3D printed lens holder

I have the bright idea to print the lens body and nozzle. The material I’m using extrudes at 250C.
Has anyone tried this? Will the material soften in a long cut due to a hot lens?

if they are dirty they can get hot and crack. I"ve never put a FLiR or optical thermometer on mine so no idea how warm they get during normal use. I suspect not hot at all since heating is lost power. Look up the specs on your lens and see if they post the efficiency since you can calculate the heating from the losses based on your power levels used.

One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes the laser hits the tube or nozzle if there becomes a problem. I’ve done it a few times with mine. Don’t know what would happen on a 3d printed one. Most of that is hazardous to cut with a laser.

Take care… Good luck and let us know how it works out.

:smiley_cat:

in this case if the beam hits the plastic it will burn right thru. I have an old lens that I can play with.
I just don’t what to dig a good lens out of a clump of melted plastic.

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I bought my laser lens mount a long time ago and needed just the holder for a 75mm lens so I decided to print it using PETG filament. At first I printed a long nozzle but I couldn’t align it, so I settled for the air line held next to the beam.

After taking several decent cuts at a medium power I can report the 3D printed holder is holding up well. No signs of melting. It is possible that longer and higher powered cuts may cause issues but I prefer lower powered cuts & slower cutting speeds.

Also I am impressed with this lens in that the walls of the cut piece seem much straighter and it cuts with more power compared to my 50mm lens. The only negative is that the beam diameter seems larger so for the first time I’m using the kerf offset feature in Lightburn.