I made BETTER microlenses for NASA on a Formlabs printer (part 3)

[@mrlithium69]

cool project, but its hard to tell from that tiny microscope, and the resin seems too volatile to control

[@sealiosprojects]

Surprisingly enough it is not as volatile as you’d think. Once the extra resin is removed it is fairly accurate from a visual perspective (haven’t been able to test them yet). Also the microscope was $10 off of ebay lol

[@Raymond-Wu]

Have you tried curing another layer of the same resin on top of the lens? Something like a plastic pipette and a single drop on top of the lens. Then cure it separately. Adding a different material like gloss would be difficult because it'd need to have a similar refractive index

[@sealiosprojects]

The only problem that I forsee with that is that the extra resin will alter the lens profile

[@Raymond-Wu]

@sealiosprojects yup you're right depending on your implementation. There are also steps you can't do that others have when creating resin lenses such as sanding. You're working at a different scale. I'd try vibrating it off to see if I can start with getting a consistent thickness. At your scale something like a rig that holds one lens plate (?) and an electric toothbrush attachment might work

[@sealiosprojects]

@@Raymond-Wu Not a bad idea, I'd be interested to see how it affects the surface quality

[@site19s_finest]

why will it be destroyed if left open?

[@sealiosprojects]

If particles get in the tank or if someone damages the lens on the assembly. Trust me in my workshop it will happen

[@site19s_finest]

@sealiosprojects aha

[@site19s_finest]

@@sealiosprojects love your videos