Is there a way to tint polycarbonate lenses at home?

Question

Is there a way to tint polycarbonate lenses at home?

Answer 1

There is, but you would need to be an experienced chemist, or have thorough technical knowledge of polycarbonates.

Factory tinting of poly lenses is done by tinting of the entire mixture when still in liquid form, or by vapour deposition, in which the lenses are placed in a vacuum chamber where a high voltage passes through the tinting material, vapourising it into a gas so it deposits evenly on the lens.

Answer 2

I worked in an optical lab making glasses. We tinted the regular plastic lenses all the time.  Regular plastic lenses can be tinted by using regular cloth dye that you buy at the grocery store. Simply heat the dye and water. You must hold the lenses with something so that you can hold them in the dye without getting burned. The longer the lenses stay in the dye the darker they will get.

I'm not sure if polycarb lenses can be done but I know that we tinted the regular plastic that way.

NOTE:

1) you need to devise a way to hold both lenses so that they will be tinted at the same time. Otherwise you will get one darker than the other.

2) the lenses must be held by the edges not the front and back.

3) only heat the dye enough to do the job. Overheating it may warp the lenses.