DIY Fluid Goggles

[donmoore]

Thank you Bill, that helps a lot. Besides being able to see outside of the water, mounting on the inside takes up some volume. Less fluid to use! I’m definitely trying the optical glue. Most of it is UV cured, which I believe means it will cure in the sun in 5 minutes if you don’t have a $1,500 UV gun to cure it in 5-seconds.

Okay, here a bomb shell for you U.S.A. fluid goggle makers. :ko First and overstock PCX lenses for cheap right here in the U.S.A. No big quantities have to be purchased and no shipping arrangements. I just found this site yesterday and have noticed their stock has changed since then. Today they have at least one 21.5 diameter with 20mm focal PCX for the price of $9 plus shipping. Yesterday they had some 21 mm diameter with 20mm PCX.s.

If I understand it, it’s the focal point of 20 that works. A slightly larger diameter only means you get a slightly larger field of view. Seems like a lot of what they have are left-overs from custom-made stuff, because the sizes are not standard.
www.anchoroptics.com
don

 

[efattah]

The focal length of the lens in air doesn't tell you the focal length in water. The lens in question has a 20mm focal length in AIR, but the focal length in water depends on the refractive index of the material.

Therefore 'swapping' with another lens of focal length 20mm won't work at all.

Putting the lens on the outside of the goggle creates a huge magnification.

A plano concave lens can be used in a fluid goggle to correct your vision, but only if the refractive index of the lens material is less than water.

The statement that a plano concave lens has a negative focal length is only true if the lens has a higher refractive index than the surrounding medium.

I have been building fluid goggles for 7 years; if there were an easier, simpler method, I would have already used it.

Early goggles had the lenses outside the goggle. I also built fluid goggles with meniscus lenses, and those had lenses made of cleartran zinc sulfide (index = 2.35), resulting in the lowest magnification and a GIANT field of view, unfortunately they were also ridiculously expensive. Those lenses were molded into a liquid plastic on the inside of the goggle, making the internal fluid volume needed to fill the goggle near zero.

 

[Jon]

If we get this order through I have an idea that I've been thinking over for some time.

One of the optical scuba companies is just down the road and they have made me many a RX face mask over the years- they even used to make my glasses for me before I had LASIK surgery.

I know that I have seen flat glass RX swimming goggles in the place before and I know the guy can grind, or glue, just about anything- you should see the tri-focals he made for my father-in-law's full face mask.

I believe that if scrubbing the scuzz off the inside of a plastic swimming goggle to glue on the lens is the hard part, then starting out with an already clean glass blank to glue the lens onto should make that step a whole lot easier.

It would also mean that you don't have to worry if Speedo will still make a certain model of goggle next year since the RX swimming goggles have been standard for some time. It also means I could get a clear lens and not settle for a smoked- to get the clear ones cost close to $400.

Not positive if it will work, but I am willing to shuck out a few bucks to let a guy who's been at it for over 30 years to give it a try.

Jon

 

[donmoore]

You’re right, this is difficult stuff, but if you’re not selling them anymore or my weird shaped eye sockets won’t fit normal goggles, then this is my only way. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge with us Eric.

Well if Hi-Tech’s LENS PCX 20 x 20 UNCTD TS is the same thing as Edmund’s then the material used is SF11, which according to Edmund’s chart at http://www.edmundoptics.com/TechSupport/DisplayArticle.cfm?articleid=259 has a refractory index of 1.785. www.anchoroptics.com doesn’t show the material they are made out of. Probably because they assume their users are using them in air. But I imagine you could e-mail or call them and find out. Do coatings chance the refractory index?

Water index is 1.33 according to http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/tables/indrf.html. Doesn’t look like Edmund has lense material with index of less than water so plano concave lens do not look promising. Bummer! Mounting would have been so easy!

The two most common materials seem to be BK7 with index of 1.517 and SF11 1.785. So if the refractory index is higher, I suppose you need less focal length or magnification. Is that correct?

In looking at PCX lenses with 20mm focal points on Hi-Tech’s site, all of them are made out of SF11, so it must be a material that works good for producing that focal point and there is probably a good chance www.anchoroptics.com either has or will have 20mm focal point PCX lenses made from SF11.

www.anchoroptics.com also has Meniscus lenses for extremely low prices.
don

 

[efattah]

SF11 is pretty cheap, has a high index and a good abbe number (low chromatic abberration).

I have currently 100 lens blanks (un-ground) of SFL57, with an index of 1.85.

The original fluid goggles were made with single crystal cleartran zinc sulfide with an index of 2.35, but very bad chromatic abberration.

The higher the index, the flatter the lens, which means you get three advantages:
1. Less distortion in the peripheral vision
2. Less magnification
3. Bigger lens is possible for wider field of view

The only material with a lower index than water is Teflon AF, with an index of 1.29, which is too close to water to be of much use. The other alternative is it use air as the lens (index 1.00) and shape the water around it (i.e. make a hollow concave lens). But, there is a chance it will implode at depth, sending breaking glass into your eyes and blinding you for life.

Coatings have no effect on the lens power.

 

[m2b]

Okay so I started playing around with this idea last night. I tried to think of anything that I had that had a lens. I finally came up with my old telescope, that doesn't work much worth a crap, I think the lenses got knocked around/off kelter too much.

I pulled a couple of them out and played around with them. It seemed to be going quite well until I finally got in the water this afternoon and then everything went fuzzy.

i decided to try one last thing which I had tried earlier but this time I took the googles completely off. The idea using two lenses could I get the focus to come into tune. Boy, did it ever work and work beautifully. I pretty much know the spacing that I need between the two lenses. I just need now to figure out how much room I have to have between the first lens and my eye.

I will say that it is an exacting science to get the focus right on the money but it does come in and very nicely. I just need to find a source of bigger diameter lenses. Is that possible without the changing the focus of the lens itself? I'm thinking more along the lines of using it probably more as a mask kind of setup rather than as a goggle kind of setup, hence why I want the bigger diameter lens to allow both eyes to look out the same lens.

I'm definitely not an optics brainiac, and I guessing some of what I said above proves the point quite well.

Ryan

 

[Mlaen]

Did someone tryed to call Anchor optics to find out the material?
If this thing with Hiteck fails and material of Anchor optics is SF11 or similar perhaps we can make a deal with them?
9$ is way cheaper then 16.44 Eur!

 

[OceanMan]

Anchor optics is a parent company of edmund optics.

Anchor Optical carries on with this task and hopes to be of service to you and offer many of the same optical products as the original Edmund Scientific Company, as well as new industrial optics from our parent company, Edmund Optics.

I wrote an email to them for the lenses and they said to ask edmund optics ....

 

[devinjohnson7]

what do u fill the goggles with??

 

[ADR]

saline solution

 

[devinjohnson7]

ooohhhhh... ok thanks!! im planning to make my own fluid goggles in the next few weeks...=]
El Capitan

 

[ezequiel]

I trying to do my own fluid goggles, thank you all for the post and information .
anchoroptics sites
I went to Anchor Optics - PCX:15mm to 29.9mm Dia.
I know I have to get a 20mm x 20mm PCX uncoated , right ?
one of these numbers is the diameter, so i don't really care about if it is 20mm or 21,5, etc, .
second 20mm is the "Focal Length" ?? , if I use a 23mm will be ok ??

 

[Morpheusdive]

Hi Ezequiel

You did your FLUID GOGGLES?
Did you use the lens of Anchor? What it (code)?
It worked well?

Thanks

PEDRO

 

[Roger-swe]

I would also like to know which lenses at Anchor Optics that works?

 

[nostres]

I would also like to know which lenses at Anchor Optics that works?

Lens has to be 0.5-1 diopter which is 1000-2000mm focal length. I also like the idea of $10 fluid goggles unfortunately Anchor Optics doesn't have this kind of lens.




"Thank you for contacting Anchor Optics, a division of Edmund Optics, for your Affordable Quality Optics requirements. Unfortunately, we do not carry any lens in the size you are looking for that matches the focal length you requested (0.5 -1 diopter = 1000 - 2000 mm focal length). Sorry for any inconvenience, but we look forward to fully meeting your needs in the future. Please continue to check our website (www.anchoroptics.com <http://www.anchoroptics.com/>) for the most up-to-date information on our products.

Regards,
Pat McKenna, on behalf of Anchor Optics"



BTW the numbers surprised me, I was looking for 20mm focal length and they calculated diopter to 2000mm?????

 

[ptoot]

BTW the numbers surprised me, I was looking for 20mm focal length and they calculated diopter to 2000mm?????

These 20mm focal length lenses are so strong that you won't find them back in ranges for spectacles.

I thought the formula was: Diopter = 1/Focal Length in metres,
so it would equate to 50 (50=1/0.02)

 

[qai4321]

Hello guys, I had a question regarding Fluid goggles. I was wondering if there was any need for the goggles, or if the lenses could be worn like spectacles. I was also wondering what was essentially different between the goggles I see for sale and the ones I see Herbert Nitsch wear.?

 

[ptoot]

I love the specs that Herbert Nitsch wears, they look so incredibly sick! Me wants!

 

[nostres]

OK guys, so it works

After getting PCX lenses from Anchor Optics it took 5 minutes to glue them in. I used clear silicon (Aquarium glue) and no brackets, pipes or any additional hardware. My lenses are large, 21.5mm diameter so they stay very close to the edges of goggles. That allows for direct gluying at the edges, just two drops of silicon for each lens.

Eager to try them I fill with tap water, put them on at I can see very clearly, the only thing I'll change is...goggles
I ordered Orca's but they are too dark and shiny. I have pair or clear TYR goggles back home so I'll swap the lenses when I am back. This glue holds tight but will come off easily, no problem.

I would only note here that I have slight astigmatism, I wear -1 glasses. So the nearest lens to 20mm focal lenght at Anchor Optics is 23mm, that's what I got and it works for me, I am not sure how it is for someone with 20/20 vision.

$20 including shipping and 5minutes work is not bad, good luck!

 

[ptoot]

@nostres: how did you glue these lenses; stuck on the inside or on the outside? Can you see above water with them?
Is the vision sharp or do you get a rainbow effect around the edges?

Thanks!
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