so many parts to the water tank.
Its not a high jobs machine is shouldn't be made to work over 30 max jobs a day otherwsie it may not be as accurate as it should.
If it was down to me I'd stick with the good ole' Weco's because they're faster cleaner and in cases more accurate.
I demo'd the unit at the Vision Expo last week (Briot Accura). As a complete novice I was interested in how easy it would be for my employees to learn. I personally witnessed a single vision job being done in about 3 minutes. It seemed like a very easy system to learn. The combined unit was $40,000. There is another unit from Topcon that it supposed to be good but I haven't tried it yet.
Further to other posts....Originally Posted by harry888
It isn't the quickest machine but I have seen it do 70+ jobs per day if they are the right stuff.
The amount of control you have over bevel position is fantastic, the polish is great, the groover is also nice. I reckon just about anyone could produce nice work on this machine.
Cons...
There seem to be a small number of frames where it errors that they are too small, and thats that. A bit of a problem if it is your only machine.
Also it will only groove lenses which are approx 2mm ET. So keep an autogroover handy.
It does a lot of beeping and needs constant reassurance from the operator and initially you may want to hit it with a plank.
The tracer units seem prone to trouble, we had 3 in the first few months of owning ours, though now it is fine.
I would also look at the Weco 430/450.
Rick
I might be picking up a used Acura in the near future. I estimate about 200 jobs.
Anyone know what I should offer?
James
I would not buy one used, new with a warranty...IMHO
I pesonally like the briot accura, however it does have some flaws the above mentioned problems with small frames... also keep an eye on your tracings because sometimes there are flaws in the tracings like a bump or hickup i like to call them... we have a problem with the bevel going to the back of the lens and we have their service technicians out here 3 times and cannot fix the problem...
the thing i like the most is that this machine is that its fast and accurate...
Not per day I hope!
I would reckon about $7000 Dollars if it is a young / hi spec model.Anyone know what I should offer?
James
Interesting reading my post (above) from exactly 5 years ago.
We still have the same Accura, it's our only edger, and 5 years later I still have to say it's a great piece of gear.
Of course I've been tempted to trade it in for a more modern edger with all the bells, whistles and drills but as I've only been offered $4,000 in part exchange I'm hanging on as I don't see any real reason for a change.
There are drawbacks with the modern shallow frames and thin lenses as mentioned by others and the scanning has to be accurate but I have to say it's been a very reliable and trustworthy edger over the years.
Interesting reading my post (above) from exactly 5 years ago.
We still have the same Accura, it's our only edger, and 5 years later I still have to say it's a great piece of gear.
Of course I've been tempted to trade it in for a more modern edger with all the bells, whistles and drills but as I've only been offered $4,000 in part exchange I'm hanging on as I don't see any real reason for a change.
There are drawbacks with the modern shallow frames and thin lenses as mentioned by others and the scanning has to be accurate but I have to say it's been a very reliable and trustworthy edger over the years.
[img]images/buttons-az/edit.gif[/img]
Interesting to see a thread I started 5 years ago suddenly pop up.
Since then, I did buy the Accura, even my five year lease is about to be paid off.
Harry
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