Microlock tie-downs are a unique innovation that provide versatile and positive mounting of honeycomb optical breadboards above an optical table or directly onto any vertical or horizontal structure. Microlocks include tapped through holes on different locations of the breadboard, as well as the insert to accept 1/4-20 or M6 screws for mounting. The Microlock insert provides a vertical adjustment range of at least 1 in. (25 mm), positive locking of the height, and solid attachment to the primary structure of the optical breadboard for optimum stability. XP Series Breadboard Support Posts or NewDamp™ Elastomeric Vibration Isolators are typically used for mounting a Microlock equipped breadboard at various heights above an optical table.

Our precision grade modal damped optical breadboards combine patented modal damping technology and a unique integrated broadband damping design to deliver supreme performance and reliability for the most critical applications. Patented modal damping technology (US 6,598,545) utilizes two pieces of uniquely designed dampers combined using specially chosen elastomers, to dissipate the vibrations evenly, quickly and effectively. The modal dampers are installed as the side panels along all four sides of the breadboard, ensuring superior damping performance. The red curve in the compliance curve shows the superior performance provided by modal damping compared to our scientific grade optical breadboards without modal dampers (shown in light blue).

Our trussed honeycomb core design maximizes an optical breadboard's rigidity to weight ratio by using an additional steel member to bridge across the center of the honeycomb cells. This design enables a triple core interface at each hexagonal honeycomb cell that is vertically bonded along the height of the core. Most manufacturers use 0.010 in. thick steel sheet for a 0.02 in. core interface, while our trussed design provides a 0.03 in. thick triple core interface for a 50% increase in local rigidity. To manufacture a honeycomb core with these advanced features, each piece of corrugated honeycomb steel sheet is emerged in proprietary elastomeric vibration absorbing materials and bonded vertically throughout the height of the core. This labor intensive procedure allows our optical breadboards to offer the highest static and dynamic rigidity, while also increasing point load carrying ability.

A typical optical breadboard features a sandwich structure consisting of two faceplates and a lightweight honeycomb core for a high stiffness-to-weight ratio. Most manufacturers use a traditional open cell construction that can't match the static rigidity of a Newport optical breadboard. Our honeycomb core design is different than our competitors. We use a high-performance trussed hexagonal shape honeycomb core which offers several advantages over ordinary small-cell round core designs. The hexagonal shape allows for a much greater surface area for bonding together adjacent cores vs. traditional designs that use corrugated wavy steel sheet with minimal contact between adjacent cores. The additional bonding area also improves the strength of our truss design that bisects each hexagonal core.

All of our optical breadboards are designed with a grid individually sealed 1/4-20 or M6 threaded mounting holes. Those mounting holes feature 19 mm screw depth. In contrast to some of the other products in the market that has channel for a row of holes or just a polymeric film, our individually sealed holes are more reliable and easier to clean. This is because we believe in the integrity of the product - especially the core. When dust and liquids go into your optical breadboard and table, it may have a long term effect on the damping performance of the product and make the product degrade over time. A good quality breadboard and table lasts long time - tens of years and more. It's a good investment for a product with sealed mounting holes.

Newport has a dedicated custom design team for your custom needs. This team has been working with various types of materials, shapes, structures, hole patterns (and many more) for over 40 years, and has served customers across the world in research, aerospace, semiconductor and medical related fields. We are committed to providing an accurate and timely quoting response, professional communications of custom design review and changes, optimum turnaround time, and the highest quality end product. Contact Newport Sales for more information.