Default Thicknesses

For each job, "default" thicknesses will be determined, based on the power of the lens, the type of frame edge, and the lab's preferences.

On the "Thickness" tab on the material screen, the lab can specify the default thickness parameters for uncuts and jobs with frame measurements:

(Thickness defaults as defined in versions 6.47.00 and later).

The "Default CT" is the center thickness used for minus lenses.

The "ET @ Plano" is the desired edge thickness of a plano lens.

The "Minimum ET" and "@ Power" go together, since the minimum edge thickness occurs at the specified power.

So in the above example (with frame measurements), a plano lens would have an edge thickness of 2.0, and a +7.00 lens a minimum edge thickness of 0.8mm.

The relationship of minimum edge thickness to power is linear, so a lens of +3.50 power would have a minimum edge thickness of 1.4mm. The minimum ET of any power can be illustrated with a graph:

For uncuts (with no frame measurements), beginning in version 6.47.00, different default thicknesses can be set for uncuts based on the uncut diameter.

In the above example, the default ET will be thinner the larger the uncut diameter is.

"Sum Of Thickness" is a parameter that allows an overall thickness to be specified for low-power lenses. If Sum Of Thickness is set to a value other than 0, then the CT plus the minimum ET must add up to "Sum Of Thickness", and if not, the thickness of the lens will be increased to make that condition true.

If the lens requires thickness to be added to satisfy the "Sum of Thickness" condition, this will be printed on the work ticket:

Note that for Digital job, since Rx-Universe does not know the center or edge of the finished result, we cannot apply Sum Of Thickness in the same way. Rather, we indicate to the digital calculator what the desired value is, and the calculator will ensure the lens meets the required thickness. For Sum Of Thickness, this is accomplshed by the MINAVG tag, where MINAVG = SumOfThickness / 2.0. (Note, we also support _MINAVG as a synonym for MINAVG). Of course, MINAVG must be present in the LDI file for the digital vendor, and the digital vendor must support MINAVG.

Finished Lenses

When considering finished lenses for blank selection for plus jobs, Rx-Universe will look at each finished lens, and calculate what the final edge thickness will be, for the frame and Rx, using each finished lens. If the lens has an edge thickness within a specified tolerance, then it will be deemed acceptable, otherwise it will be rejected, and blank selection will consider the next possible lens.

Consider, for example, a job with a +2.00 sphere, in a frame similar to the following. The "x" indicates the OC, and the line is the radius to the frame edge furthest from the OC (since the lens is spherical, the longest radii will correspond to the thinnest edge point).

For discussion, let's assume the system is set up for a default edge thickness of 1.5mm for this job. If the job were being surfaced, the min ET would be set to 1.5mm, and the CT calculated to obtain that edge thickness with the blank being used.

When considering finished lenses, the center thickness is already fixed, so Rx-Universe will take that CT, and using the front curve of the lens, calculate how thick the lens will be at the thinnest edge point on the frame.

A 65mm finished blank might have a center thickness of 3.30, and result in an edge thickness (again, at the thinnest edge point) of 1.3mm. A 70mm finished blank might have a center thickness of 3.9mm, and result in an edge thickness of 1.9mm (again, at the thinnest edge).

The 65mm blank will result in an edge thickness that is 0.2mm thinner than the desired 1.5mm ET, and the 70mm blank will result in an edge thickness that is 0.4mm thicker than the desired 1.5mm. Neither lens will give exactly the desired edge thickness, but a lab may decide that 0.2mm thinner is acceptable, or that 0.4mm thicker is acceptable, or that both (or neither) are acceptable.

How much thinner or thicker a finished lens can be that the desired ET is known as thickness tolerance in Rx-Universe terminology. This can be set system-wide on the "Blank Selection" tab in System Parameters:

Using these settings in relation to our example job, recall that the desired edge thickness was 1.5mm. These settings mean a finished lens could be between 1.2mm and 2.3mm thick at the minimum edge, and be acceptable.

Thinness and thickness tolerances can also be set on the material and on the lens style. In both of these cases, a value of 0 indicates that the value isn't being used on the material or lens style (default to system settings or the frame type):

Since Safety jobs often have different rules (they usually cannot be thinner than the calculated minimum), there are separate thinness and thickness tolerance for Safety jobs, as seen here.

Other frame types may also require different settings. Withi473pxn the frame type setup, the lab has the ability to set different tolerances for the frame type, by material type:

In this example, a groove frame type has different settings for different material types. A poly lens could be up to 2/10 thinner than the 2.2 minimum edge specified for this frame type, and up to 1.0mm thicker. These parameters will change depending on the lab's preference, the equipment being used to groove, the experience of the operator (if doing manual grooving), and what the default thickness is to start with. For example, if a lab wanted the minimum edge to be 1.8mm for grooving, a finished lens probably could not be any thinner.

The priority / precedence of the settings is as follows:

use system settings to set the default thickness and thinness tolerance (the "current" tolerance)
if the tolerance is set to a value other than 0 on the lens style, and the value is less than the current tolerance, set the "current" tolerance to the lens style tolerance
if the tolerance is set to a value other than 0 on the material, and the value is less than the current tolerance, set the "current" tolerance to the material tolerance
if there is a frame type, and the tolerance is set on the frame type, and the frame type tolerance is LESS than the current tolerance (even if the frame type tolerance is 0), use the frame type tolerance

While the discussion herein discussed minimum edge thickness for plus jobs, the same rules and logic apply to minimum center thickness when considering finished lenses.