what do you use for gluing optics and components in place?

[Draco]

Where do i get free samples of first contact? as i understand this stuff is 50 bucks for a small bottle?
as for methylene chloride based gel for paint and epoxy stripper i find it works well in removing TEC units as well but you may need to let it soak a bit first but in a day or so it came off and did not damage the TEC though it did need a good cleaning to get the goo out from it
does any one have a source for the very think TEC units? all i find are the thick ones online and don't allays fit well, i need the thin ones, like the ones on laser bee's sensor units, my only recourse is to scrap on of my end of life crystalaser dpss lasers to get one

[masterpj]

There are 2 sorts of first contact.. one transparent and one red.. ( I have the transparent one). The red one is mostly if you are covering big surfaces and you have difficulty making sure if you covered everything of your optic.
First contact I buy from Francesco in The Netherlands (Collimated FX) but can also be bought from stanwax in the UK.. I don't know where you can get it in america but I'd say order it from the site.

$50 sounds like a lot but you last for ages with a small bottle like that as long as you don't store it in a hot car in the sun.
Bought my bottle 2years ago and I'm about half way?

[swamidog]

There are 2 sorts of first contact.. one transparent and one red.. ( I have the transparent one). The red one is mostly if you are covering big surfaces and you have difficulty making sure if you covered everything of your optic.
First contact I buy from Francesco in The Netherlands (Collimated FX) but can also be bought from stanwax in the UK.. I don't know where you can get it in america but I'd say order it from the site.

$50 sounds like a lot but you last for ages with a small bottle like that as long as you don't store it in a hot car in the sun.
Bought my bottle 2years ago and I'm about half way?

forum member platinum is a us reseller. i've bought first contact from him.

[ghosttrain]

Bumping acetone. Anyone has a comment about using it?

[ghosttrain]

This should have been asked sooner, but I realized only now. How can you secure a mirror, prism or dichro on a brass or aluminum holder while the epoxy is being cured?
Since they are not very heavy can a play doh be used to keep the position and orientation while the epoxy cures? Obviously the clay won't be touching the area where light hit or passes

[planters]

Since they are not very heavy can a play doh be used to keep the position and orientation while the epoxy cures?

Machinists and opticians frequently use wax or pitch (which is very like a hard brittle yet removable wax ) to mount parts while working on them. But, don't forget that it will be the jig that you are depending on to support the optic. You can fabricate the jig so that no adhesive is needed. The mirror rests on a surface with edges or stops that define the alignment.

Play dough is plastic and will flow even if very slowly and mess up your alignment.

[rns0504]

Pangolin also has a jig to glue mirrors on.. I wish jigs like these were public or available to buy but sadly since there are no standard scanner sizes from varying brands and models you'd need such a jig per product.. which is a shame.

Our jig is pretty universal for smaller scanners. Super low tech, and has been used to mount mirrors on almost every 506 and Saturn scanner to leave the Pangolin office...



When setting up for a new mirror or installing a client-provided mirror, I just put the scanner and mirror in SolidWorks, put it in the jig and use pin gauges to locate the set screws. Works every time. Eventually I want to 3D print these things but this works really well for now.

[NobleGas]

UV curable resin prints from SLA printers are very brittle and you can't print big with these (they crack during curing).

That surprises me, at a previous employer, we printed covers for litho plate magazines using an SLA printer; the covers were 3' x 3' and didn't have any issues with cracking.

[ghosttrain]

Any chance it was a Stratasys/3D Systems printer?

[NobleGas]

I have no idea! All I know is that the resin used produced a translucent slightly yellow coloured plastic