Homemade DIY optical breadboard and mounts?
s...@noemail.com
I am going to make a homemade optical breadboard as well as mounts for
optical components. I bought some cube beamsplitters, first surface
mirrors, polarizing filters, diode laser, etcetera. And, I need a way
to mount them...and something to mount them to.
I figured I would start with some kind of ferromagnetic metal plate
(with foam padding underneath to absorb vibrations) as the optical
table so I could use simple magnets as the base for each mount. But
I'm not sure where to go from there.
Has anyone here made their own optical breadboard and mounts? Got a
webpage or anything? Is there any kind of forums or groups just on
making your own optical breadboards and mounts?
Thanks for any info....Sam
Richard J Kinch
I have designed a optical rail system based on inexpensive structural
aluminum with a modest amount of machining:
http://www.truetex.com/optical_prototyping.htm
If you need a table instead of just rail(s), then I would consider an
import granite surface plate from http://www.use-enco.com/. You can get a
12x18 inch stone for $25, and I think they will ship it free during their
occasional promotions. Or a 3 x 4 foot monster for $311 today, but another
hundred or two for truck shipping.
If you want to make your own precision optical mounts, you must take up a
prerequisite hobby of metalworking, perhaps just a minilathe to start.
Delrin or brass are very easy materials to work, but you do need a machine
tool.
Sam Goldwasser
Do you want to do this for the fun of learning all the intricacies of
machining, etc.? Or, do you want something useful for lasers and optics
without a lot of effort? This will be a lot of effect. There's plenty of
surplus Newport and other similar compatible opto-mechanical stuff out
there are pennies on the dollar including eBay.
--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
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| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html
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Helpful person
kinematic design. At least buy and read some books on the subject.
Please visit my web site at www.richardfisher.com
Alessandro
> I am going to make a homemade optical breadboard as well as mounts for
> optical components. I bought some cube beamsplitters, first surface
> mirrors, polarizing filters, diode laser, etcetera. And, I need a way
> to mount them...and something to mount them to.
>
> I figured I would start with some kind of ferromagnetic metal plate
> (with foam padding underneath to absorb vibrations) as the optical
> table so I could use simple magnets as the base for each mount. But
> I'm not sure where to go from there.
There are even cheaper way as the National Institute of Optices of
Florence has demonstrated look here
http://www.ino.it/~querc/franco.htm
--
Life's but a walking shadow
a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage
an then is heard no more
it is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury
signifying nothing.
From the Scottish drama of Bill
redbelly
If you can afford to buy all those optics, why not also buy the
breadboard and mounts? You could use magnetic bases, or you could get
an aluminum surface with a grid of threaded screw-holes that you simply
bolt the optic bases to.
You can browse around at www.thorlabs.com to find most of this stuff.
Mark
Adam Norton
For a holography lab in college, everyone had a tub of washed, coarse sand,
and the optics were just mounted on blocks or rods that were stuck in the
sand. If you do not need permanent or precise alignment, this works fine.
The sand is excellent at isolating vibration.
--
Adam Norton
Norton Engineered Optics
Optical design and systems engineering for Silicon Valley and beyond.
http://home.ix.netcom.com/~anorton/
(Remove antispam feature before replying)
s...@noemail.com
>If you can afford to buy all those optics, why not also buy the
>breadboard and mounts? You could use magnetic bases, or you could get
>an aluminum surface with a grid of threaded screw-holes that you simply
>bolt the optic bases to.
>
>You can browse around at www.thorlabs.com to find most of this stuff.
>
>Mark
Well, I can get cube beam splitters for $20, plate beam splitters for
$10, Kodak glass polarizers .50 cents ($20 pack of 40) , diode lasers
for $30, and first surface mirrors for $2. I spent less than $150 I
guess.
But an optical breadboard at 23" x 23" is about $500 + shipping.
Mounts are about $20-$100+ each. Now your talking about $1000. A
little over my budget. Thorlabs looks good, but is just out of my
league.
I've been thinking about an aluminum plate. They're so cheap. But I
really like the idea of the thing being magnetic. It would make
mounting and reconfiguring so fast.
P.S. I still got some good ideas from thorlabs. Thanks for the link!
----------------------------------
Junior Samples:
I'm so poor, if steamboats were a dime a dozen all I could do is run
up and down the shore yelling "Ain't they cheap!"
s...@noemail.com
wrote:
>Richard J Kinch <ki...@truetex.com> writes:
>
>> > Has anyone here made their own optical breadboard and mounts?
>>
>> I have designed a optical rail system based on inexpensive structural
>> aluminum with a modest amount of machining:
>>
>> http://www.truetex.com/optical_prototyping.htm
>>
>> If you need a table instead of just rail(s), then I would consider an
>> import granite surface plate from http://www.use-enco.com/. You can get a
>> 12x18 inch stone for $25, and I think they will ship it free during their
>> occasional promotions. Or a 3 x 4 foot monster for $311 today, but another
>> hundred or two for truck shipping.
>>
>> If you want to make your own precision optical mounts, you must take up a
>> prerequisite hobby of metalworking, perhaps just a minilathe to start.
>> Delrin or brass are very easy materials to work, but you do need a machine
>> tool.
>
>Do you want to do this for the fun of learning all the intricacies of
>machining, etc.? Or, do you want something useful for lasers and optics
>without a lot of effort? This will be a lot of effect. There's plenty of
>surplus Newport and other similar compatible opto-mechanical stuff out
>there are pennies on the dollar including eBay.
>
>--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
> Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
>+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
> | Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html
>
Hi Sam! I really enjoyed your Laser Faq and other stuff. Excellent!
The optical mounts I see on Ebay and elsewhere are still about $10+
each. Thats not too bad but considering what a hodgepodge of junk you
get when you buy in lots it still isn't very cost effective. It would
take several hundred dollars and months of collecting to do even
simple setups.
I think I need something cheaper, simpler, and easier to do. I found
the following webpage that showed a very simple mount with many
degrees of freedom. Granted, it doesn't have super-fine adjustments,
but it may be good enough for the experiments I wish to do. I can see
modifying this mount to carry just about anything. It's so cheap and
simple. At least I won't spend much money or time seeing if it will
work for me...
Simple to make, super cheap, mirror mount:
http://www.imagesco.com/articles/holography/HowToShootHolograms04.html
Adam Norton
Snip
>
> I think I need something cheaper, simpler, and easier to do. I found
> the following webpage that showed a very simple mount with many
> degrees of freedom. Granted, it doesn't have super-fine adjustments,
> but it may be good enough for the experiments I wish to do. I can see
> modifying this mount to carry just about anything. It's so cheap and
> simple. At least I won't spend much money or time seeing if it will
> work for me...
> Simple to make, super cheap, mirror mount:
> http://www.imagesco.com/articles/holography/HowToShootHolograms04.html
>
As another option, you can look at this article on making adjustable optics
mounts from Lego:
http://siof.ifac.cnr.it/Play%20Optics%20with%20LEGO%20TM.pdf
redbelly
Sounds like that could work for one afternoon's lab session. But what
if you wanted to come back to your optical setup a day or two later,
and continue the project where you left off?
Mark
redbelly
s...@noemail.com wrote:
> Well, I can get cube beam splitters for $20, plate beam splitters for
> $10, Kodak glass polarizers .50 cents ($20 pack of 40) , diode lasers
> for $30, and first surface mirrors for $2. I spent less than $150 I
> guess.
I am impressed.
Mark
Allan Adler
> There are even cheaper way as the National Institute of Optices of
> Florence has demonstrated look here
> http://www.ino.it/~querc/franco.htm
What was the total cost of the LEGO toys they had to buy for this?
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <a...@zurich.csail.mit.edu>
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and
* comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.