Laboratory

This is the lathe that will cut the curves into the front and back surfaces of the gas permeable plastic button. You can see the blue button mounted on the spinning portion of the lathe and is held in place by a collett. This contact lens lathe is a Computerized Numerically Controlled (CNC) lathe which receives very precise and complex controlling instructions from a computer, which can then cut very complex and accurate curves into the button to form the contact lens.

In this closer view, the gas permeable button is clearly visible. On the surface, the material printed markings can be seen which indicate that this particular button is a blue "Boston XO" material (the print is upside down).

In this view of the button, the central portion of the back of the lens has already had the base curve cut into it.

The curves on the back surface of the lens are being cut all the way out to the edge of the button. The cutting head is against the spinning button here and is removing plastic from the button in very small amounts. The thin, stringy looking pieces of removed plastic can be seen on the left side of the lathe. The black structure positioned just above the button is actually a vacuum that sucks up the plastic that flies off as it is cut.

Here, the button has been flipped over so the lathe can cut the front surface of the lens. Since most of the excess plastic of the button as already been removed, the button is now looking much more like a finished contact lens.

In this closer view, a wisp of plastic is coming off as the cutting head is finishing the front surface of the lens. The reddish-brown material under the lens is a waxy material that holds the button mounted to the lathe.