Advances in freeform manufacturing

Franciscus Wolfs; James Ross; Kyle Wood; Joshua Hamel

doi:10.1117/12.2679790

29 November 2023 Advances in freeform manufacturing

Franciscus Wolfs, James Ross, Kyle Wood, Joshua Hamel

Proceedings Volume 12778, Optifab 2023; 1277802 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2679790
Event: SPIE Optifab, 2023, Rochester, New York, United States

Abstract

Freeform optics are becoming more prevalent in the optics industry. Designers recognize their ability to reduce optical system footprints, enable more complex systems, and match mold lines of their application. These benefits come with new challenges and requirements. As freeforms become more readily used, their geometries are becoming increasingly complex, surface finish tolerances are tightening, and desired manufacturing times are shortening. Just as advancing from spherical to aspherical advancement required adapting existing best-practices and developing new techniques, meeting the freeform manufacturing requirements will require a new manufacturing process. To successfully develop a manufacturing process for freeform optics, several requirements need to be met: the process should be repeatable and efficient, opportunities for human error should be minimized, and the process should be simplified such that high skill level technicians are not a requirement for success Fixturing and datum designs are key to making the process more repeatable and easier to set up as it simplifies moving the part between machines and metrology. On-machine probing makes part setup easier, minimizes the impact of operator skill level, and decreases part damage risks. Processes are developed to optimize the result of each step in the operation and minimize the time required by each following operation, which typically have lower removal rates and longer run times. The choice of metrology platform and error map types can directly affect overall processing time and ease of error map alignment for deterministic figure corrections. This paper presents OptiPro’s advancements in these areas to successfully manufacture freeform optics.

Conference Presentation

(2023) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Franciscus Wolfs, James Ross, Kyle Wood, and Joshua Hamel "Advances in freeform manufacturing", Proc. SPIE 12778, Optifab 2023, 1277802 (29 November 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2679790

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