18mm CO2 Laser Lens, Laser Mirror PVD ZnSe Focus Lens 63.5mm / 2.5" Focal for CO2 10600nm 10.6um Laser Engraver Cutting Cutter

Why did you pick this product vs others?:The item met the specifications I needed.

This lens is fantastic. I've been using much more expensive lenses in my laser cutter but no more. This lens out cuts and out engraves the pricier ones. Honestly, when I first got it I wasn't too impressed. Although it was very well packaged, the lens appeared to be a little cloudy and I really didn't expect much out of it. However, once I got it in my machine it performed better than I ever would have imagined. I won't be going back to my old lenses.

I've been buying inexpensive lenses for my CO2 laser on Amazon for a couple of years now and have never had a problem with them.I've tried lenses that cost twice as much and saw absolutely no difference in performance.I consider lenses to be a consumable and thus the less expensive the better and these work well.

Good

Awesome perfect fit works great

Very fast shipping. Works great on my 180 watt laser.

I bought a 2.0" focal length ZnSe lens, 19mm diameter. This lens is thicker at the edge than OEM lenses from universal laser, measuring 2.4mm Because of this extra thickness, it doesn't fit in the OEM aluminum holder from Universal Laser Systems. The OEM plano convex Lens from universal is about 2.3mm thick in the center, and 1.75mm thick at the edge. It is completely flat across the bottom. The lens from cole is 3.25mm thick measured from the outside bottom edge to the middle of the top. they claim 2mm thick +/- 0.1mm, so this one is way out of tolerance. Despite being sold as a plano-convex lens, it is actually a meniscus lens, and concave-convex in construction. Because it is thicker than the OEM lens and out of spec, it does not quite fit into the carriage of the laser cutter. We have a couple of these cutters, and it was too tight to install on all of them. if you look along the side of the lens holder with the lens mounted, you can actually see that the lens sits slightly proud of the aluminum mount. with the OEM lens, the lens sits below the thickness of the aluminum lens mount. I made sure not to put any glue directly below the lens (only on the edges), so there is nothing between the mount and the lens making it too thick. the lens is simply not compatible with my cutter.I have a universal VLS-6.60 cutter that I am using this in using the OEM aluminum lens holder. I removed the broken lens by soaking in acetone for a few minutes to soften old glue. After carefully cleaning old glue from aluminum holder, I used loctite AA 352 adhesive (a UV setting acrylic adhesive), and cured the glue with a small blacklight for a few minutes. clean up of any stray glue with a q-tip dipped in acetone was simple and easy. Make sure the lens is in the holder the right way. The convex side goes facing the aluminum lens holder. glue only in the corners of the holder if you don't want a giant mess. this takes a little bit of skill, but it is entirely doable, and seems worth the effort so far.Buy a different lens, if you have a universal laser cutter. I am returning this one if I still can. Their more expensive CVD IIVI ZnSe lens meniscus lens, will actually fit, so long as it is in spec, and cuts great for me so far.

works just as good as the manufactures lens at half the cost