Diamond turning

The process of diamond turning is widely used to manufacture high-quality aspheric optical elements from crystals, metals, acrylic, and other materials.

A diamond-tipped lathe tool is used in the final stages of the manufacturing process to achieve sub-nanometer level surface finishes and sub-micrometer form accuracies.

The diamonds that are used in the process are strong in the downhill regime but tool wear is also highly dependent on crystal anisotropy and work material.

A CNC SPDT lathe rests atop a high-quality granite base with micrometer surface finish quality.

The granite base is placed on air suspension on a solid foundation, keeping its working surface strictly horizontal.

The machine tool components are placed on top of the granite base and can be moved with high degree of accuracy using a high-pressure air cushion or hydraulic suspension.

Several techniques have been investigated to prevent this reaction, but few have been successful for long diamond machining processes at mass production scales.

[3] Despite all the automation involved in the diamond turning process, the human operator still plays the main role in achieving the final result.

Quality control is a major part of the diamond turning process and is required after each stage of machining, sometimes after each pass of the cutting tool.

Research into single-point diamond turning began in the late 1940s with Philips in the Netherlands, while Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) pioneered SPDT in the mid-1960s.

Early applications included Polaroid’s SX-70 camera, and fast tool servos enabled rapid production of non-axisymmetric surfaces for contact lenses.