HIGH SPEED FABRICATION OF ASPHERIC SURFACES (OPTICAL, CAM, LENS, POLISH, GENERATE)

Automation of the fabrication of optical surfaces have been studied both theoretically and experimentally. An Elastic Polishing Model has been derived which predicts the motions required by an elastic ring tool polisher to polish an optical surface to the desired shape and accuracy. A machine control program has been developed which is used to automatically grind and polish optical surfaces.; An Optical Surfacing CAM machine has been designed and constructed using a modified CNC milling machine. The O.S. CAM consists of three fabrication stations used for rough grinding, fine grinding, and polishing. Glass parts are loaded into the tool spindle from an automatic tool changer and then cycled through a fabrication process under computer control. Analysis of the generated and polished optical surfaces is performed using conventional radius gauges, test glasses and a Fizeau interferometer.