OptiPro Systems 
Optical Ultra-News
OptiPro Systems Monthly Newsletter
August 2010 
In This Issue...
OptiPro U "An Awesome Experience"
Tech Tip from APD
Sneak Preview: SXL/UFF 500
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Greetings!
Optical Ultra-News highlights important news, new product information, and the latest technical process developments from OptiPro's Advanced Process Development (APD) department . You will also be able to find special promotions that are being offered. We hope you enjoy catching up on the exciting news in the world of OptiPro Systems.
OptiPro Systems
OptiPro U "An Awesome Experience"
 
The inaugural OptiPro U class consisted of 12 students from 9 different companies across the U.S.
OptiPro U's First Class
OptiPro held its first ever OptiPro U training course on Advanced Optical Manufacturing from August 16th to August 20th, and people left very satisfied with the training and hands-on experience they received. The course consisted of a morning lecture followed by afternoon lab, during which they were able to practice the techniques they learned on OptiPro's grinding and polishing machines and metrology equipment. The course was taught by OptiPro engineers Ed Fess, Jayson Tierson, and Dave Mohring.
The twelve students that participated in the course had numerous positive things to say when filling out their course evaluations, including the following statements:
"As always, you guys have been amazing with your customer service abilities."
"Lectures were a nice surprise as I didn't think I would receive so much historical and scientific background to optics."
"The instructors and lab personnel were very knowledgeable, approachable, and responsive to questions."
"It was an awesome experience. Very friendly and helpful people and wonderful technology."
"It didn't feel like a week-long sales pitch, but truly like a training program."
Students also gave OptiPro valuable feedback regarding the course, and these ideas will certainly be implemented when OptiPro holds their next OptiPro U course in March 2011. Among the suggestions given were:
"More hands-on experience by breaking up the class into groups of two or three during lab."
"More detail on K-ratio optimization and synchro-speed polishing correction."
"More focused curriculum for a more targeted audience."
OptiPro will continue to improve the OptiPro U training course each and every time it is offered with the help of our students comments. Those who attend the next OptiPro U class can expect an even more refined course than the one that was unanimously viewed as "a week well spent."
For more information on OptiPro U or to register for the next class, feel free to contact OptiPro by calling 585-265-0160 or by sending emails to [email protected].
OptiPro SystemsTech Tip from APD: A Better Way to Dress
Bonded diamond grinding wheels occasionally need to be trued and dressed. This may be a result of normal tool wear, or excessive grinding loads if not using optimal processing parameters (i.e. - tools speeds, and feed rates). Whatever the reason may be, you will want to be able to reshape the tool and/or expose fresh diamond abrasives. This is traditionally performed in two operations, The first is a truing operation that uses some process to shape the edge of the grinding wheel. This may be a wire EDM process used by a tool vendor, a grinding wheel specifically designed for truing wheels, or by using a diamond nib. After the tool is shaped, it need to be dressed to ensure that fresh diamonds are exposed. This operation is usually performed with an Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3) dressing stick. The Al2O3 abrasive size used will change with the diamond size of the grinding wheel you are trying to dress. Table 1 shows this relationship.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The old way of dressing your wheel was to turn your tool spindle on at a very slow rpm, and hand dress the grinding wheel. This is not a good way of performing this operation for a couple reasons. First, it is not safe. You should never stick your hands in a machine while the spindles are running. Secondly, it's quite simply not a controlled efficient way of exposing fresh diamonds on your wheel.
OptiPro has designed fixturing that will hold the Al2O3 dressing sticks in the work piece spindle. This allows you to use the machine to safely and accurately true and dress your grinding wheels. Figure 1 shows two different versions for the standard 1/2 and 1 inch square dressing stick sizes, and how it is set up in a grinding platform. This is performed by first placing the proper grit dressing stick in the holder. The holder is then placed into the work piece spindle, and the grinding wheel moved over the center of the dressing stick  so that it is almost touching. After adjusting your coolant lines, close the door, turn on your spindles and coolant, and finally program the machine to feed the grinding wheel into the dressing stick. The spindle speeds should be set similar to how they are being used during grinding and generally fed into the dressing stick at around 1 mm/min feed rate. The depth that you will have to remove from the dressing stick will vary from 1-2 mm up to tens of millimeters. This will depend on the size of the diamond abrasive (courser diamonds take longer), and amount of material that needs to be removed from the grinding wheel if you are trying to reshape it.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This process has the benefit of both truing and dressing your grinding wheel in the same operation. By using the precise control of the CNC machine it allows for much safer operation and better results than older dressing methods.
For more information about this product and pricing, please contact Ed Fess ([email protected]) or Dave Mohring ([email protected]).
OptiPro Systems
New Product Sneak Preview: SXL/UFF 500
 
The New SXL/UFF 500.
The All-New SXL/UFF 500
The SXL/UFF 500 platform developed by OptiPro is a bridge-style grinding and polishing CNC platform for standard workpiece sizes up to 500mm. The large work envelope will allow for larger workpieces dependant on the specific geometry. Currently, this platform is fabricating conformal optical workpieces. Next month's newsletter will highlight this product and applications.
OptiPro Systems is a global leader in designing and building computer controlled grinding, polishing, and measuring equipment for the precision optics industry. If you would like to reach us, please call (585) 265-0160 or send emails to [email protected].  
 
Sincerely, 
OptiPro Systems
*The Machines Behind Precision Optics*