It's so amazing how everyone's vision benefits from this technology. This is humanity at its best... working hard and pushing the boundary of technology to help each other live better lives.
Wow i was wondering why it took 2 weeks for my very 1st pair of glasses to be made. Never knew so many steps were involved in the process. Thanks to the people who work on this kind of stuff!
In the store I work at we do them within 30 minutes. 2 weeks is usually because they don’t have the specific lenses you need and they need to be ordered.
2 weeks still takes too long, they usually have stocks on hand. The ones that are really rare are progressive(both far and shortsighted) with oblique astigmatismn to add or the severe eyesight types
Now you are going to get frame you selected your frams there are 2 type of frame. One bifocal lens and proceviss lens they will order which you are selected if you selected HC ( hard coat) it's will be order same you want to order for proceviss
@@tazzoholic The only circumstance that would’ve made lenses at our location delay to about 1-3 weeks, is if the customer opted for cr39 lenses in unusually high bases (4-base and up), or for mineral glass lenses, which almost no labs can produce locally (Southern California). The mineral crystal base was made and finished in Germany, whereas the cr39 would be sourced anywhere from Italy to Japan or USA, then shipped-in for grinding/surfacing and tinting.
This video is well done. I'm pleasantly amazed at the technical innovations in labs these days since I began designing lab equipment 50 years ago, equipping labs and setting them up, and beginning the computerization of lens processing. Some of my designs are shown in the clips in this video, glad to see they still provide useful functions!
Schneider as in Schneider Optical - WOW! Thanks. That video is about 6 years old now. I understand that we have since added a new Schneider generator. An honor to have you stop by and watch. John
I have been wearing glasses for nearly 30 years. Progressive lenses multi coatings for 13-14 years. Always wondered how these were created. This is the first time I saw one, looks intricate and thorough and beyond me. Thank you for such full of info video.
Hello Sir Laramy, you inspired me to become an Licensed Optician. I was also in ex lab technician for Lens Crafter too. However, i must say i was stunned by your lab. Such nice , neat and dedicated equipment's/procedures to make finished lenses. This is best quality like Essilor/Zeiss :D. Please keep up the good work. sir!
@@LaramyKOptical There can be a automation machine to do all of this in one go. And cut out all of the unnecessary steps and time. Look at SLA printing. You should just melt the glass into shape. Just needs to be made. Time for someone to innovate on all these processes.
Very helpful to see this. Thanks so much for all this effort. It allows the customer to value the product more. Especially all the effort that goes into coatings.
thank you , my dad was a generator operator. I worked with him every summer, in Westbury ny, then when he retired , I found a job in a lab , a bit more technical ,Finegold labs , we made telescope for microsurgery , and he was the creator of the honey comb lens... I hand polished small to fit in the scope// just brought back memories .. bill reatka
John, thank you and all the people involved in the production of this great video “How They’re Made…”. The information in this video is needed throughout the optical industry. And I agree with you John, Laramy-K Optical the best wholesale surfacing lab in the county.
@@LaramyKOptical if lenses are tinted before they are cut for frame dimensions how do they prevent the white edges from the safety bevel and lens edge being uncoated? seems counter-intuitive..
@@wazup3333 Drop me an email through the OpticianWorks website. I'll be cutting a pair of that exact thing today or tomorrow. I'll grab some pictures and let you decide. John
@@LaramyKOptical sent, you will see it in direct light so on the pictures it wont be visible. this applies to clear lenses aswell since edges are uncoated, when direct light hits it the edges sparkle white
I used to work in an optical lab so realise it’s very technical it was slightly less involvement but we did the earlier plastic lenses and were gradually working on transitions in the pioneering stages. Godbless.x have a nice day.
Yes it was in 1981 and a fascinating procedure at the time . It was still slightly involved but it was still taking effect to becoming the procedure that it is today I think they were called reactolight rapides at the time long time ago now but fascinating.i find your new process amazing that’s why they cost what they do and deservedly so. As the work that is done is amazing.
Excellent video and explanation of how surfacing lab works! As an opticianry educator in Canada, this video is an excellent tool to help students learn about the intricate prescription lenses are made. Thank you.
Wow! Thank you so much for creating this video and all the Laramy-K videos. I wish I could find a knowledgeable, helpful, caring, and willing to troubleshoot optician in my area that uses Laramy-K. I already pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for my progressive lenses only to waste the time of lens making lab staff because communication or skill or attention to detail of the optician is lacking. I’ve learned so much and in another lifetime I would consider going into optics and lenses. I love these videos and binge watch them. I’m addicted! Thank you!!!!!
Whoa there Elizabeth - "... knowledgable, helpful, caring and willing" That is asking a lot from an optician. :-) I think those qualities are also on the list for Mary Poppins? I'm kind of only half kidding here. I'd place competent at the top of the list and if you get some of the others count yourself lucky. Most opticians have been working retail for 5, 10, 15 years and are bit worn out. They may well be an excellent optician but probably not Pollyanna.
It's been a little over a year since I've worked in a lab. 10yrs experience from surfacing to finishing. I even did maintenance for a few years working on Schneider, Satisloh, MRIII, Essilor coating chambers, MEI systems, A&R blocking and inspection equipment, Nidek tracers and so forth. The lab I was apart of and maintenance team I was on took care of the entire facility from receiving to shipping lol. Watching this has made me to start missing the work. Honestly enjoyed helping the world see one pair at a time. It's amazing the process gone into creating a single pair of glasses. Im not sure where you are located but if your looking for a top quality experienced employee with leadership skills and military background I would definitely be open to see what your company would have to offer.
@@LaramyKOptical Thank you for the reply. I checked the website but do not see any area to apply at so I'm not sure if the company is currently looking for highly skilled employees or should I just use the contact section to inquire about possible possibilities within the company?
@@christhacker4188 I don't work at the lab and I have nothing to do with operations. Yes - I'd use the contact form and send a note. We did have a large lay-off because of the shut down and they are still doing more with less.
@@LaramyKOptical that's sad to hear about the layoffs but definitely understandable, however doing more with less just goes to show how efficient the team is. That alone shows the worth of the company in maintaining the best processes and technologies available. Greatly appreciate your time!
@David I remember as a kid when cashiers entered prices manually; everything had to have a price sticker. Regarding the employee entering data in the video, very impressive!
Hats off to all my K12 teachers, coaches and preachers. They worked really hard to make sure I don't know how to do anything and I don't know anything useful. LOL - TAV ♥️🇺🇸🌎👍
What I wanted to see was how a progressive lens is cut and how a bi or tri focal is cut in comparison. What is the back of the lens? The part that is on the outside or the part that is closer to us?
This is very interesting I have been wearing eye glasses ever since I was a kid Thank you for the video on how eye glasses are made for people that need Eye glasses
Free form lenses are worth every penny. Off the peg lenses don't get close. I wear Carl Zeiss progressives in 1.67 material. I've not previously encountered Laramy-K here in Britain but I'll look out for 'em next time I buy glasses.
Hello John, great video and great channel indeed! I just discovered it. I would like to know your opinion on 3D printed lenses and whether you know of any timelines for this manufacturing technique to become more common in this field.
They are printing viable lenses right now. However, you may never see them as alternatives to day-to-day powers and applications. My best guess at when you will see them more mainstream? Um ---- 2020. www.laramyk.com/blog/3d-printed-ophthalmic-lenses/
Nice work buddy. I live by my two pair of glasses; one the progressive one and the other office wear. It took almost a decade to settle down to these configurations. Thanks for the insight. Now, I need a prescribed sunglasses. Wrapped around style. The last one I had was Maui Jim, a really thick one. I need to find a much lighter and thinner one. Any recommendations and tips?
What are the health and safety standards required with regard to handling the Lead Alloy, specifically at 12:27 onward...shouldn't gloves and masks be used by the operator to protect hands/skin and breathing in any particles? Or does the measurement of lead particles within the air fall below the OSHA guidelines of 50 PEL or less during an 8 hour exposure period?
So coatings are applied on the outside, not sandwiched? Does that mean that transition lenses, once scratched, cannot be polished without damaging the coating?
No lens can be polished to correct a scratch. That is a myth. If you did polish out a scratch (assuming the lens had no coatings of any kind at all) it would look fine but that area would be a blurry spot when you tried to look through it. The front curve would no longer match the back curve resulting in blur.
Last time I got new glasses, I purchased polycarbonate lenses because of their supposed durability. I couldn’t see for crap, wore them for two weeks to allow eye adjustment. Had to go back and get plastic lenses. They are non-line progressive. Is this something that happens often with polycarbonate? I really liked the reduced weight.
Often? I would have to say no. But, next time insist on Trivex, lighter than poly and much, much better optically. "Durability" is kind of a questionable concept when talking about lenses. John
I live in Australia and have been wearing glasses since I was about 8yrs old. I am now 61 yrs old. I am sure most of my glasses haven't benefited from this technology. In the last 10 years I have gone to multifocals which this tech may apply to. Thanks for the explanation.
Wow how interesting and amazing all the machinery and precise presion that goes into this. 1 question i ask you makers. When applying the layers of shading and coating i notice you add the coatings to the front of our lenses. Which is why i know now how scratches do occur on our glasses. Even though i got the feather weight transitional Lenses with actual glass coated scratch resistant lenses. I still get fine scratches. This last pair i got cloudiness right dead center of my glasses. I paid over $600.00 for my prescription glasses. And i got very fine scratches and cloudiness. I can't use them very often and they are what i use to drive. So don't be on the road when i drive. Its frustrating having these problems. Is their something i can do? With all the coatings in the front of the lenses it seems to be most of my problem from cleaning them over and over and over. Using even the micro fiber cleaning cloth. Putting them in glasses protectors when not using them or when they are in my purse. Is their a way, because i can't afford to keep paying this money. Is their a way u can put the layers of on the inside of glasses since most of the dirtiness is on the outside of lenses. Just asking if that possible. People clean the dusty dirty lenses it catches while wareing them then we clean them off and dust can be abrasive. They are less likely or less dusty and less like to scratch up so fast. Just a question sir. Women do dusty jobs cleaning and we work with allot of cleaning solutions that also can play a roll in damaging these lenses. You all work so hard at precisely and with such micro Precision that you would think these lenses would last longer. Unfortunately after a year or two i see thos scratches and clouding. Which sucks for me. I'm very grateful you showed me this process. It is wow, amazing. I'm so thankful to have you all be able to make me see. I'm gonna share this because its important to know the steps you all do to create a way for millions to see. This is eye awakening thank you all for the hard work you all do. You are so important for me and family and friends. O appreciate a you all do. Thank you sir.
@Chaz from UK It can be damaged by heat and can crack or you can scratch it but you destroy the lens. If you scratch deep enough you can see the original material but the lens is unusable.
Hi John, one question about lenses: at two different optics stores I was told that now the lenses are either now made from "plastic", not glass, or are compulsory coated with some film. I dont want any of those options since they will scratch easier and I insisted to have pure glass lenses as I had before, but I was told nobody makes such lenses since they are heavy. This was related to progressive lenses I wanted to have. Is this true information or I was just pushed to buy cheaper lenses? Many thanks if you reply to this question, Konstantin. P.S. In fact, do you have a video about the lense materials used today to watch and educate more myself?
Glass progressive will be very hard to find but they are still done. Glass lenses are still sold and still available. Some safety glasses must be glass and many farmers prefer it for its scratch resistance. You just need to find a better optician. John
Lots of upgrades to these machines since this video was created. So much more is automatic now. Ccu/lazer/polisher/dba/tsa/44r the only thing that looked the same is the spin coat mr3.
Yep. Some of the machinery certainly has changed but the process is still the same. Thing is I'm in SC, Keith the K in Laramy-K is in GA and the lab is in Iowa so it isn't a matter of popping in for a video shoot. It's a week of travel, expensive shipping and accommodations etc. Maybe we will get back for an update in 2023.
In short the sophistication of the process. Spin coating would be for lenses not going through the a-r process. Lenses getting a-r will have the hard coat applied during that process.
Just watch a video prior to this that was 15years old how nikkor lens are made- what a difference technology has advanced the process- but theres some about those old nikkors thats special
Yeah - loupes, cameras, telescopes and rifle scopes all tend to get superior lenses. Glass being the biggest difference, different grinding techniques because most are doubles, and then of course lenses in series, superior coatings within a vacuum... I guess part of the beauty of humans is the ability of our eye/brain to overcome (or not need) perfection. Funny - like a full vs. empty gun I can tell my three cameras (all the same body) apart just by their different weights which is all in the lens. John
To start a full service surfacing lab today (because of free-form) would be in the millions. A full service finishing lab (wholesale) would (my best guess) be starting around $150,000. An in-house finishing lab could start up for as little as $8000 but better around $20,000. Hope that helps. John
I'm pretty sure none of my lenses have gone through such rigorous processes and testing, but it is cool to get an idea of what it takes to make prescription eyewear.
Totally agree with Lee below, WOW !! (That is why they cost such a lot. Fair enough.) In my total ignorance I just imagined someone one slipping a blank lens into a machine, pushing a button and bingo, lens. How wrong as I?
Very interesting! Where does one go for training for this type of work, especially the lens mappers???? This type of job is never mentioned by career job training people!
It has, for the most part, always come down to on the job training. Lot's of family run labs. Labs become more automated, robotics, push-button every day (and that isn't necessarily a bad thing). Some jobs require little or no training while the true Lab Mangers like John L at Laramy-K carry a lifetime of understanding with them.
An excellent, informative and fascinating video. I do wonder how an online shop in the UK was able to reglaze my backup specs so cheaply including AR and hard coatings. I cannot distnguish them from my Zeiss Lotutec coated lenses (in Lindenberg frames) that cost four times as much apart from the hydrophobic coat. Perhaps the Zeiss are more durable?
Yes, I'd be curious on how good that coating looks a year out. And let us know how easy it is to clean over time when compared with the higher end product. Nothing to say it won't be equal or better --- but --- we shall see. John
Sydney Kinman-Vantiger They are fine but to be fair they are rarely used. My Zeiss have one faint mark, which I find impressive after 18 months, and that mark was from abuse. Are the cheapies as good? No idea.
More than six months in the making? It shows!! (as I rummage around my desk looking for the reading glasses that allow me to see what I just wrote. Lol) That video was so thorough and spoken slowly and clearly in very simple terms, I'll bet even Donald Trump could understand it, assuming he could stick with any subject for more than three minutes at a time. I only wear reading glasses, so I really only have two recurring problems with them. First, where the hell did they go? And second, if I ever get my hands on that poltergeist that goes and smears them up between the time I take them off and put them back on my eyes… But seriously, it is more than a small mystery to me how I can take them off and they seem clean and I'm reading everything just fine with them, and then I go to put them back on again and I'm more blind with them on than I am of them off! Only different. Without them everything is fuzzy and out of focus. With them everything is ostensibly in focus, however the fog and the smoke in the room is so thick I couldn't really tell you what's in focus and what isn't. Lol But I digress. I was one of the top Fortune 500 process flow re-engineering consultants in the country back in the late 80s and early 90s. So I am more than a little detail oriented. And I understand better than just about anyone how much work went into that video. All kidding aside, if there was an Oscar for producing this kind of process flow instructional video, yours should win with honors. And as you may have gathered from reading the first part of my post, I have absolutely no need for any of your services. So I only watched the video because I was curious and I like to learn. And in 20 minutes or so, if I was so inclined, I feel like I could take over general day-to-day management, of your process at least, anytime. Yes, I realize there 1000 little details that you couldn't include in that video, but that does not detract from one extraordinary piece of work you all have created here. I can't tell you how many professionals I worked with over the years that couldn't do as good a job as you guys did here. Kudos to you and your production staff. And I have no doubt you will continue to be leaders in your industry for many more years to come. Cheers, Rich
Hello John Thank you for everything you explain. I noticed that you referenced the fact that any coatings may reduce a lense's ability to withstand being shattered. What are your thoughts about coatings and air bags. Thank again for being kind enough to share your thoughts.
A video that digs into that deeper is below. It covers the actual language used by the lens manufacturers. I'm not a testing lab so this is just my opinion/observation - yes airbags often cause glasses to be driven into the wearer's face/nose causing injury. The nature of the bag - a pillow basically - isn't all that likely to cause a lens to shatter. It would need a very hard-fixed surface opposite the bag to counter the impact to do that (see the video). Luckily it has your mushy, bobbing nose/head/cushioned headrest instead. Could the worst happen? Sure but in my opinion the chances are quite low. Can't wander the world covered in bubble wrap. ;-)
I just had some new coated bifocals made in high index material, due to deteriorating age-related eye sight. Despite all this machinery here in the UK as well the new glasses had a error in the right lens meaning everything was out of focus. Did the lab mis-read the optician's prescription or was there an error in manufacture? Everything seems so fully automated it is hard to imagine where it went wrong. Anyway they lens are being re-made. C'est la vie.
The old saying hasn't changed --- Bad data in = bad data out. The best software and hardware is only as good as the information they are being fed. And that hardware still needs to be maintained by someone that actually knows what they are doing. I'd need to know more to answer your question but it sounds like you just needed to vent a little? ;-) John
I have a super frustrating time with my new glasses / lenses. The frame is ok, but the lenses not so much. When I look and touch the lenses, there is a slight distortion in the glass, not completely smooth. This is a re-do from the previous one which had the same problem. I don't know if the problem is the lenses manufacturer (they are not Zeiss) or the technician messed up. I think I will go another office and ask them if this is normal. This is so frustrating.
Please drop me an email through the OpticianWorks website. I can tell you about glass (because I'm that friggin old) but for the newer stuff I'll have to connect you with someone else. Thanks John
Hello, I am interested in building my own sunglasses. I am looking for a lens distributor with preformed lenses. Do you have any in mind that are reliable? Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
You can buy finished uncut lenses from us using a credit card. Laramy-K 800-525-1274 You need to know what powers you need, what material you want and what coatings/tints/polarized etc.
If you have glasses then one day you decide to make it photochromic do you need to get new optical lenses or they can just add a coating to ur old lenses?
