Pivoting Quick-Release Ø1" Optic Mount for 30 mm Cage System

360° Pivoting Optic Mount for Mirrors, Beamsplitters, Filters, and Lenses
30 mm Cage System Compatible with Quick-Release Mechanism

Application Idea

The CP360Q Snaps into Place without
Cage System Disassembly

Back

Pivot Adjustment
Lock

Pivot Adjustment
Knob

CP360Q

30 mm Quck-Release Pivoting Mount

Front

Please Wait

Overview
Cage Overview
Feedback

Video 1.1 The CP360Q is easily snapped into and removed from preassembled cage sections, as shown in the animation above. It can be used to mount optics at variable angles of incidence (AOI), as shown in Figures 1.3 and 1.4.

Features

Quick-Release Cage Mount with Adjustable SM1-Threaded (1.035"-40) Optic Cell
Compatible with Ø1" and Ø25 mm Mounted and Unmounted Optics
On- and Off-Axis Optic Alignment for use with Lenses, Filters, Mirrors, and Beamsplitters
Quick-Release Flexure Clamping Mechanism for Secure Cage Mounting without Disassembly

The CP360Q(/M) cage mount allows for 360° of manual rotation of an optic within a 30 mm cage system. Optics up to 7.3 mm thick can be mounted in the 0.45" (11.4 mm) long SM1-threaded (1.035"-40) optic cell using the two included retaining rings. It uses a flexure-style clamp with two 5/64" (2.0 mm) hex socket-head screws to quickly connect the mount without disassembling the cage. Simply turn the optic perpendicular to the cage system's optical axis and loosen the socket-head screws enough to allow the flexure mechanism to snap onto the cage rods. The cage mount can be mounted on any two of the four cage rods for either X- or Y-axis pivoting adjustment. By slightly loosening the locking socket-head screws, the cage mount can also be slid along the cage rods.

The optic can be rotated via the knurled knob or 3/16" (5 mm) hex, and the optic mount's pivot position can then be locked via a 5/64" (2.0 mm) hex. An engraved scale indicates the angle of the optic, with tick marks every 5°. Please note that when using with beamsplitters, the clear aperture will be an ellipse with a minor axis of approximately 0.315" (8 mm) when used at 45° AOI. Thorlabs also offers a larger version of this item for 60 mm cage systems designed to mount Ø2" optics, which can be found here.

Click to Enlarge
Figure 1.2 The CP360Q can be mounted on cage rods inside a C6WR cage cube to hold a Ø1" optic at any chosen angle.

Click to Enlarge
Figure 1.4 Ø1" Mirror at 45° AOI

Click to Enlarge
Figure 1.3 Ø1" Filter at 0° AOI

Cage System Overview

The Cage Assembly System provides a convenient way to construct large optomechanical systems with an established line of precision-machined building blocks designed for high flexibility and accurate alignment.

16 mm, 30 mm, and 60 mm Cage System Standards

Thorlabs offers three standards defined by the center-to-center spacing of the cage assembly rods (see Figure 14A). The 16 mm cage, 30 mm cage, and 60 mm cage standards are designed to accommodate Ø1/2", Ø1", and Ø2" optics, respectively. Specialized cage plates that allow smaller optics to be directly inserted into our larger cage systems are also available.

Standard Threads

The flexibility of our Cage Assembly System stems from well-defined mounting and thread standards designed to directly interface with a wide range of specialized products. The three most prevalent thread standards are our SM05 Series (0.535"-40 thread), SM1 Series (1.035"-40 thread), and SM2 Series (2.035"-40 thread), all of which were defined to house the industry's most common optic sizes. Essential building blocks, such as our popular lens tubes, directly interface to these standards.

Figure 14A An example of the standard cage plate measurements determining cage system compatibility.

Standard Cage System Measurements
Cage System	16 mm	30 mm	60 mm
Thread Series	SM05	SM1	SM2
Rod to Rod Spacing	16 mm (0.63")	30 mm (1.18")	60 mm (2.36")
Total Length	25 mm (0.98")	41 mm (1.60")	71.1 mm (2.80")

Cage Components
Cage Rods	16 mm	These rods are used to connect cage plates, optic mounts, and other components in the cage system. The SR Series Cage Rods are compatible with our 16 mm cage systems, while the 30 mm and 60 mm cage systems use ER Series Cage Rods.
	30 mm
	60 mm
Cage Plates	16 mm	These serve as the basic building blocks for a cage system. They may have SM-threaded central bores, smooth bores sized for industry standard optics or to accommodate the outer profile of our SM Series Lens Tubes, or specialized bores for other components such as our FiberPorts.
	30 mm
	60 mm
Optic Mounts	16 mm	Thorlabs offers fixed, kinematic, rotation, and translation mounts specifically designed for our Cage Systems.
	30 mm
	60 mm
Cage Cubes	16 mm	These cubes are useful for housing larger optical components, such as prisms or mirrors, or optics that need to sit at an angle to the beam path, such as beamsplitters. Our cage cubes are available empty or with pre-mounted optics.
	30 mm
	60 mm
Replacement Setscrews		Replacement setscrews are offered for our 16 mm (SS4B013, SS4B025, and SS4B038) and 30 mm (SS4MS5 and SS4MS4) cage systems products.
Post and Breadboard Mounts and Adapters		Mounting options for cage systems can be found on our Cage System Construction pages. Cage Systems can be mounted either parallel or perpendicular to the table surface.
Size Adapters		Cage System Size Adapters can be used to integrate components from different cage system and threading standards.
Specialized Components		Thorlabs also produces specialized cage components, such as Filter Wheels, a HeNe Laser Mount, and a FiberPort Cage Plate Adapter, allowing a wide range of our products to be integrated into cage-mounted optical systems. Explore our Cage Systems Visual Navigation Guide to see the full range of Thorlabs' cage components.

Posted Comments:

R A (posted 2022-01-10 17:18:37.28)

I like this 30 mm cage quick release mechanism, however, it would be especially useful for us if one existed that could house an adjustable iris (lever actuated), thus needing a slot to have access to the iris lever. The CP20D can hold the iris for us but it only works if there is enough room at the cage ends for more optics or if it's installed in the middle during assembly.

jgreschler (posted 2022-01-14 12:26:06.0)

Thank you for reaching out to Thorlabs. One alternative to the CP20D that utilizes the CP360R/M quick release system would be to utilize the SM1 threads in the CP360R/M with a short lens tube, SM1L03, then an SM1 threaded lever iris like SM1D12. I have posted your request for a more streamlined product on our company product development forum for future consideration.

rbjaculbia rbjaculbia (posted 2016-07-13 18:41:58.863)

Hi, how fine is the angular rotation for this mount?

mmcclure (posted 2019-03-12 08:28:40.0)

Hello, thank you for contacting Thorlabs. CP360R has engravings every 5° of rotation. There is no fine adjustment beyond the coarse thumb screw, so position will be user dependent.

pher (posted 2014-10-29 03:47:15.773)

Can the optic cell be replaced with a narrower one, but of the same diameter?

mmcclure (posted 2019-03-12 08:29:47.0)

Response from Chris at Thorlabs: Thank you for your feedback. At the moment, the optic cell is not interchangeable. We will look into adding a version which has a narrower width to increase the clear aperture when used at a non-normal angle of incidence.