Cheap coating opportunity for USA prisms

I have an opportunity to get inexpensive BBAR coating on DIY prisms at the end of the month. I will be in Orange County, California, from March 30-April 4.

Richard at L&L Optics in Mission Viejo, California, www.llopt.com, quoted me $50. per pair of 5x7 prisms if I can put together a group purchase of at least 12 pairs. If I have a group order of 6 pairs the cost of coating is $75. each pair. I am in for 2 pairs myself, which I can pick up from Joe Lopez at www.CrystalFactory.com March 30 in Buena Park. (They cost $60. each single prism for the CWD57 (non-engraved) and no further group discounts are available there.

If you don't have prisms but are thinking of doing a diy anamorphic lens in North America, this is a good chance to buy the prisms over the phone and have me pick them up and take them to L&L for coating. Then they will be shipped back to you (by me or L&L--not sure yet). Shipping cost is not included in the quotes.

If you already have the prisms but want to get them coated at a great price, you can ship them to me first and I will carry them to L&L. I must have them at my residence in Northern California by Thursday, March 29 at the latest if I am going to hand carry them.

The cost to coat one pair is $525. and I find this prohibitive. So I need a few intrepid souls to risk sending their prisms to me for the group deal. If there are 4 to 10 pairs out there looking for anti-reflection coating, send me a PM or reply on this thread with questions. We need to move quickly if this is going to happen. No one is committed (including me) until I have the minimum number. I can't take too many, either. If there is a lot of interest maybe someone else can follow up with logistics on a second order.

L&L doesn't want to receive the prisms directly in onesy-twosies at the group rate. I asked about that.

If you PM your email I can send you a copy of the original quote from L&L for your perusal.

Richard Gustafson
Sebastopol, California

Thanks. By the way, since cheap coating is now possible, doesn't it make sense to revisit the advantages of the 4 prism lens over the 2 prism version?

If Chris' wedges come through from Massillon we will have at least 6 pairs. There are now 5 other pairs committed, including my 2. I'd like to wait a little longer today before giving the green light on this. One more pair would make it a certainty at the $75. level, which ought to be good enough for everybody. And we have a few more days to bring the price down to $50./pair if more people sign up.

Chris, how about following up on delivery status with Massillon?

Those who would order from Crystal Factory--wait a little--I'd rather work out a deal to pick up your wedges in person at their SoCal business location instead of having them shipped to you, then to me, then I carry them with me back to CF when I pick up my own wedges!

Richard

Okay, as of Wednesday night we have enough to qualify at least for the $75./pair price with a few days to go. I have 6 commitments and 4 maybes. So I will proceed with the deal. Joe at Crystal Factory was out today but I will call him Thursday to check stock, then finalize things with L&L. Then I will get back to everybody. If you are in, please PM me with phone numbers or regular email addresses if you have not already done so.

Regarding who owns which prism: When you send them to me (unless purchasing new) mark the thick end piece with tape and your name written on the tape so I can tell which prisms are yours. More detailed shipping and payment instructions tomorrow.

If you are getting new ones from CF I will attempt to match them for size...although it is unclear that this makes any difference and the tolerances are supposed to be pretty good.

As for testing the coatings...no, I have no comparison and am going on the professional reputation of L&L. As for whether any coating is superior to non-coating, this seems to be beyond argument. All users and manufacturers known to me prefer coated to non-coated. If you are concerned about the quality, you can take a look at www.llopt.com or call them and judge for yourself.

Specs from the rate quote:

coat both sides with BBAR. ABS .5% R avg < .3% from 425-675nm AOI 0-20 degrees


Richard

I spoke with Joe at Crystal Factory Thursday morning. He does not foresee any difficulty getting the wedges we want (CWD57) by March 30. However, I asked him to double check with his source and get back to me by phone. I did not hear from him so I called late in the day and he was busy with another customer. I left my number again, but by that time it was past 5 pm and I guess he quit for the day. So, I will call again Friday morning to be positive that he will have stock when I want to pick it up on March 30. Then I will contact everybody with instructions.

It may actually be possible for me to postpone the pickup from CF until April 4.

Meanwhile, we are up to eight confirmed pairs and two maybes. If those two convert and we add two more to the group before my pickup we will cut the price again. I am counting as maybes the two who have pending orders from Massilon Plaque.

In the worst case, we can get this done through shipping from CF to L&L instead of me hand carrying the wedges to L&L. So it looks like this is really going to happen!

I think it is safe to go ahead and ship existing prisms to me. I could still drop those pairs at L&L pending arrival of the new ones. I will now PM those who need to get their pairs out to me in California. However, most of you are buying new ones after I give the go ahead (hopefully Friday).

More info coming on Friday.

Richard

Randy,

The CF prisms reportedly have a slightly greater angle than the Massillon Plaque--I assume that is what you meant instead of "Mission Plaque", with which I am unfamiliar. Some suggest that a larger angle is better, and a couple have not noted a significant difference. It certainly isn't worse.

Go ahead with your CF order! See my next post, too.

Richard

Good news! Joe at CF confirmed today that he has at least 20 wedges available to us by March 30. Maybe more if we inquire soon enough. We have 16 of these in demand by current group purchasers. If you are on the list, go ahead and call CF now!! Ask for Joe, order CWD57 (non-engraved) and have him hold them for pickup March 30 by Gustafson. Pay him by credit card now.

We have 11 confirmed pairs going in for coating. A few are being sent to me by current owners, and the rest will be new from CF. The 12th order (Jones) is pending confirmed shipment from Massillon and then to me but the buyer is thinking of ordering from CF to make sure.

I think we are going to make the 12 minimum limit for the lower price!

Turnaround time at L&L is 1-2 weeks not including shipping time.

Still time to get in on this opportunity for a few more people.

Richard

Okay, we are up to 14 commitments for prism pairs to be coated. If anybody flakes out we are still above the magic 12 number. I think I am going to call these things prisms when they get to L&L and wedges before that.



Well, I guess I'd rather be WedgeMan than WedgieMan. Next time I'd prefer to be OLEDMan or something a little more techie...

Richard

Chris,

Only the two large surfaces (5"x7") are coated. The way to deal with reflections off the ends is to apply some electrical tape or other covering to block any light output through the ends. This is discussed in the diy.audio threads.

Richard