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Need advice on making prism

I have a project that requires two 4 degree prisms about an inch square for deflecting light in stereo macrophotography. I have not been successful finding a commercial supplier and have been using water filled prisms for testing, but they leak and are not a viable long term solution.

I was thinking that maybe instead of water I could just pour an acrylic or urethane resin in between two thin microscope slides at a 4 degree angle to each other and create an optically clear prism. Would this work? And if so, what type of resin would be best? And where could I purchase the resin? Or should I learn how to grind glass instead? :) Any thoughts and advice would be appreaciated.

Reply to
Bob J
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Hum...I just took a look at one of the pieces I have for a bevel cluster (another pending project), and, without measuring anything, that sounds pretty close to the angle that the edge is bevelled at. You might be able to adjust the design a bit to use this pre-ground angle. However, I suspect that pretty much any person that bevels glass could make you as many as you want out of whatever glass you want to use. It won't be REAL cheap though. The problem I see is getting a good, flat surface on the thing. Ingall's, (hum...Ingal's??? - I dont remember right now) in his seminal series "Amateur Telescope Making", covers making optical glass prisms in great detail, so it would be a great resource for you. Over all, though, with care, and some practice, you should be able to crank these out in very short order, even if doing them by hand. A quick Google Search also turned up this site:

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which has as standard stock, 3 degree, 53' wedge prisms of agood optical quality. That might be "good enough" for your purpose.However a search for "optical glass prism 4 degree" brings back enough hits that SOMEONE can probably help you. Although it SAYS25,000 hits, that is meaningless, as you can only look at the first1000 thanks to an arbitrary limit set by Google. Regards Dave Mundt

Reply to
Dave Mundt

Contact your local rock club or rock shop and find some local faceters. They should be able to make whatever you need fairly easily and accurately.

Chunk vroc 5679

Reply to
chunk

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