EinDollarBrille is bringing affordable eyeglasses to the world’s most needy communities using Solid Edge software from Siemens Digital Industries Software. The company provides tools and training to enable its team and partners across 10 countries to manufacture the OneDollarGlasses eyewear without electricity, using a revolutionary machine that is now being further developed and manufactured using software from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio. “I wanted to create eyeglasses for less than a dollar’s worth of materials so that even the poorest could afford them,” said Martin Aufmuth, founder and CEO of EinDollarBrille.
After developing his initial concepts, prototypes and sketches using manual and non-digital methods, efficient manufacturing processes needed to be set up to help achieve the required production quality of the glasses – a process that started with design, drafting and digitisation. While there were individual sketches and drawings of the bending machine, there were no 3D CAD models that could be used for the next steps – for example, data that could be transferred to CNC manufacturers.
To solve this, Siemens Solid Edge software and Siemens solution partner, PBU CAD-Systeme came into play. The bending machine was developed further and perfected, while other tools and gauges required for glasses production were optimised.
The glasses and their lenses were modelled in 3D using Solid Edge. For the bending machine, the existing hand sketches and technical drawings on paper with handwritten notes were used to define the dimensions and tolerances, together with the necessary forms to get the innovative bending machine professionally defined and documented.
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