Remember my post about sniper rifles, which caused a lot of discussion on the Internet, this one: How sniper rifles are made. That time, in the factory showroom, I noticed optical sights, some of which turned out to be domestically produced. I became curious, I found out the name of the company, got contacts and managed to get into a closed security area where they won’t let you take a camera unless there is a special permit.
Today, especially for community readers, an exclusive report on how optical sights are made.
As I already said, the enterprise is located on the closed territory of a plant that used to produce something for the needs of the defense industry in a quiet town near Moscow. Initially, they didn’t want to let me into the enterprise with a camera; I had to call the production director of the company (where I was going to do a report) for help. He settled all the problems, but a security guard was assigned to us, who was supposed to make sure that I didn’t shoot my Nikon into the prohibited area (there seem to be other production facilities on the territory of the plant).
Olga and I (thanks to whom I got into production) found the lens production workshop in a state of relocation, so there was a little chaos here, but it did not greatly affect the production of lenses. Everything here went as usual. Lenses are made from such a glass cube in production; I will tell you how this is done later.
I immediately found an invoice for a batch of optical glass blanks from China. They are also called “presses”. Most lenses are made from Chinese raw materials. As the production foreman told me earlier, the quality of Chinese “presses” left much to be desired; many blanks had to be rejected, but in Lately partners from the Middle Kingdom began to produce high-quality material.
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I asked why Chinese is preferred when there are domestic raw materials? It turned out that Russian glass is three times more expensive than Chinese glass, and their quality is practically the same. By the way, this is not ordinary glass from which sheets for windows are made, but special, optical glass, which contains various chemical compounds.
In addition, Russian glass comes in the form of such heavy cubes that need to be cut, turned into cylinders from blanks, etc.
And Chinese raw materials come ready for processing. In the photo you can see the entire range. Lenses of all diameters used for the production of optical sights and thermal imagers.
Let's go to the first workshop, here the lenses are polished.
The equipment is more than forty years old; it was bought from enterprises that went bankrupt in the post-Soviet era. Here it was repaired, modernized and now operates quite successfully in its previous mode.
We take the blank.
and place it on such a substrate.
This kind of attachment with a diamond edge polishes the future lens at the first stage.
The nozzle rotates, turns from side to side, and the substrate also does not stand still. All this time, the workpiece is watered with emulsol - a special solution with abrasives.
The wizard shows how this process occurs.
After grinding is completed, the workpiece is checked for convexity with a special tool - a spherometer, or that cup over there, which is called a “lapping tool”.
If it does not correspond to the norm, then everything repeats itself again.
Attachments for grinding lenses of various diameters.
Who wants some mints?)
The same glass cubes are cut on this machine.
This is a diamond-coated disk.
The resulting blanks look like pieces of ice. When cutting glass, pay attention to the bubbles that are sometimes present in those same glass cubes, and cut out perfectly clean blanks without any inclusions.
But lenses can only be made from such blanks; later we will see how this happens.
Here in the workshop there is a sharpening stone on which, if necessary, you can polish the workpiece.
The compacts have a larger diameter.
And this is a unique machine that was miraculously rescued from an enterprise that closed in the 90s. It can process lenses with a diameter of 25 cm. Nowadays such machines cannot be found. Of course there are new ones foreign analogues, but they cost an order of magnitude more, under 50 thousand euros. And I got this one for almost nothing.
In this photo you can see what the cloudy pressing turns into at this stage. This is not a finished product yet; there are still many tests ahead for the lens.
But on this machine, blanks sawn from a glass cube are processed.
These washers are firmly glued to both ends of the glass blank with glue. Their diameter corresponds to the diameter of future lenses. After this, the workpiece with washers is fixed in a machine that processes it. The result is a cylinder, which in turn is cut into blanks, glass rounds. And the metal washers come off if you place the workpiece in a special oven.
After grinding, future lenses end up here.
They are glued with a special resin to metal blanks. Paint or varnish is applied to one side, and then resin, which, when hardened, sticks firmly to the lens; Vaseline is applied to the other side and glued to such a hemisphere.
Then they take the hemisphere with the lenses and turn it over into a heated metal blank. “Pschschsch” occurs and the resin with the lenses is glued to the blank.
This is all immediately placed in a bowl of water, the blank is cooled, the resin adheres firmly to it, and the hemisphere coated with Vaseline is easily removed.
This thing is awaiting the next stage of processing.
Here, already polished lenses are knocked off from another metal blank. This is done carefully so as not to damage the workpiece.
To soften the resin with the finished lenses, they are heated in an oven.
In the same room, residual resin is manually removed from the lenses.
And a visual check of the workpiece occurs. If there is something wrong with it, it will be rejected or end up back on the polishing line.
Let's move on to the next workshop. Of the entire tour of the enterprise, this place impressed me the most. On this table you can see both blanks with glued lenses and attachments with diamond heads that will polish the lenses.
Pay attention to the surface of some lenses; they are painted over so that they do not accidentally get scratched during transportation to this workshop.
These machines are designed for polishing small diameter lenses.
You see this black iron cane - a blank with lenses is attached to it. At the bottom there is a nozzle with diamond heads.
During the process, a special solution with abrasives flows from the middle of the nozzle. The polishing process itself lasts from 30 minutes to 4 hours.
And the work of these machines is mesmerizing, it seems that you are in some kind of fairy-tale workshop.
Another machine for piece goods.
Each attachment polishes just one small lens.
And here lenses of large diameters are polished.
The nozzle with diamond heads rotates from side to side, the blank with lenses rotates, the process is moistened with polarite - a polishing suspension that contains abrasives.
These machines were also purchased from the bankrupt enterprise. They were produced in 1968, but they were also modernized to new standards, almost all the filling was changed, one might say they breathed new life into them.
Then the polished surface is varnished
Why you ask? And then that resin will soon be applied to it and the other side will soon have to be polished.
It was as if flowers had opened their petals.
After polishing both sides of the lens, take acetone baths to get rid of all contaminants, including varnish or resin, if any particles remain on the product.
And this is the final product, although no, it’s an intermediate product, the lens has already been polished on both sides, but it is not completely ready yet.
This device checks whether the lens meets the thickness standards.
An employee of the company checks the cleanliness of the lens by eye. There should be no scratches or microcracks on it. For such work you need to have perfect vision, however, the work is also not easy, vision gradually deteriorates from constant stress.
Let's move on to the next workshop. Here the lenses are centered - the geometric axis is aligned with the optical axis.
This is also an old machine that has also been modernized by connecting it to a computer, almost making it a CNC machine.
The lens is fixed.
And the excess grinds off from its edges.
Then, as usual, quality control is carried out again, and so on at every stage.
To be continued
It is best to entrust the repair of an optical sight to a specialist, but if one is not nearby, we take matters into our own hands. This article in general outline will help you understand the structure of optical sights, learn how to disassemble them and carry out simple repair work. Please be patient and attentive - we are plunging into the precise world of optics.
Before we delve into the insides of the optical sight, let’s understand its technical structure. The sight consists of the following components:
- Lens. This a complex system, consisting of several lenses. One of the key parameters of a lens is aperture; it directly depends on its diameter. The outer lens is coated with an anti-reflective coating.
- Sighting reticle. Thanks to it, you aim your weapon accurately. The reticle is localized in the focal plane of your scope (ocular or objective). The simplest grids are half-cross and cross.
- Wrapping system. It consists of a pair of lenses that reverse the image, making the picture “straight”.
- Eyepiece. An enlarged direct image is fed to the eyepiece, thanks to which the shooter examines the target. In rifle scopes, the focal length of the eyepiece is about 50-70 mm. Often the eyepiece is equipped with a rubber eyecup.
- Mechanism for entering horizontal/vertical corrections. Combines two points - aiming and hitting. Two types of correction mechanisms are common - tactical drums and permanent correction devices. The drums are equipped with a scale along the axis of which the handwheel rotates. When adjusting, the arrow is guided by characteristic clicks.
- Illuminated aiming reticle. Modern sights are equipped with LEDs that illuminate central part or the entire mesh. Some scopes have a brightness adjustment that allows you to adjust the acceptable level of illumination.
- Frame. Usually the body of your optics is plastic, sometimes it is made of a lightweight and durable alloy. The housing connects the components of the sight into a common structure that is resistant to overloads that occur during shooting.
Disassembly
Before disassembling the sight, make sure you have necessary tools and "accessories". You will need:
- repair kit (set of flat screwdrivers);
- inexpensive transparent sealant (solvent-free);
- cotton buds;
- a clean cotton cloth;
- jars (for storing small bolts);
- flashlight.
As an example, consider disassembling the VOMZ-P model. You will encounter the following configuration:
- lens;
- eyepiece;
- lever;
- screw;
- lid;
- net;
- angular scale of lateral corrections;
- lens wrapping system;
- installation ring;
- aiming angle scale.
First you have to unscrew the lenses (back/front). The adjusting drums are screwed in until they stop ( hour hand), then unscrew together with the pressure washers. Then the pressure and locking bolts are unscrewed one by one. Half of the pipe is unscrewed. The cassette containing the adjustment lens is carefully squeezed out.
The lens is removed from the cassette (try not to touch the glass with your fingers).
The lens-turning system is localized in the remaining segment of the pipe. If desired, it is not difficult to unscrew it - the system is secured with one microbolt.
The structure is assembled in reverse order. Pay attention to the stained lenses - they should not be touched with your fingers. The lenses are wiped with one-sided movements (zero pressure).
Do-it-yourself scope repair - highlights
The time has come to study the mounting of the basic components of the optical sight. Please note that this is a fragile device, so you need to disassemble it with extreme caution. It starts to act up after about one and a half thousand shots. To prevent future problems, tighten the mounting screws and watch for horizontal alignment.
This video explains how it works optical sight and how to repair it (model Leapers 3-9×40):
Attaching the lenses
Lenses for hunting weapons have a large diameter, designed for shooting at short distances (150-200 meters). Hunting optics have many rubbing surfaces that wear out over time. Backlashes, mechanical displacements and optical parallaxes occur.
The lenses are attached using sealant. After disassembling the sight according to our instructions, you reach the ring nut that holds the crosspiece. The next procedure is as follows:
- squeezing out the cassette (do not lose the pressure spring);
- unscrewing the front nut, lens and guide screws (2 pcs.);
- removing the adjustment lenses from the inner cylinder (this must be done carefully, without giving the cylinder a vertical position);
- remembering the location of the lenses;
- repair.
If the tuning lens (usually the front one) has a loose locking ring, the threads will have to be lubricated with sealant. After waiting for it to dry, reassemble the entire structure in reverse order.
Pressure spring
During repairs, you will inevitably encounter a pressure spring, which you need not only to preserve, but also to ensure its functionality.
A little advice: you can unscrew the nuts (if you don’t have a repair kit at hand) with pointed tweezers.
Loose screws and nuts (if they do not tighten well) should be placed on sealant. Now the repaired structure, together with the spring, must be pushed back into the pipe - this is a rather labor-intensive process. One end of the spring should end with teeth, the other should be completely smooth.
If necessary (presence of jags), the second end of the spring must be sanded. The spring is installed in the central part of the sight - between the holes intended for the adjustment drums. The tube slides onto the cassette with the assembled lenses, while the spring must be held through the holes.
Lubrication
Not all parts and components of an optical sight require lubrication. And even more precisely, only the rings need this. It is highly undesirable for grease to get on the surface of the lens. For the lubrication procedure you will need:
- The vertical correction drum is turned all the way down, and the horizontal drum is turned all the way to the left.
- The vertical and horizontal drums are clicked (“up” and “right”, respectively). In this case, it is necessary to count the number of clicks over the entire range.
It’s best to do this in splendid isolation—household members can throw off your mental calculations. Moreover, the rifle that occupied kitchen table(on a special machine) is not the most positive sight for the wife.
- Let's assume that you are 300 clicks away from the extreme positions of the drum. Count halfway (in this example, 150 clicks). This is the middle of both ranges. The sight is “zeroed” - its optical and mechanical axes are combined.
To reduce the risk of having to deal with repair work, protect your scope from bad weather - heat, humidity and direct sun rays. Cover lenses with caps, avoid mechanical damage and contact with lenses. harmful substances(lubricants, alcohol solutions). Periodically (after 1000-1500 shots) check the internal fastenings. Have a good hunting!
It is very difficult to design and arrange lighting in a steam room. After all, high humidity, abundance of steam and high temperature not entirely conducive to the use of electricity. Despite this, fiber optic backlighting has become increasingly popular. Its use is relevant not only for baths; the optical harness is used even in apartments and houses. This is explained by the fact that such light is much more economical and safer than standard light sources, and also allows you to create decorative lighting for a room. In this article, we will tell you how to make fiber optic lighting yourself, providing a system connection diagram, as well as installation instructions.
What does the system consist of?
As a rule, such systems are sold as a set, which already includes everything necessary. But in addition to the main components, you can add additional elements that will help create an individual interior. This is, for example, special lighting using an LED strip or special lenses or crystals.
Fiber optic lighting includes the following components:
- Projector. Of the entire system, only it is connected to electricity. The amount of light emitted depends on the power of the device.
- Fibers. Thanks to these elements, you can also regulate the amount of light that is released and distribute it around the entire perimeter of the bathhouse at your discretion. When choosing a harness, it is better to give preference to a glass model, as it is more resistant to temperature changes. There are two types of strands: side glow (creating light patterns using fiber weaves) and end glow (creating a starry sky).
- Lenses and lamps. With the help of such elements, fiber optic lighting acquires a directional glow. After all, it is precisely such lenses and crystals that regulate the dispersion and direction of the light flux.
When choosing a fiber optic system, you should pay attention not only to the length and number of fibers, but also to what kind of lamp is used. Halogen and HID lamps require cooling, and since some cooling systems have noisy fans, this can ruin your vacation.
Side glow method
You can do this kind of lighting yourself, as it does not require complex compositions. electronic circuits. Installation is simple: just install the projector outside the sauna. This is done as follows:
- A projector is installed in the room in front of the bathhouse. The place where it is mounted must be next to the steam room (have a common wall). If the projector is installed in one room, it should be located at a distance from the heat source.
- If desired, you can install additional accessories on the device, for example, color wheels.
- According to the diagram, mark the places where the optical fiber will be placed.
- We install fiber optic lighting.
- If desired, you can install color attachments (lenses or crystals). Connecting this effect can be either automatic or manual.
Important! When installing optical fiber, it is necessary to take into account the permissible bend of each light pipe. It depends on the diameter. Therefore, the focal length of products should be more than 85%. All this is thought through when the system diagram is drawn up.
End glow method
It is better to install such light before interior decoration. You must first draw up an exact layout of the point elements.
Installation of fiber optic backlight should be done in the following order:
- Cut the bundles to the required length. And in order to find out the length, you should measure the distance from the projector to all glow points.
- Place the fibers in place, first secure them with tape.
- In order to preserve the pattern and fix the bundles vertically, it is necessary to install dowels in certain places to which the fibers are attached with the assistance of the wire. To make it convenient to attach, the dowels should protrude three centimeters outward.
- The surface is sheathed and all unnecessary tape and dowels are removed.
- Then you need to cut the fiber optic bundle. This is done according to the level of the cladding. Next, sand the ends of the harness using fine-grained sanding paper.
- The other ends of the fiber are connected into a connector and connected to the projector.
During installation, you need to carefully monitor the bends of the light pipes. Upon completion of installation, you can optionally add various lenses and crystals to the system.
This fiber optic lighting connection scheme is also suitable for the washing department. Especially if there is a pool, then such lighting will look very good on its bottom. In a recreation room, living room or bedroom, fiber optic lamps can be combined with standard lighting fixtures. The atmosphere created in this way will help you relax.
There are things that can be very helpful for successful air rifle or rimfire hunting. Or even with a crossbow, there are also such amateurs.
One of these things is optical sight. After all, open, regular or diopter, cannot provide the required accuracy.
Of course, any such thing can be easily bought. However, many are interested in making a useful thing with their own hands. Making an optical sight is a very troublesome and intricate task. But quite accessible for independent implementation.
Implementation
The implementation, of course, may be different, but it is based on a single theoretical basis. Let’s turn to it, the theory.
An optical sight is a small telescope with optical system Kepler, supplemented by an aiming reticle (mark) and a wrapping element. (Galileo's system is not suitable because it is afocal.)
The simplest scheme is this. The first lens is the lens. An aiming mark (reticle) is installed in the focal plane. It appears as clear as the target image by being positioned precisely in focus.
At the other end of the scope tube is the eyepiece lens. They look into the eyepiece from a distance of 5-7 centimeters, no less.
Therefore, you need at least three lenses in total (although they put more in scopes to ensure high-quality results). The sights end up being quite long because you have to take focal lengths into account.
A little practice about optical sights
There is a lot of talk about the aperture of the lenses used. Like, if it is good, you can hunt in the twilight. This is true. However, on a bright sunny day you will need filters and lens attachments. Especially in winter, when everything around is glittering with snow. There is no way to make a light filter - then there is no point in chasing the aperture ratio.
Now a little about practice. Focal lengths and the location of the reticle can be determined experimentally. Place everything along a regular ruler, move the lenses and grid until you get a high-quality image, see how many millimeters are there - and then design the pipe.
The scope must provide at least four times magnification. Anything less will not be effective enough.
Reticle
The reticle is usually made by gluing hair to a ring. Then it is glued into the focal plane. To ensure that the crosshair is exactly in the center, the ring is placed on graph paper. Or at least on a squared piece of notebook paper. Otherwise you won’t be able to glue it evenly.
Instead of hair, a thin thread will do. Very thin, woven from nylon. True, it may not have to be glued, but welded. Or the wire from a coil of broken miniature headphones, also quite thin.
Making an aiming reticle is the most difficult stage, truly jewelry. It’s better to make several at once, so that you can quickly change them later (if the previous one, for example, is torn by a lens that fell off due to vibration).
You can also make a mesh from needles, but thin enough ones are unlikely to be found. Although, there is a lot of room for experimentation. The pipe itself and its fastenings too.
If it is impossible to make a thin reticle, it turns out thick, then you can try to install it in the focal plane of the eyepiece lens, rather than the objective.
Internal surfaces of the sight
The question of how to blacken the internal surfaces of the sight is also relevant. Smoking with soot, as advised, does not always work. A simple option is to paint over it with a wide waterproof marker. Black, of course.
Then, when everything is ready, you need to sight the sight - adjust its mounts so that the crosshairs look at the center of the target, and the bullets hit there, and do not fall somewhere to the side. That is, to put it slightly simplified, so that the optical axis of the sight becomes parallel to the axis of the barrel in the vertical and horizontal planes.
Good afternoon Today I would like to show you how to make an optical sight from binoculars. In fact, we will simply convert the binoculars into a monocle and install a crosshair inside. Simple cheap and enough effective method supplement homemade pneumatics made from scrap materials.
To create such a sight, absolutely any binoculars are suitable (their devices are basically the same).
With a slight movement of the hand, we turn the binoculars into an elegant monocle.
First you need to disassemble the eyepiece. To do this, remove all the rubber bands and unscrew all the screws. By the way, the screws can not be unscrewed completely
We take out the eyepiece and unscrew the sleeve that presses the lenses to each other.
This eyepiece contains two lenses. We will place the crosshair after the second lens (now it is in front of you)
The difficulty is that the crosshair must be very thin and focused at infinity. This will have to be done manually. You need to find the distance at which any object placed behind the second lens becomes absolutely clearly visible through the eyepiece (and in a greatly enlarged version). Here we look through the eyepiece and bring a screwdriver to the opposite side. The crosshair should be placed at a distance from the second lens at which the screwdriver will become as clear as possible.
For example here
You need to make four cuts in the sleeve to get to the desired distance
The crosshair itself will be made from one fiber of synthetic rope. It is better to immediately take a black rope, but in extreme cases there is always a black marker.
We make slots in the sleeve and, in order not to overdo it, we check the result every half a millimeter.
In order to check the distance, we insert the fiber into the slots and clamp it with a piece of paper, cotton wool, or basically anything (you can even use chewing gum).
Now look through the eyepiece.
Clear? No. We continue to saw. I agree, the work is jewelry, but quite real. Now it’s clear!
Secure the result with second glue, not forgetting to slightly stretch the fibers.
Let's cut off the excess and finally assemble the eyepiece. Now the crosshair is visible even at a distance from the eyepiece
We put it back, tighten the screws and put on the rubber bands.
