Gray Optics’ Additive Manufacturing experience combines component and optical design expertise with high-power additive laser metal manufacturing. Applications for these highly complex parts include dental implants to industrial parts, which are too difficult for lathe or millwork, and now are made with a metal powder bed fusion system. Melt pool diagnostics and calibration of your existing 3D printer are also available through the Gray Optics team with the development of additional sensors.
Fully custom 3D printer systems with customer-controlled parameters and diagnostic sensors are also available for OEM manufacturers that require even more precise control over their technology. Gray Optics helps customers optimize the beam quality (shape and size) through detailed optical and mechanical modeling that follows a detailed Product Development Process.
“3D additive manufacturing allows for complex geometries, weight savings, and time savings. The process allows engineers to design the part in CAD software and directly export to the printing platform for fabrication. Our team supports development calibration and in-situ, realtime monitoring systems to optimize machine operation,” states Dan Gray, Owner, and Founder. “Our team forms a collaborative partnership at every stage of the product development process.”
One example of this technology from Gray Optics is the development of customer in-situ quality control measurements.
The Problem: The existing optics used in the customer’s melt pool monitoring detection module did not provide the optimal spectral response, light transmission, and reflectivity efficiency that enabled high signal-to-noise (S/N) measurements. This insufficiency limited the end customer’s ability to accurately measure and understand how the build process progressed in real-time.
The Solution: Gray Optics developed a custom dichroic beamsplitter to provide high transmission of the laser light and high reflectivity over the most critical spectral ranges. The dichroic beamsplitter was designed to work with kilo-watt NIR lasers to ensure it would perform to specification under continuous use over the build process without laser damage. In addition, the developed coatings have been certified to continuously operate at significantly higher power densities offering adequate safety margin to support even higher laser products in the future. Partner with Gray Optics for your subsequent OEM instrument product development.
