CLEAR ACRYLIC (PMMA) PROTOTYPE MACHINING, CNC MILLING & HIGH POLISHING
As a professional prototype manufacturer, we pride ourselves on creating clear acrylic optical components in the plastic machining industry. For optically clear acrylic machining requirements, we have developed precision plastic machining technology capable of delivering superior surface quality for CNC acrylic (PMMA), which the machined radius for the optic detail will not exceed R0.005" (R0.125mm), and the machined optical surface tolerance will be reaching +/-0.001" (+/-0.025mm).
Our continuous upgrades to machining equipment and cutting tools have allowed us to maintain the highest quality machined clear plastic parts in the industry. With more improvement of technical skills and advanced equipment, we are capable of machining all kinds of optical components in any complicated shapes as required.
We combine the machining capabilities of the best combined 3-axis, 4-axis or even 5-axis CNC milling machines. We also have adopted the latest diamond machining technology in ultra precision manufacturing. This is a technique called Single Point Diamond Machining (SPDM or SPDT) that can match the ability of 5-axis micro-milling to produce a range of lens and light guides types of excellent optical quality in an array or freeform pattern.
Acrylic polishing can help present the best clarity and light transmittance of all the clear plastics. Although CNC acrylic (PMMA) is essential to achieve a good machined finish before polishing to ensure critical dimensions, it is difficult to achieve high clarity.
Acrylic polishing requires special skills since acrylic is a stress-sensitive material and is fairly brittle. Manual polishing requires different grades of polishing process used in conjunction with sand paper and polishing paste which will remove surface material and leave the surface a high quality finish and optical clarity.
Highly polishing requires the sanding work starting from 400# or 600# sand paper to remove the superficial tool marks initially, then the level will lift up to 800#-1000#-1500# and end by 2000# sand paper, the polished surface will be highly smooth without any machine line and mark. Finally we still need to use polishing paste to refine process, and the final surface is super clear and transparent without any sanding marks and scratches with optical quality finish.