Industry Insight · Eyewear & Jewelry Manufacturing
Smart Glasses Are Exploding.
But Who Makes the Parts?
In 2026, AI-enabled eyewear shipments are forecast to exceed 10 million units globally — a 158% increase in a single year. Behind every sleek smart frame lies a precision manufacturing challenge almost nobody talks about.
Meta, EssilorLuxottica, and a growing list of brands are racing to deliver glasses with integrated speakers, microphones, and AI processors. The hardware story gets plenty of coverage. The manufacturing story does not. Yet the frames themselves — in acetate, plastic, and advanced composites — must be machined to tolerances closer to optical instruments than consumer goods, and produced at a scale that was simply not required of conventional eyewear frames until now.
2024→2025 · Omdia
forecast by end 2026
forecast 2026
Faro L1 4X & F35 Gold
The Frame Is the Hard Part
Machining temples and faceplates for smart eyewear requires pantoscopic and wrap-angle cuts — both positive and negative — executed on curved surfaces without repositioning, micrometre repeatability across every batch, and surface probing that adapts to real-world material variation. Any deviation in geometry affects fit, finish, and the alignment of internal components.
The Faro L1 4X was designed for exactly this application. Its liquid-cooled high-frequency electrospindle reaches 60,000 RPM with automatic pneumatic ISO taper change and ceramic ball bearings. A dedicated disc tool unit (Ø 40–63 mm) with automatic angular orientation executes complex pantoscopic and wrap-angle geometry directly on curved surfaces. The integrated rotary axis and 5th axis enable complete multi-sided machining in a single setup — eliminating the tolerance stack-up of manual refixturing. A CNC-controlled tilting vise (–20° to +95°) handles angled features on temples and rims without stopping production. Resolution: 1 µm XY, 0.5 µm Z. Machine structure: natural granite, selected to suppress thermal expansion and vibration across full production shifts.
The built-in touch probe scans each workpiece before cutting begins, generating precise machining references automatically — critical when acetate or plastic blanks vary dimensionally between batches.
Precision Has the Same Role in Jewelry
The fine jewelry sector is under a parallel kind of pressure. With the global market forecast at approximately USD 432 billion in 2026, personalisation is the primary growth driver. Jewellers are expected to produce rings, bangles, and pendants with irregular or asymmetric geometries — pieces where no two blanks are exactly identical — and still deliver consistent, flawless results.
The Faro F35 Gold is a compact 7-axis unit built for exactly this. Its mechanical probe acquires the actual surface geometry of each piece before machining, adjusting Z-axis depths for perfect adaptation on hollow or irregular shapes — including oval and asymmetric designs. A diamond head with three automatically selectable tools, fully integrated with Pigreco CAD/CAM, generates textures and engravings with synchronised multi-axis motion. A pneumatic hammering tool delivers decorative micro-punching effects for wedding bands and bangles. An automatic tool magazine with safety cover and built-in presetting supports multi-step operations without stopping the machine.
Precision CNC does not replace the jeweller’s or designer’s creativity — it handles the technical execution so they can focus entirely on what the machine cannot: the idea itself.
One Software Platform, Two Sectors
Both the L1 4X and the F35 Gold run on Faro’s proprietary Pigreco CAD/CAM software, developed in-house alongside the machine firmware and controller (Faro CN FDC, 9-axis, 32-bit DSP). Its 2D programming environment with automatic 5-axis conversion allows operators to go from a standard drawing to optimised CNC toolpaths without specialist programming expertise — shortening the design-to-sample cycle in a measurable way. Because the controller, firmware, and CAD/CAM layer share the same engineering logic, there are no third-party compatibility layers and no version conflicts. For manufacturers managing rapid design iterations or frequent changeovers between product families, this integration is a concrete operational advantage.
Faro will be exhibiting its jewelry CNC lineup — including the F35 Gold and F1 Gold — at JGTD Dubai, one of the most important trade events for the fine jewelry sector. Visit the stand to see the machines in action or to discuss your specific production requirements with our technical team.
Discover the full Faro lineup: F35 Gold, F1 Gold, L1 4X, F35 Lens.
Visit farocnc.com →
