Lab question...

[Benjamin Montoya]

This is my first post at this site.. Looking for a lab in the US that still does the old school hand faceting for rimless frames. Would appreciate any help..

Thank you,

Benjamin M

[Paul Smith LDO]

Try, Bad *** Optical Lab.

[Chris Ryser]

This is my first post at this site.. Looking for a lab in the US that still does the old school hand faceting for rimless frames. Would appreciate any help..

Welcome on OB. Nice to see somebody with a real name.

The only Guy that we had on OptiBoard that cut the facettes on lenses has retired a few years back.

Also there was an optical Lab in California that used to do it

It is not hard to do, but you have to do it on glass lenses because once you cut these facettes you also have to polish them, which worked fine on glass but, would be a problem on plastic, as the material is too soft to buff it on those small cuts.

[Paul Smith LDO]

Chris, I've done it successfully on plastic it requires time and a steady hand. Ben, apparently Bad *** no longer does it, I'd try Italee.

[optical24/7]

It is not hard to do, but you have to do it on glass lenses because once you cut these facettes you also have to polish them, which worked fine on glass but, would be a problem on plastic, as the material is too soft to buff it on those small cuts.

Chris, what material do you think we used exclusively back in the early eighties to do facets? CR39. I still do them today, but usually with 1.60. The only glass faceted lens I've seen was one I made for my ex-wife back about "82 in PGX.

[rbaker]

I used to do a pant load of them back in the 70's in glass and CR-39. Tura rimless 3 piece mountings were big back then. All it requires is a moderate amount of skill with the proper tooling and practice, practice, practice.

[Chris Ryser]

Chris, what material do you think we used exclusively back in the early eighties to do facets? CR39. I still do them today, but usually with 1.60. The only glass faceted lens I've seen was one I made for my ex-wife back about "82 in PGX.

You are totally right, ...............I backtracked a little too far, because we did a lot of them in glass in the early 70s as Dick said and then converted to CR39.

[Don Gilman]

This is my first post at this site.. Looking for a lab in the US that still does the old school hand faceting for rimless frames. Would appreciate any help..

Thank you,

Benjamin M

Don't know of any labs still doing this but if push comes to shove you can google it. We used to have a "machine" that did it and I believe it was made for diamond cutter and modified for lenses. It was just a flat 6 inch revolving plate that you could change abrasive discs and polish discs and a lens holder that you could adjust the angle of the cut.

[rbaker]

I used a 6" and 3" diamond wheel and also did free hand stuff with a Dermel and an old dental drill. The main problems that I encountered were inadvertently scratching plastic lenses. I found the best way to alleviate this was to cover the lenses with masking tape and keep flushing the lenses and my hands with running water.

Of course, back in those days we were not concerned with all of these new fangled coatings so we didn't have to worry about lenses failing.

[barryh66]

I see several people like me reminiscing (not the correct word) doing these in our "day". Benjamin have you checked with your surface lab to see what specialty labs they use also remember about all you will be able to do is facet and tint.

Ahh I remember shamrocks, Harts and crosses please wake me up I think i'm having a nightmare..

[rbaker]

barryh66,

Its called flashbacks, a mild form of PTSD.

I don't think anyone would touch this type of work today. You do a real nice job and it comes back a month later for a freeby redo. No thanks.