Optical Breadboards, Intrinsically Damped, 58 mm Thick

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 Figure 1.1.

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
Figure 1.1  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.