No edging: manufacturing of ophthalmic lenses directly in eyewear rims

Conventional eyewear lens manufacturing relies on bulk material processing such as machining (grinding and polishing) or molding. In both cases the final step is edging, in which the lens is cut to fit the desired rim. These processes are time-consuming, resource-intensive and generate substantial material waste. Fluidic Shaping is a novel method that enables the fabrication of lenses by shaping liquids under neutral buoyancy conditions, without machining or molding. We here present the next step in Fluidic Shaping: an algorithm, which we term the ‘Cookie Cutter’, for the design of varying edge height frames that enables the fabrication of lenses directly to the shape of the customer’s rim, thus eliminating also the common edging step, rendering the entire process waste-free. We will present the principle of the method, show experimental results demonstrating end-to-end fabrication of corrective ophthalmic lenses in minutes without any machining processes, and discuss their optical characterization.