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Thread: Near Free Cylinder lens?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    Cleveland Ohio
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    Default Near Free Cylinder lens?

    Wild hair idea. I wonder if you could cut a section from a glass or plastic tube that would act like a cylinder lens? Change the focus by the thickness and the size of the pipe you cut a section out of. Probably not smooth enough but an idea. IF it works you got all you ever need for nearly free. Since a laser is so small a beam, the lack of surface figure might be ok.

    You might even modify it by flattening and polishing one side and then cutting it. AR coating is another matter. Can we do it ourselves??? stazy tuned....

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
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    Germany
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    ... this is not uncommon - have seen some prototypes with this "workaround" ... and some (if not all) of the cheap line lasers use this ...

    Viktor

  3. #3
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    Jan 2006
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    Charleston, SC
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    Default

    The idea is sound. The devil is in the details... If you have access to lapidary tools and can polish the cut surface so it's flat and smooth, then great! As you said, nearly free cylindrical lenses.

    But if you don't have those tools, then I think you'll be hard pressed to cut the cylinder well enough that the resulting lens would be usable.

    Adam

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    Cleveland Ohio
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    Tried it and it works but it’s not great

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