Yup that's the only reason I opened the article to read. While obviously the most important thing in a lens is the optical element(s) it's a bit disappointment.

I think the title should read "print a housing for $15 glass to make a 164mm lens" or something like that to indicate that it's not the actual lens elements that they're printing, but of course it wouldn't be clickbait and many people including me wouldn't have clicked on it.