Features

• Thickness: 58 mm
• Sizes from 300 mm x 450 mm (12" x 18") to 900 mm x 1800 mm
  (36" x 72") are Available
• Top Skin: ±0.15 mm (±0.006") Surface Flatness over any 600 mm x 600 mm Area
• Stainless Steel Top and Bottom Skins with uPVC Side Panels
• Approximately 25% Lighter than our Honeycomb Core Nexus^® Breadboards

Thorlabs' 58 mm thick optical breadboards are offered in a variety of lengths and widths from 300 mm x 450 mm (12" x 18") to 900 mm x 1800 mm (36" x 72"). The stainless steel top and bottom skins are 5 mm and 3 mm thick, respectively, and have a matte finish. The top skin is precision-machined with a surface flatness of ±0.15 mm (±0.006") over any 600 mm x 600 mm area. Metric breadboards have M6 mounting holes on 25 mm centers with a 12.5 mm border at the edges, while imperial breadboards have 1/4"-20 mounting holes on 1" centers with a 0.5" border at the edges. The maximum screw depth of these mounting holes is 54 mm, except for the outer border holes which have a maximum screw depth of 16.0 mm. The screw depth is unimpeded by the honeycomb structure, as shown in the diagram to the bottom right.

These breadboards are intrinsically damped and are an ideal solution for applications requiring minimal vibration damping. The 0.26 mm thick precision-formed honeycomb core extends from the top to bottom skin without intermediate layers, leading to a stiff and stable board as large as 900 x 1800 x 58 mm (36" x 72" x 2.28"). When paired with the 5 mm thick top skin these breadboards offer good rigidity and damping performace.

Click to Enlarge
Outline of the honeycomb core location on an optical breadboard. The core does not intersect with any screw holes.

As the size of any breadboard is increased the chance for static deflection will rise, especially when high loads are being used. To increase the rigidity of the system and minimize static deflection, we recommend using a thicker breadboard, such as our 110 mm thick Nexus Breadboard. Static deflection is a factor when slight variations of the optical axis height are detrimental. A thicker breadboard will help maintain the optical axis height throughout the system and simplify long-distance alignments. For more information regarding breadboard design and vibration damping please see our Vibration Isolation Tutorial.

For a comparison of our breadboard options please see our BB Selection Guide Tab. Custom sizes and options are also available, contact Tech Support for more information.

Breadboards	Nexus, Optimized Damping	Intrinsically Damped	Aluminum Honeycomb	Stainless Steel	Solid Aluminum	Optically Clear Acrylic
Construction
Breadboard Thickness	60 mm (2.4") 110 mm (4.3")	58 mm (2.28")	25 mm (0.98") 55 mm (2.2")	12.7 mm (0.5")	7.0 mm (0.28") 9.5 mm (0.375") 12.7 mm (0.5") 19.05 mm (0.75")	12.7 mm (0.5")
Working Surface	4003 Grade Stainless Steel or 304L Grade Nonmagnetic Steel Top Plate	4003 Grade Stainless Steel Top Plate	Aluminum	416 Grade Stainless Steel	Solid Aluminum Anodized or Unanodized	Acrylic
Top Skin	5 mm (0.20")	5 mm (0.20")	6 mm (0.24")	N/A	N/A	N/A
Bottom Skin	5 mm (0.20")	3 mm (0.12")	3 mm (0.12")	N/A	N/A	N/A
Core Design	High-Density Plated Steel Honeycomb, 0.26 mm Thick		High-Density Plated Aluminum Honeycomb	N/A	N/A	N/A
Side Panels	Rigid Steel Box Section	Unplasticized Polyvinyl Chloride (uPVC)	Black Laminated Aluminum Sides	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ferromagnetism	Magnetic or Non-Magnetic Options	Magnetic	Non-Magnetic	Magnetic	Non-Magnetic
Sealed Holes	Sealed (25 mm Depth) or Non-Sealed Options	Non-Sealed		N/A	N/A	N/A
Thread Options	1/4"-20 (M6) Tapped Holes	1/4"-20 (M6) Tapped Holes		1/4"-20 (M6) Tapped Holes	1/4"-20 (M6), 4-40 (M3), or 8-32 (M3) and 1/4"-20 (M6) Tapped Holes	1/4-20" Tapped Holes
Spacing	1" (25 mm) Centers	1" (25 mm) Centers		1" (25 mm) Centers	1" (25 mm) Centers or 0.5" (12.7 mm) Centers	0.5" (12.7 mm) Centers
Distance from Edge to First Holes	0.5" (12.5 mm) on all Sides		0.5" (12.5 mm) or 1.0" (25 mm) on all Sides	0.5" (12.5 mm) on all Sides	0.5" (12.5 mm) on all Sides	1.0" (25.4 mm) on all Sides
Performancea
Damping				N/A	N/A	N/A
Stiffness	60 mm (2.4") Thick	58 mm (2.28") Thick	25 mm (0.98") Thick	12.7 mm (0.5") Thick	7.0 mm (0.28") Thick	12.7 mm (0.5") Thick
	110 mm (4.3") Thick		55 mm (2.2") Thick		19.05 mm (0.75") Thick

• The damping and stiffness performance shown here is qualitative and does not relate to exact specifications of each breadboard.

Optical Breadboard Selection Guides

The selection guides below list every size offered for our honeycomb, solid aluminum, and acrylic breadboards. Simply locate the specific width and length needed and then select the type of breadboard. Expand each table by clicking the More [+] button within the header.

Thorlabs also offers several unique breadboard solutions. For applications requiring temperature control, we offer anodized aluminum water cooled breadboards in several sizes, in addition to a temperature-controlled mini-series breadboard for small-scale operations. Our anodized aluminum large-area translation stages and rotating breadboards offer hand-operated positioning control, while our manual and motorized translating mounting platforms are ideal for use in microscopy applications.

• Solid aluminum breadboards are offered with four different thicknesses: 0.5" (item # prefix MB), 0.75" (item # prefix MBH), 3/8" (item # prefix MS), or 0.28" (item # prefix MS). Select sizes are also available without an anodized coating (item #s ending with U).
• Item Number Suffix:
• F, A, B, or G: Non-Sealed Mounting Holes
• T, L, U, or N: Sealed Mounting Holes
• FN or AN: Nonmagnetic Mounting Holes
• Y or Z: No Mounting Holes
• S: Stainless Steel
• Tapped Hole Pattern Aligned at 45°
• Build-to-Order
• Includes a T-Slot in Side Panels for Compatibility with 25 mm Rail Accessories
• This product has an access aperture.
  
  

• Solid aluminum breadboards are offered with four different thicknesses: 12.7 mm (item # prefix MB), 19.05 mm (item # prefix MBH), 9.5 mm (item # prefix MS), or 7.0 mm (item # prefix MS). Select sizes are also available without an anodized coating (item #s ending with U).
• Item Number Suffix:
• F, A, B, or G: Non-Sealed Mounting Holes
• T, L, U, or N: Sealed Mounting Holes
• FN or AN: Nonmagnetic Mounting Holes
• Y or Z: No Mounting Holes
• S: Stainless Steel
• Tapped Hole Pattern Aligned at 45°
• Build-to-Order
• Includes a T-Slot in Side Panels for Compatibility with 25 mm Rail Accessories
• This product has an access aperture.