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| Coburn’s compact CTL85DP dry-cut generator eliminates the need for a larger digital polisher. |
Coburn Technologies, Inc. has been around in one form or another for nearly 60 years. From its formation by O.W. Coburn in 1954 through today, it has remained committed to developing lens processing equipment. Worldwide, Coburn has over 18,000 installations and 7,500 customers. Coburn is headquartered in South Windsor, CT, and has offices in Canada, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the U.K. Since changing from Gerber Coburn to Coburn Technologies last year, Coburn has invested $1 million in restructuring the company to make it more efficient. Part of that effort has gone to increasing its product offerings to eyecare professionals (ECPs).
FREE-FORM MINI-LAB
In 2011, Coburn released the CTL Series of lens generators as well as the LaunchPad™, a disposable free-form lens processing technology that is part of its Free-Form Mini-Lab. “All of these have been very successful for us,” said Curt Brey, Coburn’s vice president of marketing and business development. “We can now offer more affordable, highly efficient, compact free-form lens processing to our customers.”
The Free-Form Mini-Lab handles layout and blocking, lens generating, fining and polishing, tracing, edging, and optional coating. At the heart of the Free-Form Mini-Lab is the LaunchPad technology, which is compact and specifically designed for ECPs who want to bring free-form lens processing in-house.
LAUNCHPAD
Prior to launching the Free-Form Mini-Lab last year, Coburn’s in-house lens processing system was the small and compact Premier™ Lab. This lab can process up to 60 lenses an hour in all lens materials including polycarbonate, Trivex®, CR-39®, high-index, and glass.
With the LaunchPad free-form process, ECPs can create free-form lenses at a fraction of the cost in far less space than other free-form lens generators and polishers, which in order to be free-form-capable are typically much larger and cost significantly more.
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| The LaunchPad is a disposable free-form lens processing technology that is part of Coburn’s Free-Form Mini-Lab. |
The core pieces of the Free-Form Mini-Lab that an ECP would need are the LaunchPad lap and pads, either the Coburn Acuity Plus or CMX50 polisher, and the CTL85DP compact generator. These can be used in conjunction with free-form compatible lens blockers and edgers. This new lab is designed for free-form/digital, cut-to-polish, and traditional Rx lens processing. The CTL series provides the single-point technology required for digital surfacing and to produce a final lens surface that can be polished without damaging the design or Rx. This precision cutting is then combined with the LaunchPad disposable foam lap technology that allows these lenses to be polished on a conventional cylinder machine. In this way, free-form lenses can be made and polished without the need for an investment in large equipment.
A NEW ERA
“The LaunchPad marks a new era in free-form lens processing,” said Brey. “As the focal point of Coburn’s new Free-Form Mini-Lab, the LaunchPad provides our customers with access to an affordable, complete system that can produce advanced free-form lenses from design through surfacing, finishing, and even anti-reflective treatment,” he added.
Brey sums it up: “This industry is evolving radically. Customers are looking for faster lens processing solutions that make them more profitable. We’re here to support our customers 100%. Within lens processing, no one comes close to what we do.”
Carol Gilhawley is Senior Editor of VCPN.
WHERE TO FIND IT:
Coburn Technologies, Inc.
800-262-8761 • coburntechnologies.com
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