Where to get sample of diffraction foil or lense with a picture of my choice?

[pelosh]

Hi all,

We all know those little key-ring lasers with changable lenses that creates logos, hearts, text, etc...

Does anyone know about place where these can be produced with my own design, for sensible amount of money?

Or, have you seen anything like that with theme of pushbike (cyclist) that could be purchased straight away?

Any help appreciated!
Thanks.

[White-Light]

Sounds like effectively what you're wanting Martin is a gobo.

Have you tried any businesses that CNC eg odd shaped key rings?

Someone like that might be able to CNC a horse to your size specifications.

Failing that try contacting the engineering dept of your local university. Sometimes they are quite helpful and if they know its private and not a business will set a student to machine one for you for quite a reasonable price simply because it gives the students experience.

A friend of my late fathers built airplane models out of wood and needed some custom plastic domes for the cockpits of his Lancaster model. Our local university made custom formers from wood, then vacuumed formed several of these for him for just £30.

[flecom]

no he is asking for exactly what he asked for

I know exactly what you are talking about... they are like burst gratings but they make little simple "dot" pictures... like a heart etc... they come with cheap pen pointers usually as interchangeable "tips"

no idea who would make such a thing tho

[Lasermad]

A few years ago i was looking for exactly the same for a promotion with large brewery...they are very small glass lens which are sandblasted with logo etc , i found two companies in china , and was told at the time there was only two companies in world with capability to make them ( unverified ) , they are very cheap if ordering by the tens of thousands ( AKA less than a penny each ) ..... HOWEVER the sting in the tail was both companies required a setup charge of $2500 per logo.

Further if you wanting them for a laser pen promotion giveaway type thing 1mW is pretty useless unless in a VERY dark environment ,as the lights travelling through the lens/logo its reduced substantially making the logo only visable at 3/4 feet , 5mW helps a lot but you cant give away a 5mW+ laser in EU as legislation restricts to 1mW. You may need for something totally different though !

A screenprinted lens with ultrabright white LED is far more effective and lots cheaper at lower volumes and offers option of colour logos ! but of course it aint stimulated amplified radiation light so just dont have the cool factor to me !

[pelosh]

Cheers guys.

Yes, I am after tiny little lenses that will turn single beam into graphics. I found all the necessary info.

There few more companies these days who are able to do it, but cost of prototype is roughly $10k where each other piece costs around $2.

So we will use one of those samples we have for our prototyping, before getting into mass production.

[mixedgas]

Low res ones can be made with a GOOD laser printer and a transparency.

One site of many:

http://corticalcafe.com/prog_CGHmaker.htm

Freeware is out there some place.

If it works, you owe me a shot of vodka.

Steve

[pelosh]

Thanks Steve,

Have no time to prove it working, but vodka's no problem ... next time I see you.

Thanks

[Eidetic]

What you're looking for is a Diffractive Optical Element (DOE). I can have custom patterns made, but the price is in the $2500 range for the master. This is a highly discounted price (normally in the $10K range with long lead time) because I know a guy who preps the artwork and operates the machines, and my jobs ride along with other customers' patterns (in the otherwise cut-off area of the wafer). I'm working now on an alternative method that could be much less expensive, but other projects keep putting the initial experiments off. What's your time requirement? What's your budget?