Manufacturing Partners
Prototyping and manufacturing are generally the steps immediately following development and design of an optical system. These next steps usually involve:
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Diamond turning of precision plastic aspheres
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Grinding and polishing of glass spheres
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AR or reflective coating
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Machining precision metal barrels and mounts
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Molding glass or plastic components
SMA enjoys priority access to all of these capabilities due to close professional ties within the Rochester area. Time lines characteristically run in the eight to twelve week range, but much shorter schedules are possible. Deliveries in four to six weeks for complex hybrid systems have been achieved in the past.
First-hand knowledge of the benefits and problems associated with various optical plastics has enabled us to achieve some rather startling results. At SMA we design for fabrication and assembly. No matter how sophisticated the design is, in the end, someone must be able to successfully fabricate it over and over again.
In designing polymer optical components, we ensure that prototypes can be built using Single Point Diamond Turning to complete the initial prototype components. We utilize highly capable shops that know us and our expectations, and who deliver precision CNC machined components with consistent tolerances. We utilize proven PCB and MCPCB suppliers to produce our circuit boards, and we have the capability to populate very low volume boards in house, or involve sophisticated partners to populate PCBs on a larger scale.
Prototyping and manufacturing referrals are available only to those customers that we service with development or design contracts.
