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Any chance of 3D-printing lenses? Frames seem easy, but being able to automate lens creation may be able to bypass these big monopolies. Whatever happened to t
by bagrow 8y ago
Any chance of 3D-printing lenses? Frames seem easy, but being able to automate lens creation may be able to bypass these big monopolies.
Whatever happened to these water-filled lenses? https://gizmodo.com/5116969/eyeglasses-with-fluid-filled-sac-for-worlds-poor-are-instantly-adjustable https://gizmodo.com/5116969/eyeglasses-with-fluid-filled-sac... (2008)
- roywiggins 8y agoIt seems to me that approximately everyone on the planet sees mass media with people wearing ordinary glasses and will want to wear those instead of bulky silicone-filled lenses, even if it costs more. We're already willing to pay hundreds of dollars on name-brand frames- it's not because you can't find cheaper ones.
- inferiorhuman 8y agoThe article was talking about folks who are far too poor to afford a few hundred dollars to drop on glasses.
- roywiggins 8y agoI mean, people who can afford basic frames pay more for nicer ones. Quite poor people, if they get the chance, will probably pay for very-cheap real glasses even if there are even-cheaper silicone ones available. For people with no other choices, I can see the silicone ones being useful! But "hey, take these glasses we made for poor people" is not a great sales pitch.
- 21 8y agoThe article also says a cheap pair of glasses is $5.
- dharmab 8y agoYou can get perfectly fine, durable, non-dorky plastic frames for $10.
- Luc 8y agoIt's already being done, using very interesting technology. The printers are attached to multi-ton blocks of granite (IIRC) to counter vibrations. They're used to print out uncommon spectacle glasses. Several in use in North America. https://www.luxexcel.com/ophthalmic-technology https://www.luxexcel.com/ophthalmic-technology
- gaius 8y agoAny chance of 3D-printing lenses? Yes, it's called "grinding", it's how all lenses used to be made. For like, 500 years. Next up: can we make lenses on the blockchain?
- wlesieutre 8y agoSubtractive manufacturing is not the same as additive manufacturing. Formlabs has demoed a 3d printed camera lens, but it's a far cry from the optical quality of eyeglasses. https://formlabs.com/blog/creating-camera-lenses-with-stereolithography/ https://formlabs.com/blog/creating-camera-lenses-with-stereo...
- mmagin 8y agoI suspect a lot of the polymer lenses are cast to a rough shape and then ground/polished a relatively small amount to reach the final dimension.
- bagrow 8y agoWho does the grinding? How many people in third world countries have access to trained and equipped lensmakers? I’m sad about all your hate. I thought posters to HN were more insightful that this.