Oct. 1, 2014

Dutch company LUXeXceL Group, inventor of 3D printed optics in the field, today announces a few new development that will allow the company to compete with injection molding for the production of small and mid-sized series of optical components.

LUXeXceL's one step "CAD-to-Optic" 3D printing process prints optical components in one job without the necessity for post processing like polishing, grinding and coloring the product after printing. The system is based on proven wide-format industrial inkjet printing equipment. Transparent droplets of a UV-curable polymer are jetted and then cured by strong UV-lamps which are integrated onto the print head. The results of the process are geometric or freeform shapes that may include transparent prisms or lenses, as well as full color 3D graphics and textures.

LUXeXceL announces today the launch of a new additive manufacturing platform and a new clear material "LUX-Opticlear", allowing high quality optics manufacturing up to 20mm in height.

The new additive manufacturing platform will allow the company to offer a fast and effective service for prototyping, iterating and the manufacturing of optics. The whole process is digital, allowing full flexibility and ordering on demand. According to the company, small series or individual optics can be made in the space of a few days, and unique optical designs and components can be quickly tested and new designs can be validated.

The newly developed polymer material, LUX-Opticlear, allows for your products to be 3D printed in greater detail. In addition, it can also be printed to heights of up to 20mm. The approach of LUXeXceL's patented "Printoptical Technology" allows optics printed with LUX-opticlear to have a perfectly smooth surface and an internal transmission of 96.9%.

"The optical quality of the new LUX-Opticlear material combined with the digital advantages of this new additive process, makes our service an affordable and attractive solution for both prototyping and smaller or mid-sized volume manufacturing of optical components" says Richard van de Vrie, Founder and CEO of LUXeXceL.

"As we do not need to post process the printed products, our process is fast and scalable, enabling optics designers to walk a perfect route from fast prototyping and easy iterating, to manufacturing the exact required volumes in days!"

The company has also announced that a new online platform will be rolled out over the rest of 2014. It will allow customers to securely upload CAD files, be provided with a quotation based on 3D model's specifications.

"The new platform is equipped with software that enables the uploading of various different types of CAD files and automatically re-processes the CAD files in specially formatted print-files." explained van de Vrie. "These new capabilities combined with the "One-Step-CAD-to-Optic" manufacturing process is interesting for various industries, as new optical products and functions will arrive on stage and optics can be tailored to every application, project or even single product."





Posted in 3D Printing Services

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