Will It Lens? Table of Contents

This surprised us, but yes! Normal glass is more properly called "sodalime glass," which has a much lower melting point than pure silicon dioxide (which we originally thought glass was made of, and which we haven't been able to melt yet). However, we have trouble melting clear things because they don't absorb the sunlight. Nonetheless, we melted a dark brown glass in part 5.

Kinda. The sand we tried is a mixture of quartz, feldspar, and iron. We can melt the last two, but we haven't melted quartz yet. Look at part 5 for more details.

We probably could, but we don't want to because the fumes are really noxious. There's lead and other stuff that's terrible for your lungs in there.

No, that's not how optics works. For a slightly more thorough answer, see the Light Sharpener FAQ over at cockeyed.com.

I think we got it from here. When we ordered it, I think it was about $120, plus shipping. If you include the wood for the frame and stand, the welding goggles, and the skillet, we've probably spent over $200 on lens-related stuff so far.

That would be very entertaining, but we need to clean everything up before lunch is over, so we're not doing anything too messy in the foreseeable future (no unopened pop cans, no aerosols, etc.). If we ever take the lens out to the middle of the desert, we will consider lensing messy things.

First, see question 3 about electronics. Then, remember that we're paying for all of this with our own money. We'd prefer not to lens anything that costs more than a couple dollars. Everything we've tried so far has cost under $1 each (almost everything is under $0.25 each).

Not unless you do it with the intent to defraud someone. Remember the last time you went to the zoo? You probably saw one of those machines that will take your penny, flatten it out, and stamp an image of a penguin or something on it as a souvenir. Melting a penny is no more illegal than one of those machines.