this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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3D-printed sunglasses (lemmy.sdf.org)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/3dprinting
 

Well, not really sunglasses, but rather clip-on shades for my 3D-printed glasses

But here's the thing: they're FULLY 3D-printed. The "lenses" are in fact the finest and thinnest mesh I could print with our printer - basically one 0.1mm layer of 0.4mm lines spaced 0.4mm running horizontally, and an identical layer of lines running vertically right on top of it.

Is it perfect? No. The image through it is kind of "pixelated" But it's surprisingly acceptable. It looks like this when looking through them:

View through the 3D-printed mesh

In real-life, it's quite a bit darker than this. But the photo shows fairly accurately how it looks like seeing through them.

It works because the mesh is very close to the eyes and totally out of focus. And although it's not optical-grade, the price is unbeatable 🙂

If you want to try printing it yourself, the model is here. It's meant to be printed with a 0.4mm nozzle and a 0.1mm layer height - including the first one.

Double-check how the slicer slices the first two layers, where the mesh lives, because it easily tends to "simplify" the lines by not printing them, which is obviously not what you want.

EDIT: as others have pointed out in this thread, don't use these shades as actual sunglasses without sticking some UV filter over the mesh on the inside. They're not eye-safe as-is. I made them more for the challenge of making them than anything else.

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[–] dual_sport_dork 6 points 1 week ago

For anyone worried about the UV blocking factor, or rather the lack thereof: Just print your lenses in polycarbonate. Polycarb blocks UV real good, even without special fancy coatings or anything else. Of course, you will then want to make at least one layer of the lens not full of holes, which would rather defeat the purpose.

How you would get your printed polycarb to be acceptably optically clear is left as an exercise for the reader. The solution may involve toothpaste.