Expensive lesson learned

[Paul Phillips]

For the benefit of those who try to save a few bucks and buy the replacement lenses from a third party and "do it yourself". My laser operator broke a lens a couple months ago by cleaning it with Acetone while it was to hot and cracked it, so I ordered a replacement lens through Laserbits and saved a few $s, they also sell the glue and have instructions online of how to do it, I did everything as instructed and yesterday he tells me that "the lens fell out and broke while I was cleaning it!" Argggh... My only conclusion is that I didn't use enough glue so it's ultimately my fault, (although we are establishing some new cleaning procedures) I was concerned about not getting any on the face of the lens so I was very careful to keep it just on the edges but I guess I didn't use quite enough, well I ordered another ($237) lens and this time I took more care to put extra on so that even a little bit can be seen around the inside edge of the holder but not enough to effect the beam itself, I then ran an extra bead around the inside edge and into the 4 notches just to be extra sure.
lens1 003.jpg
It may not look real pretty but at least it should hold good. So the lesson here is, if you choose to glue your own lens in, MAKE SURE YOU USE ENOUGH GLUE!
Hope this helps someone.
Paul

[Dan Hintz]

Are you sure that's the correct lesson, Paul? Have you watched the operator's cleaning technique to verify what he's doing is reasonable? What is he using to clean the lens? You soften the glue by immersing the holder in acetone... if he's not quick with his cleaning (or is flooding the optic with solution), he could be melting the glue during the cleaning process. Enough cleaning sessions and it's an accident waiting to happen.

[Mike Mackenzie]

Paul,

Lesson learned however I do not understand why you are doing it this way. If you are spending $237.00 + glue + shipping + labor to glue your own optic into your bracket instead of just buying the lens already glued into said bracket for $235.00 + shipping.

I do not see the savings.

I personally do not like the glue that laserbits sells because of the issue you had it has happened to other people who have tried to do this.

[Paul Phillips]

Dan, yes we normally use the recommended lens cleaning solution and optic wipes, the previous problem with the Acetone was because there was a spot on the lens that would not come off by the standard method and the Acetone was suggested as an alternative for the difficult to clean spot.
Mike, I thought that it was about $50-$100 cheaper through Laserbits, if I had known that I would have just bought it from ULS. The $237 was with tax and shipping BTW, and I already had the glue, you can actually find it online for about $4.00 tube. Laserbits sells the Loctite 409 glue, is there a better glue that you would recommend?
Thanks