Capabilities
We Offer
Design
KiwiStar has over 50 years of international project experience and has created some of the world’s largest lenses for its best telescopes.
We have an extensive track record of optimising designs for the manufacture and integration of high-precision components and opto-mechanical assemblies.
Our experienced team of opto-mechanical engineers is skilled in the use of design, modelling and analysis software such as Zemax, SolidWorks and Ansys.
Our design and specification service involves taking clients’ requirements and creating an optimal solution that meets their individual needs. We work with clients at every stage of this process – right through to manufacture and delivery.
Manufacturing Services
Our facilities include an extensive optical and mechanical workshop as well as state-of-the-art testing laboratories.
This allows us to adopt an agile, “build to print” approach to client work instructions and requirements.
Our advanced metrology capability enables us to produce high-quality, high-precision opto-mechanical elements that meet our customers’ specifications.
Coating
Our vacuum coating systems can operate in either Ion-Assisted deposition or Electron-Beam Evaporative Deposition to apply thin film materials on our optics.
The equipment and process ensure high quality coatings are achieved every time.
We can coat glass substrates of various geometric shape and surface profile including spherical, flat, and parabolic mirrors from any size up to 900mm.
Manufacturing
We make high quality mirrors, lenses, prisms, filters, image slicers and turnkey components for spectrographs, telescopes, cameras, wide field correctors and other instrumentation.
- Experienced team of optical and mechanical technicians
- Build to print optical workshop - milling, grinding, polishing and figuring glass to final form
- Spherical optics manufacture up to 1.8 m in diameter
- Aspherical optics manufacture up to 1.7 m in diameter
- Cementing of large optics
- Edging, cutting, chamfer, surface treatments
- Specialised handling equipment for precise movement of large, heavy optics
- Fully equipped mechanical workshop - integration of control systems and operations software with componentry
- Electro-mechanical laboratory - integration of control systems and operations software with componentry
- High performance clean rooms for precision assembly, integration and testing
Metrology
- All optics lenses we create are measured and tested to the client’s specification using state of the art metrology
- KiwiStar Optics is fully equipped to check the specifications and performance of all mechanical and optical components
- As-built metrology of optical and mechanical components to a few microns’ accuracy with Coordinate Measuring Machine or Laser Tracker
- Interferometric testing for surface irregularity and slope error
- Reflectance and transmittance testing of optical coatings
- Diffraction efficiency measurement of the echelle and VPG gratings
- Surface roughness measurement to less than 2 nm
Our Processes
We bring together on one site all the optical, quality assurance and engineering expertise and equipment you need. KiwiStar takes pride in helping customers from concept to implementation. Our approach is to work closely with the customer to create cost-effective solutions that meet customer’s specifications, timelines, and budgets.
We treat each project as being unique, where requirements may include a build-to-print custom optical component, we apply expert application engineering to optimize the design, or a completely custom design to customer-supplied requirements, KiwiStar’s engineers can develop optimal solutions for the customer’s unique requirements.
We take pride in our commitment to achieving customer satisfaction by ensuring product and procedural quality.
Quality Assurance
- Our quality management systems are embedded in our design, manufacturing and integration processes
- Our customer’s demand high precision and tight tolerances, the old adage of “if we can measure it we can make it” is our mantra
- KiwiStar Optic's testing and characterisation processes are inherent to our manufacturing processes
- Our optical measure and metrology systems have been reviewed and certified by the New Zealand National Metrology Institute Measurement Standards Laboratory
Project Management
- Our engineering and management team are experienced project managers
- Our integrated systems allows the planning, executing, monitoring and reporting of complex international projects
- KiwiStar applies processes, methods, skills, knowledge and experience to achieve specific project acceptance criteria within agreed parameters. We have an extensive track record of managing projects to achieve the final deliverables, to time and budget.
