there may be other places to buy a surplus Fresnel lens...

what size were you looking for, or what are you planing on doing with it ?

My goal is to get the largest one possible, out of a junk tv so I can get it free. My goal is to use it for science experiments, like maybe driving a sterling engine, melting certain metals, maybe even for some sterilization of tools.
I'm wondering if maybe the one tv I looked at already had it removed, because I haven't been able to find any information about some tvs having them and others not.

Thanks!

All projection type TV's have them. The front screen of the TV has 2 layers. One is the lenticular and one is the fresnel lens. If the TV still has the screen, then the fresnel is still there. The fresnel screen has round grooves on the backside. It's just a large flat sheet of plastic.

I suspect the TV I checked (which was already apart) must have had it removed; the only thing I found was a flat 'lens' that had square hashmarks, not the round ones I expected.

Thanks for the info, I will look for another scrap to check!

Great googly moogly, gardenweb is not just for worm farming.
Keith, did you ever get that sterling engine powered up with the Fresnel lense? I want to make one myself.

Old thread but: Try an electronic recycling place if you have one locally, or perhaps a store that sells TVs and delivers them and hauls away old ones. Post on Freecycle, or Craigslist. In fact, I often see ads on those sites offering huge old projection TVs free for the hauling. Sometimes, they don't even work, and ppl actually expect someone to want them, LOL. I might get one myself for the giant lens though!

I saw one recently on craigslist in San Diego.