FAQ
Answers on lead times, prototyping, dimensional limits (up to 500 mm), and metrology standards.
- What does SPEKTON manufacture?
- SPEKTON manufactures flat optics, optical thin-film coatings, and metal additive parts under one roof. That covers windows, mirrors, prisms, wedges, filters and master flats to ISO 10110, AR and mirror coatings from the visible to LWIR, and LPBF-printed optomechanical and aerospace structures. Metrology, optomechanical design and cleanroom assembly are in-house as well.
- What is the largest optic SPEKTON can produce?
- Flat optics are manufactured up to 500 mm in diameter, finished to sub-micron TTV and nanometre-level surface roughness. Metrology matches that range: an 18 inch wide-aperture interferometer and a 20 inch optical profilometer verify the full clear aperture rather than a sampled zone.
- Which optical substrates and alloys do you work with?
- Optical substrates cover three families: soft materials (calcium fluoride, zinc sulphide, zinc selenide, germanium), hard materials (sapphire, silicon, silicon carbide, spinel, YAG), and glass & glass ceramics (N-BK7 optical glass, silica glass, Zerodur). Additive alloys are Ti-6Al-4V, AlSi10Mg, Invar 36 and Inconel 718/625. Each material page lists its published properties.
- How large is the metal additive manufacturing build chamber?
- The laser powder bed fusion build chamber measures 800 × 800 × 1500 mm, the largest LPBF volume in the EMEA region. It allows single-piece builds of gimbal chassis, munition structures and turboprop engine structural parts that would otherwise be bolted assemblies.
- What quality certifications does SPEKTON hold?
- Quality management runs under AS9100 for aerospace and NADCAP for special processes, with ISO 10110 governing optical drawings and MIL-SPEC governing environmental durability. Environmental and occupational health systems are certified to ISO 14001:2015, OHSAS 18001 and ISO 45001.
- Is every part inspected, or only a sample?
- Every critical surface is measured, not sampled. Assemblies ship with full metrology verification reports covering full-aperture wavefront and surface form, non-contact surface roughness, and dimensional measurement of printed geometry on a CMM.
- How do I request a quotation?
- Send your technical drawing or 3D CAD model through the request form on the contact page. Accepted formats are PDF, STEP, IGES, DXF and ZIP up to 15 MB, transferred over an encrypted upload. Include material, dimensions, tolerances, quantity and target date so the engineering team can quote without a second round of questions.
- Do you take prototype and single-piece orders?
- Yes. Prototype and low-volume work runs on the same certified lines and the same inspection philosophy as series production, so a prototype is measured and documented exactly like a delivered batch. That matters when the prototype has to qualify a design before series release.
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