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Making a custom crystal
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abgul
·That is incredible. If you haven't already - you should record everything on video and create a YT channel. Great content.
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mzinski
·Neat!
Was the original crystal also acrylic?
Was the acrylic used optical acrylic? If so, where did you end up sourcing it?
Was the original crystal also acrylic?
Was the acrylic used optical acrylic? If so, where did you end up sourcing it?
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kcgunner
·Looks like a great job to me!
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Togri v. 2.0
··Wow! Custom title... coolGreat job! And very interesting. Would you also be able to create a round crystal? I guess it would be much harder to get the shape right 😕
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JimInOz
··Melbourne AustraliaInteresting post Al.
Reminded me of when we used to make face shields for our bike helmets by heating perspex sheet over an empty paint can.
The Air Force seemed to have heaps and heaps of unused perspex lying around, and it seemed a shame to waste it 😁.
Reminded me of when we used to make face shields for our bike helmets by heating perspex sheet over an empty paint can.
The Air Force seemed to have heaps and heaps of unused perspex lying around, and it seemed a shame to waste it 😁.
Edited:
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rob#1
·Nice work, looks great 👍
“Learned a few things along the way, the first is to go slow when trimming, because it's very easy to go too far...”
Reminds me of the old adage back when I was a coach trimmer, working with expensive hides of leather - ‘Think twice, cut once’ 😉
“Learned a few things along the way, the first is to go slow when trimming, because it's very easy to go too far...”
Reminds me of the old adage back when I was a coach trimmer, working with expensive hides of leather - ‘Think twice, cut once’ 😉
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Professor
·A motion picture replica prop making forum I used to visit had members who used a method that might be adapted to making more complicated crystals.
A form being made the warmed plastic was laid over it and a vacuum pump evacuated the air drawing the material down over it smoothly.
This was used to make such things as spacesuit helmets and plate armour among other things.
PS
An article written by a US Army General captured early during the Korean war told how he once watched one of the guards carefully making a watch crystal from a piece of a broken light bulb by chipping and grinding on a stone.
I expect it was a large bulb with thick glass.
Only thing similar I've done was to make a glass for a hurricane lamp from a peanut butter jar. No skill needed on my part since the bottom of the jar broke away cleanly when I dropped a butter knife in it. It just happened to fit perfectly.
A form being made the warmed plastic was laid over it and a vacuum pump evacuated the air drawing the material down over it smoothly.
This was used to make such things as spacesuit helmets and plate armour among other things.
PS
An article written by a US Army General captured early during the Korean war told how he once watched one of the guards carefully making a watch crystal from a piece of a broken light bulb by chipping and grinding on a stone.
I expect it was a large bulb with thick glass.
Only thing similar I've done was to make a glass for a hurricane lamp from a peanut butter jar. No skill needed on my part since the bottom of the jar broke away cleanly when I dropped a butter knife in it. It just happened to fit perfectly.
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Canuck
·My late at father was a Depression era watchmaker. Before the internet, before fax machines, before electronic social media. He showed me, years ago, how they custom made GLASS watch crystals. A square sheet of zinc with the outline of the case opening cut into it, bent to the profile of the case. Corners of the zinc bent down. Place the zinc on a charcoal block, lay a glass pocket watch crystal over the opening in the zinc, then using naphtha as a fuel in a bellows operated torch, slowly, evenly, heat the glass to the flow point, (not the melt point), and with luck, the crystal would assume the correct shape and contour, and fall through the opening in the zinc to the charcoal block. I watched him do it, way back when.
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Concretepuppy
·Nice job, and well done for being so resourceful, i'm sure there's loads of methods to arrive at the same result, would you use the same method again, or if not, how would alter it to make it easier or quicker?
I was thinking of a small bench-mounted anvil with wet hessian laid over it and a paint stripping gun on low and far enough away to not bubble the plastic, but that's probably why i'll never be a watchmaker
I was thinking of a small bench-mounted anvil with wet hessian laid over it and a paint stripping gun on low and far enough away to not bubble the plastic, but that's probably why i'll never be a watchmaker
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oinkitt
·Great job! And very interesting. Would you also be able to create a round crystal? I guess it would be much harder to get the shape right 😕
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerNeat!
Was the original crystal also acrylic?
Was the acrylic used optical acrylic? If so, where did you end up sourcing it?
Yes, it was an acrylic crystal in the watch, so changing like for like.
The acrylic was picture framing material, so not optical glass like for eyeglasses.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerGreat job! And very interesting. Would you also be able to create a round crystal? I guess it would be much harder to get the shape right 😕
If it was a symmetrical crystal would turn that on the lathe, rather than try to heat form it. I turned some Lexan for a movement spacer a while back, as shown here:
Watchmaker's lathe...some recent work | Omega Forums
Cheers, Al
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Keith88lx
·I’ve always enjoyed reading your threads. Love seeing the craftsmanship in your work and very informative. I’ve learned a lot from these threads over the 2 years I’ve been on OF.
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Vercingetorix
··Spam RiskCan 3d printing be used? Is it clear enough?
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berrychlossom
·Can 3d printing be used? Is it clear enough?
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Concretepuppy
·That's quite something, the drawings are worth framing just on their own, proper craftsmanship there, i can imagine the satisfaction at seeing the measurements on the callipers after you'd finished, being exactly what was specified on the drawing, what tolerances did you allow for on the non-critical dimensions? 0.1mm?
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Professor
·I've read that Cyano-Acrylic glue (Super Glue) began as a method of mass producing very tiny lenses for various military optics during WW2. Making a glass lens as small as they needed was do-able but far too time consuming.
Don't know how well that worked for them but I have an old 50X telescope with an acrylic lens.
Having seen many more common plastic lenses which often have a flat spot in the center I suspect the Cyano Acrylic had better surface tension and body so gravity didn't deform it as easily before it set up hard.
Don't know how well that worked for them but I have an old 50X telescope with an acrylic lens.
Having seen many more common plastic lenses which often have a flat spot in the center I suspect the Cyano Acrylic had better surface tension and body so gravity didn't deform it as easily before it set up hard.
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oinkitt
·That's quite something, the drawings are worth framing just on their own, proper craftsmanship there, i can imagine the satisfaction at seeing the measurements on the callipers after you'd finished, being exactly what was specified on the drawing, what tolerances did you allow for on the non-critical dimensions? 0.1mm?
Yes, 0.1mm was tolerance I allowed for the non critical dimensions.
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