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Thread: Equipment for small batch frame manufacture?

  1. #1
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    Equipment for small batch frame manufacture?

    Hello, OptiBoard. I am a designer in the United States tooling up for a small run, bespoke eyeglass frame operation. Myself and my partner are experienced craftsmen who have developed some CAD tech to greatly speed the process of producing custom eyeglasses. Right now we have a desktop CNC router for the initial cutting, files and a bevelled dremel head for the detail work, and a polishing wheel strapped onto our trusty angle grinder.

    One thing I can not figure out is how to consistently press the nose bridge and curvature into the front face of the frames. I understand this is going to be some sort of heat and pressure process, but I do not know what machine we would need to secure or emulate to achieve this effect. If anybody on OptiBoard has any framebuilding experience or links to resources that can help, please let me know. Also, is there any other important equipment that I might be missing? I am thinking that we will be outsourcing lens cutting to local businesses for the time being since we are such a small operation. Thank you so much,

    legodt

  2. #2
    Underemployed Genius Jacqui's Avatar
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    I used a modified pad press. It had been modified to add the correct curve to the frame. Just heat frame in salt pan and press it to shape.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jacqui View Post
    I used a modified pad press. It had been modified to add the correct curve to the frame. Just heat frame in salt pan and press it to shape.
    Thanks for your response! If you don't mind, I would love to see the work you are doing, always excited to see what other makers are working on. In response to your equipment recommendation, right now we are digging out an old electric hot plate from the dorm room days and filling a heat conductive container with salt (or sand, we need to see which works better) to make a diy salt pan.

    What do you mean by a pad press? In our workshop now we are modifying an old school dry mount photo press to have inserts with the curvature and nose shape we desire (swapping them out depending on the design), is this similar to your approach?

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