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Welding breakthrough could transform manufacturing

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Re: Welding breakthrough could transform manufacturing

#61

Post by solarkraft »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #45
smolder wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think we'd be premature in reducing our environmental impact

There are enormous amounts of landfill space available, and when properly lined, do not impact the environment. Throw those broken glasses out, throw on a new pair, and get back to work working on something important.

Interesting opinion. There are not infinitely many resources though and our energy consumption is not yet even near CO2-neutrality.

It's insignificant for eye glass frames, but not so much for other stuff, like packaging.

Re: Welding breakthrough could transform manufacturing

#62

Post by trymas »

patentatt wrote: post #38
14 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose but personally I have only ever heard of people changing the entire frames with the glass. What a wasteful time we live in.

I’ve tried to change lenses while keeping frames, most manufacturers make it pretty hard to do so. Some don’t sell blank lenses without frames, and others have such fragmented and changing product lines that lenses aren’t available 1-2 years after original purchase. And to be fair, frames aren’t really all that durable anyways, and for something used daily it’s not all that wasteful to replace them every once in a wh…

That's really strange. I did replace my lenses and kept the frames. It was basically the same procedure as ordering new glasses.

To my knowledge opto-technician will map and cut new lenses using your frames or old lenses as a template.

Also looking at the prices, it looks to me that most of the profits are in selling the lenses (unless you buying designer frames for gazillion $). Where I live no-name frames are very often free or for extremely low price (EDIT: also it would be an insane task to mass manufacture specific lenses for specific frames, just due to the fact of variability of eye conditions: near-sightedness, far-sightedness, astigmatism and varying strength on these conditions (cylinder angle and diopter).

Re: Welding breakthrough could transform manufacturing

#63

Post by ginko »

patentatt wrote: post #38
14 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose but personally I have only ever heard of people changing the entire frames with the glass. What a wasteful time we live in.

I’ve tried to change lenses while keeping frames, most manufacturers make it pretty hard to do so. Some don’t sell blank lenses without frames, and others have such fragmented and changing product lines that lenses aren’t available 1-2 years after original purchase. And to be fair, frames aren’t really all that durable anyways, and for something used daily it’s not all that wasteful to replace them every once in a wh…

Hm? It was my understanding that the companies that sell frames and the ones that sell lenses are mostly independent. Your optician will cut the lenses to fit in your frames.

Re: Welding breakthrough could transform manufacturing

#64

Post by toomuchtodo »

solarkraft wrote: post #61
toomuchtodo wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are enormous amounts of landfill space available, and when properly lined, do not impact the environment. Throw those broken glasses out, throw on a new pair, and get back to work working on something important.

Interesting opinion. There are not infinitely many resources though and our energy consumption is not yet even near CO2-neutrality. It's insignificant for eye glass frames, but not so much for other stuff, like packaging.

I have confidence humanity will solve the disposal issue soon enough no hand wringing will be required. See: rapid renewables deployment across the globe and the hockey stick EV adoption curve.

It’s not as if this is nuclear waste. Toss it in the ground, wrap it up nicely, and we’ll revisit it in 50-100 years.

Disclaimer: recovering recycling evangelist

Re: Welding breakthrough could transform manufacturing

#65

Post by logfromblammo »

floatingatoll wrote: post #51
gnode wrote: post #50

In what use cases is this superior to traditional metal-glass seals (e.g. vacuum tubes), or metal-on-glass deposition (e.g. mirrors)?

This permits bonding a metal handle to a pyrex measuring cup. (It would only be safe up to boiling temperatures under the restrictions of the current process, assuming that the process described scales up to a measuring cup.) This is a constructed example to demonstrate the type of thing that could be done now that we've figured out a possible way to do it. It's probably not a good example, but it is clearly distinct…

One of the advantages of borosilicate glass kitchenware is that you can put it in the oven, fridge, and microwave. Bonding metal to it with a joint that only works up to 90C obviates most of that utility. The only problem with borosilicate glass vessels as they are is that they don't work on inductive cooktops.

That joint is going to have to handle 300C in order to make it into my kitchen. I might go for a glass/ceramic liner in an aluminum pan, particularly if the ceramic is BAM, but that's going to get hot.

I'd actually look for this first in LED lenses bonded to aluminum heat sinks. A good bond there might allow for higher wattage through the electronic parts. An operating range between -50C and 90C encompasses the operating range of most consumer electronics, plus some margin.

Re: Welding breakthrough could transform manufacturing

#66

Post by _ph_ »

jdietrich wrote: post #59
patentatt wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve tried to change lenses while keeping frames, most manufacturers make it pretty hard to do so. Some don’t sell blank lenses without frames, and others have such fragmented and changing product lines that lenses aren’t available 1-2 years after original purchase. And to be fair, frames aren’t really all that durable anyways, and for something used daily it’s not all that wasteful to replace them every once in a wh…

That's not how eyeglasses work. Lenses are supplied to opticians as a round blank, which are then cut to fit the frame. Any optician should be able to re-glaze any frame, regardless of age or manufacturer; their equipment measures the frame, then cuts the lens to fit. It's really quite impressive to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCjGNUPO0WU

Things are changing again. My optician used to work as you described, but for my last set of glasses I would choose the frame and he would enter my lens specification into the manufacturers webpage. The manufacturer (a German brand) with a Singapore factory would produce then the desired frame and equip it with the fitting lenses and send off the bundle to my optician here in Germany. As I had the same lens specs as my previous glasses, I can say that the new glasses are optically superior and the whole package was even distinctively cheaper than the previous one.

Re: Welding breakthrough could transform manufacturing

#67

Post by Ma8ee »

hadlock wrote: post #35
MisterTea wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of glass to metal sealing is done for hermetic purposes. One use is glass sealed connectors for aerospace use. Also components for ultra high vacuum systems which use metal to glass (or ceramic) joints to transition between materials or electrical isolation.

Generally these metal-glass joints use a sealant that also acts as an expansion joint. The California Academy of Sciences (that building with the grass on the roof with the circular windows) has a rainforest sphere made out of 8x8 foot panels, if you inspect the joints they are sealed with 1" of silicone caulking to account for different rates of expansion of the glass in four directions. This silicone caulking is al…

Not in Ultra High Vacuum systems. There's no surface on the inside except glass or metall that can be outgased for some time at high temperature.

Since we need to heat the system to speed up the outgasing process, the expansion coefficients for the joints between metall and glass must be very closely matched.

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