Optical Surfacing Center Using Computer Controlled Machinery

The optical fabrication process has been traditionally labor intensive. With the advent of computer controlled machinery in the past decade steps have been taken to automate the optical fabrication process in specific cases. High speed fabrication facilities exist in most large optics companies for production of spherical surfaces with a few rings of power and irregularity. These facilities still require a great deal of labor intensive set up to initially produce the desired surface and then subsequent monitoring of the surfaces to determine if the surfaces are within the tolerance band. The subject of this work is to determine to what extent it is feasible to automate the set up and quality control using computer controlled machinery. The types of parts which are being considered are spherical surfaces on glass workpieces with diameters of from one half to three inches. Almost any radius of curvature surface can be produced.