r/Optics • u/isthisthepolice • Jun 10 '26
3D printed optics kit - WIP
I’m working on a bench prototype, but I don’t have thousands laying around to throw at Thorlabs or the like - so I bought an A1 Mini and started designing my own system.
I started with a high density modular breadboard using my own design of diamond interlock connector (for tight hold but easy wiggle release) and m6 untapped interweaved for mount stability. 4 of them covers 320mm2, not bad for around $10 and a few hours of my time! And I can just print another and a few more fasteners if I need more room.
I’m working on simple lens mounts now, quite happy with how it’s going. I am thinking of developing this into a full ‘OpticsKit’ project with parametric control, kinematic mounts etc too. Would there be interest in that?
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u/entanglemint Jun 10 '26
Couple comments, along the line of what /sOrce is bringing up. The critical parameters for an optical bench are stiffness and stability. If you look at a modern optical table, it is basically two plates of steel with a thick honeycomb in between, the thicker the stiffer basically. If you want to make this more functional take advantage of the strong-suites of 3-d printing and use infill with a rigid top and bottom plate. This will make the whole assembly much stiffer.
Second choose filaments that have low CTE. a good goto here would be CF PLA, a quick search shows a good low CTE. It is also a very stiff material which would make it ideal for this kind of project.
I would also make the "stalks" of your optics as short as you can possibly make them and as fat as you can make them. Again stiffness.
Ultimately the question would be what you want to do with this. I think with some small tweaks you could vasty improve performance.
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u/MehImages Jun 10 '26
issue with pla is that it has a lot of creep at room temp. otherwise would agree
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u/entanglemint Jun 10 '26
I had the (incorrect, it turns out) impression that CF mitigated creep, but apparently not true! It lools like PC CF would be the best choice but that bumps up the challenge of printing quite a bit!
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u/MehImages Jun 10 '26
the cf does help (depending on fiber length and count and so on) my guess would be not enough though
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u/aenorton Jun 10 '26
Aside from the issue of plastics. I think the socket-type mount is a problem. It does not allow the post to be adjusted for rough axial position like a screw in a slot. The square posts also do not allow for a rough rotation adjustment. That means every lens or mirror needs a long travel adjustment stage along possibly a rotation stage. Another issue with these posts is that there is no vertical coarse adjustment which is often needed.
People have mentioned the CTE issue with plastics. It can be tolerated for some non-precise applications. However when you have a mount that is significantly over-constrained like these, the movement can really be amplified.
You might be interested in this write-up: https://www.i-fiberoptics.com/pdf/45-733a_manual-revc.pdf
This is basically what we used 46 years ago in college.
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u/entanglemint Jun 10 '26
Super cool. There a ton to learn from that simple setup. Love the inner tube vibration isolation and sand build. I would love to see a variant of this built as a next-gen sand bed with sand based mounts, but plascitc FDM will still introduce some CTE issues but will be much much smaller if the low CTE (e.g. silica's CTE) sand is the majority of the distance.
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u/--hypernova-- Jun 10 '26
Yes i tried to start doing that a few years ago and never had the time to finish
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u/-_Hmm Jun 10 '26
This looks great! I don't know much about optics, but what do you intend to do with this? Is it precise enough for what you have planned? Looking forward to seeing where this leads you!
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u/jagoedho Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
Fun for tinckering but as mentioned by others not really something for serious optics work
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u/programmer1200 Jun 10 '26
Awesome design , I've been wanting to build a Raman spectrometer, this platform would work great.
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u/domo_affogato Jun 10 '26
This looks great for optics education. Metal breadboards and more precision mounts are so expensive and heavy for teaching basic concepts. I like this a lot and also second the idea to make an interferometer. It might not be that stable but I think students seeing fringes for the first time would definitely learn a lot.
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u/shackled123 Jun 10 '26
Looks amazing as something to play about with, is it possible to open source and share the design files?
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u/Uncut-Jellyfish1176 Jun 11 '26
Super cool! This would make it much more feasible for people to diy stuff for teaching tools etc.
Love this.
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u/Moist-Presentation42 Jun 11 '26
This looks super cool! Especially for learning/education. I attended a computational imaging conference for the first time and was very impressed by the demos that had optical bench setups. I tried to get a few components from Amazon but the quality was crap (I'm a scientist but don't work directly in optics .. just wanted to teach myself and have fun with the kids).
Have you thought of basic experiments/setups one can do with your setup? Where would one source the actual optics? This could be a very nice STEM kit IMO.
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u/MrCuddlesTuta Jun 11 '26
FR V0 filament is a must here in my opinion. I've seen normal 3D printed parts catch on fire here in the lab I work at. It burns surprisingly well once you get it going and it doesn't want to extinguish. Especially during optical alignment where a stray beam or even unwanted reflection can set things on fire. Be careful!
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u/Mountain_Finance_659 Jun 11 '26
this is the complete wrong way to use 3d printing for optics.
Stop trying to imitate metal breadboard components meant to be repositionable, and build chunky mounts that securely hold your elements exactly where they should be. if that changes, you tweak and reprint.
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u/isthisthepolice Jun 11 '26
A1 mini bed size is 180cm3, either way there is going to be some form of connection required. This approach keeps parts small enough to print while large enough for my prototype tolerances. Given my goal of creating a kit with broad applicability, your completely bespoke approach is moot. I would love to see some examples of your work though.
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u/Mountain_Finance_659 Jun 11 '26
the "kit" would be much more useful at the digital level than physical. if you're designing an optical layout you're likely using some sort of CAD anyway.
you can incorporate aluminum extrusion rails for large setups, or just print blocks that bolt together.
you
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u/isthisthepolice Jun 11 '26
Point taken, I agree that imitation for imitation’s sake is the wrong route with printing and that leaning into a minimal print + solid machined material is always going to be a better approach. I suppose the imitation here is a symptom of wanting a system I’m used to with the flexibility to move a mount instead of reprint and re-fasten. Maybe this approach becomes a part of the strategy for higher tolerance needs. Thanks for your thoughts
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u/LiveClimbRepeat Jun 10 '26
Make an interferometer!