Here we look at how to make a reliable homemade lampwork frame for technical safety glasses. The technology can be used as a basis for making frames for brutal biker sunglasses or in steampunk style. Decorative sawing (jewelry) with a jigsaw and is well applied here. Glasses that correct vision require an order of magnitude more attention in design and manufacture, making frames for them yourself, you can only carefully study the theoretical part and fully realize the consequences.
The bespectacled man - bespectacled friend, comrade, and spare glasses!
Spectacles with the frames described below were required for special neodymium lenses with a thickness of 3 mm. These are safety glasses for glass blowing that protect your eyes from harmful radiation and make your work much more convenient. Neodymium (didymic) glasses in general, in this application, it is important that -
“Purple, violet and gray-green glass with a mixture of neodymium and praseodymium (ACE and Green ACE glass) is used in the lenses of didymium glasses for glass blowers, lampworkers and welders: it absorbs the narrow-spectrum emission of sodium atoms when working with glass-blowing burners ... The bright flame through such glasses almost disappears, does not irritate the eyes and does not interfere with seeing the heated glass. Sometimes these lenses are covered with a mirror layer that reflects heat rays harmful to the eyes;
The cost of ready-made glasses of this kind is quite high, so an attempt has been made to make what you can yourself. Two blanks were purchased - circles ø60 mm from neodymium glass 3 mm thick.
These glasses are much thicker and heavier than ordinary spectacle lenses, it is risky to insert them into cheap soft frames, into expensive ones it is irrational (it was easier to buy ready-made glasses).
Special "spectacle" little things for work were taken from a penny plastic frame from Ali Express. Cheap Chinese frames, as a rule, are purely decorative - they have a small size, soft, flimsy plastic frames and thin transparent plastic "lenses".
When fixing the glasses, the principle used was used - the edges of the glasses are pasted over with copper foil (the edges of the glass are enclosed in a C-shaped profile) and soldered.
What was used to work
Tool, equipment.
To work with glass - an oil glass cutter (preferably for curved cuts, with a narrow head), but you can do without a grinding machine for glass, but you can also do with an abrasive bar.
A 60 ... 80 W soldering iron with accessories, a set of small locksmith tools, a jewelry jigsaw with accessories, a drilling machine, but a screwdriver or a small drill is also suitable.
Materials.
Blanks made of neodymium glass, small standard parts for glasses (from plastic frames), sheet brass of various thicknesses, copper tape (foil) with a sticky layer, non-thin copper wire. Lead-free soft solder (tin-copper or tin-silver). A piece of textile elastic tape (fastening on the back of the head), paintwork material (solvent), rags.
So, in order
Working with glass.
A silhouette of a frame with glasses of a suitable shape was found on the World Wide Web, scaled to the required size, printed in its natural form, tried on.
A “lens” template was copied and cut out of thin (0.5 mm) transparent PET film using a paper template. The film can be replaced with any suitable sheet material, if possible, not soaked and cut with scissors - thick foil, plastic, waxed paper. For one-time use, you can also use thick thin cardboard.
The template was attached to the blanks of glass, so that the waste was as large as possible (it can be useful) and circled with a thin marker (preferably waterproof). Unlike spectacle lenses, where it is important to take into account the optical center, our glasses are flat and you can act on the basis of economy.
We cut our lenses with a glass cutter. For more or less accurate cuts not for a ruler (curves), the most convenient is a roller glass cutter with a narrow head. Such cuts lead forward, away from yourself, so that you can see the markings all the time. It is possible (less convenient) to make such cuts with an ordinary roller glass cutter from the nearest hardware store. If the glass cutter does not provide for a continuous supply of oil, it (liquid machine oil or oil-kerosene mixture) should be organized from the outside. For example, carefully so as not to erase the markings, lubricate the future cut with a finger soaked in oil, drip onto the roller. In the absence of a regular skill in cutting glass, before a responsible cut, it is better to practice on cuttings-fragments of window glass (it is thicker and harder). I do not recommend using glass cutters with diamonds - you need a specific skill, when working with it, you should observe some additional conditions.
The glass cutter is driven along the line once, from edge to edge of the glass. The pressure should be strong and even, the position of the glass cutter can be like that of a fountain pen, while the finger of the other hand can add pressure on the roller assembly. When cutting, an even characteristic sound similar to a hiss should be heard.
When cutting, glass blanks should lie on a flat, non-bendable, slightly elastic base. For irregular work on a hard surface, you can put 3 ... 5 layers of paper, a piece of fiberboard. Small details are not so critical to the surface.
After making a scratch with a glass cutter, a crack should be achieved in the glass by tapping on the back of the cut. There is often a massive metal ball at the end of the cutter handle.
The cut edges are very jagged with sharp edges. They will be hidden and not traumatic, however, for a smooth, beautiful soldering, the edges of the glass should also be aligned. We have at our disposal. It is designed for just such work.
During processing, we encountered an unpleasant moment - neodymium glass turned out to be softer than ordinary stained glass, not to mention sheet window glass. This discovery cost us several scratches on the "lenses" after spinning them on the steel working surface of the machine, however, factory machines of this kind have a plastic working table.
It is also possible to level the edges of the glasses, albeit not so beautifully, by hand, using an abrasive bar that is often wetted with water (or better under running water). You can try a cloth-based abrasive with a medium grain size. It is better to pin a piece of it with a furniture stapler to a wooden block.
After finishing the edges, the glass should be thoroughly dried.
The next step is to cover the edges of the glass with copper foil. Comrade Tiffany used to cut the foil with scissors and fasten it with wax, but now there are foils of various widths with a sticky layer. Widespread in our age of pulse power supplies, cellular communications and other wi-fi, foil with a sticky layer, designed to increase the EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) of electronic devices and shielding sensitive circuits, has received. There is also a special adhesive copper foil for stained glass. It differs in a slightly more sticky glue, a variant with a sticky layer of black color (for pasting the ends of transparent glasses in stained glass with black patina on the seams) and a dimensional range of tenths of a millimeter. Well, and a much higher cost.
An inexpensive "electric" foil made in China with a width of 6 mm is used here.
The edge of the tape is freed from the protective layer and glued to the processed end of the glass along the entire contour, so that the edges of the foil protrude beyond the edge, if possible equally on both sides. The edge of the foil is glued to its beginning with an overlap of about a centimeter.
The protruding edges of the foil are pressed against the plane of the glass with your fingers, then the folds are ironed with something harder, but not scratching the glass. Something plastic is often used more or less on the hand - the body of a pen, felt-tip pen, disposable lighter.
Working with metal
In essence, by soldering the foil at the end of the glass with a non-thin layer of solder, we get a glass piece enclosed in a metal C-shaped profile. For stained-glass use, this is quite enough, here, significant mechanical loads will be applied to individual sections of such a profile. To strengthen it "for bending" (and twisting), the glass is trimmed along the edge with a strip of brass tape about 0.4 mm thick.
The tape was cut with metal scissors, tried on, its length was specified, the excess was cut off. The workpiece is sanded with fine abrasive paper and tightly wound onto a glass workpiece. Fixed on the outside with thin copper wire.
Soldered with a 40 W soldering iron, tin-copper solder, with liquid (apply with a brush) stained glass flux. Soldering should be without strong local overheating - glass may break. It will be reasonable to slightly warm it up before soldering (with a building hair dryer).
The connection of the prepared glasses into a single "optical system" is made by a standard spectacle piece. Fortunately, it turned out to be brass nickel-plated and soldered well after stripping the decorative coating. The padded nose pads are detached during work. The strength of the structure turned out to be not high; it had to be supplemented with wire stops and braces. Copper wire from an old transformer, lacquer insulation is sanded, the wire is tinned with the same lead-free solder.
The temples of the glasses were cut by my favorite tool, a jewelry jigsaw, from a brass sheet 2 mm thick. A number of holes have been drilled in them to facilitate the details. At the same time, loops, picked out of a plastic factory frame, are soldered into the holes in the part adjacent to the glasses, and an elastic band will be attached to the back of the bespectacled man's head into the holes at the ends of the arms.
There are not so many things in the world that have remained practically unchanged since their invention. Glasses are one of those items.
Spectacles were apparently invented in Italy in the 13th century. The estimated year of invention is 1284, and the creator of the first glasses is Salvino D "Armate (Italian), although there is no documentary evidence of this data. Since then glasses have firmly entered the lives of many people. The production of glasses has changed significantly. So I wondered how it was. Now they are making glasses for sight. ”For permission to film the production process, I turned to the management of the" Chameleon "company, who went to meet me and gave me the go-ahead to shoot ...
As any theater begins with a hanger, so any production begins from a warehouse. 
This is exactly what the blanks for the lenses look like, which after processing will take place in the frame 
Previously, glass was mainly used for lenses (quartz and crystal were used in the first glasses, since they could not yet obtain high-quality glass), now high-quality plastic is increasingly used. Plastic is lighter, cheaper and has more processing possibilities 
There is a wide choice of lenses now - there are tinted lenses, gradient lenses, coated lenses, etc. etc. For every taste and color 
But back to the production chain. After you have chosen the lens frame and the lenses themselves. Manufacturing process begins 
The first to do this is the Diopter. 
Lensmeter Tomey TL-100 (Japan) allows you to measure any lens, the device records the refractive power of glass and expresses it quantitatively - in diopters
Next, the wizard scans the frame and aligns the lens and frame data. All this is done on the Essilor Kappa Ultimate Edition lens processing system
on the photo the process of scanning the frame 
In the process of high-precision scanning of the frame, absolutely all parameters are determined: the shape, base curvature, as well as the profile of the facet groove in the frame, which, in the end result, is a decisive factor in calculating the size of the finished lens. With the help of the high-precision scan of the frame, the finished lens after processing will perfectly fit the frame, without any additional "fit". 
After scanning the frame, the master places the lens blank into the centering camera, where it is fully automatic. The system will determine the optical center of the lens, its refraction, cylinder axis, progressive lens markings or bifocal segment. ...
The monitor clearly shows the contour of the scanned frame and the lens in the centering camera 
After receiving all the necessary data, the lens is placed in a machine for processing (turning), which works on the basis of an EAS cycle. 
Thanks to this cycle, the machine automatically selects the clamping force of the lens and the force of its pressure on the circles during the entire processing cycle. 
Processing time is no more than 1 minute 
+
and we get the finished lens turned to fit the frame. 
This is how glasses are made literally in 10-20 minutes. Most of the time is spent choosing the right frame and lens. the choice of these products is very, very large ... 
Sharp eyesight. 
Thanks for your attention. I hope you enjoyed it. I would like to express my gratitude to the management of the "Chain of Optics Salons" Chameleon company for the opportunity to shoot
-If you use photos for non-commercial purposes, do not forget to put an active link to my magazine.
-All pictures posted in this magazine are of my authorship, unless otherwise stated.
Glasses Is an optical device used for optical correction of human vision in the event of a deviation from the norm and to protect the eyes from dangerous external influences.
To repair glasses, you need a tool that rarely anyone has at hand. If you do not have the opportunity to repair glasses with your own hands, you can contact the professionals who will repair them, and if repair is impossible, they will help you with choosing new ones.
If the screw for fixing the glasses or in the hinge of the temple (bow) is simply unscrewed, then even a child can cope with such a repair, it is enough to take a watch screwdriver or a knife with a sharp end and tighten the screw, without applying more force, until it stops.
But if the frame of the glasses breaks in the place of transfer, or the temple breaks off at the point of the hinge, then such a breakdown of the glasses is no longer easy to eliminate, tools and knowledge of technology are needed for repair.
In modern glasses, the temples are often attached to the hinges using a flex. This mechanism is a spring that fixes the temple (bow) in a predetermined position and allows the temples to move apart, in contrast to the standard 100˚ angle of ordinary glasses, by an angle of up to 160˚.
Frame with flexes eliminates pressure on the head when wearing glasses and distortion of the frame when removing glasses with one hand, so glasses with flexes last longer and more comfortable to wear. But the more complex the glasses are, the more likely they are to break.
How to screw a screw
in the hinge of the frame of glasses with flexes
If it is not difficult to screw a loose screw in the hinge of fastening simple glasses, then in glasses equipped with flexes, it is not such an easy task as it seems at first glance. When attaching the temple, the screw passes through the movable flex bar, and if the screw is unscrewed, the flex bar is drawn into the cavity of the temple and the mounting hole in the frame does not coincide with the hole on the temple. It is impossible to tighten the screw.
When analyzing the breakdown, everything became clear, you need to push the flex bar and screw the screw into place. The bar can be easily pulled out with an awl or a needle, if you pass them through the screw hole, but then there is nowhere to screw the screw. Otherwise, it seems that there is nothing to catch on. But if you look closely, it turns out that there is a ledge in the bar protruding from the temple, behind which it can be pulled out. Only there is a problem of lack of hands. The third hand can be a good vise.
The temple is clamped into the jaws of the vise, if the material from which the temple is made is soft, then you need to lay a piece of leather between the jaws of the vice. But even with the help of a vise, it is not easy to screw the screw into the frame of the glasses, since you have to hold the base of the frame with one hand and, at the same time, with this same hand, use a small screwdriver to move the flex bar up so that the holes coincide. With the other hand, you need to insert a screw into the aligned holes and screw it in. I only succeeded with a few tries.
The native screw was lost, and I had to screw in a suitable diameter, came up from a broken calculator. Before assembling the glasses, you must first tighten the new screw with force, thereby cutting a new thread. To prevent the screw from unscrewing any more, I riveted it a little, from the side of its exit from the frame of the glasses.
If a suitable screw cannot be found, it can be replaced with a brass or steel rod of a suitable diameter, for fixing, by riveting its ends, as described below.
Repair of flexes of glasses frames with flexes
I got into the repair of glasses, the temple (bow) in which broke off at the point where the hinge was attached to the flex.
The load on the junction of the temple with the flex is large and repairing glasses with superglue or epoxy would not provide a reliable connection. There was only a mechanical repair method.
At the end of the temple of the glasses there was a hole with a rectangular groove, and the counterpart of the part, which entered this hole and was fixed in the hinge of the frame, was a narrow steel flat strip about 1 mm thick. The only possible reliable repair method was to connect the parts with a rivet.
There are no industrial rivets for such minor repairs. But a brass sewing pin with a metal head with a diameter of 0.7 mm worked well as a rivet. The size of the pin determines the diameter of the holes to be drilled in the parts to be joined.
Before drilling, you need to make a markup. The first hole must be drilled in the ear (bow), at a point so that it passes through the center of the strip fixed in the frame hinge.
To do this, the temple must be clamped in a vice. Between the jaws of the vise, so as not to damage the coating of the temples, lay pieces of leather and apply a drilling point with a core.
Next, you need to drill a hole in the temple. It is difficult to drill a hole with a diameter of 0.7 mm with a household powerful drill without breaking the drill, since it is impossible to feel the pressure on the drill due to the larger mass of the drill and this will lead to inevitable breakdown of the drill. For such work, a miniature drill is needed, for example, as in a homemade mini drilling machine.
You also need to drill a hole in the flat plate, with which the temple is attached to the hinge of the frame. Before drilling, you need to mark the drilling point. To do this, the plate is inserted all the way into the groove of the temple located in its end, and in this form the assembly is clamped in a vice laid with leather. The bow of the glasses should take a position relative to the frame, corresponding to the glasses worn on the person's head.
The hole previously drilled in the temple will serve as a conductor, by inserting a drill into it, a hole is drilled in the plate. You need to drill very carefully, applying little force, since the drill can be easily broken.
The holes have been drilled, and you can proceed to the final stage of repairing glasses, riveting. The flat plate is inserted all the way into the groove in the temple, and the pin is threaded through the holes.
With the help of nippers, the pin on the opposite side of the head is shortened so that the protruding part is 0.2-0.3 mm high.
To complete the repair, it remains to flare the protruding part of the pin with a small hammer. To do this, press the round head of the pin to the anvil and with light blows, changing the angle, flatten the part of the pin protruding above the temple.
If there is no small hammer, then you can expand the pin with a large hammer, applying weak blows to the projection of the pin through the metal rod.
As you can see, the repair of the glasses is finished, the rivet of the temples to the base turned out to be neat, not spoiling the aesthetic appearance of the glasses.
While I was repairing glasses, fitting one temple into place, the second one broke. I had to repair it using the above technology. Now glasses after repair will serve for a long time, and this has been confirmed by time. The technology of repairing glasses with a rivet was tested by me on several types of glasses frames; after repair, the glasses at the junction of the temples with the console no longer broke.
Repair of the eyeglass temple with a broken hinge
A neighbor turned to me with a request to try to repair his favorite glasses, since they refused to repair him in a specialized workshop - they advised me to buy new ones.
The bow of the glasses broke in the place of the hinge and at first glance it seemed that it was impossible to repair the glasses. But if you think about it, you can always find a way to repair.
First you need to unscrew the self-tapping screw and glue the broken off part of the loop with the help of Super-glue "Contact" to the temple. I often use this glue to glue any cracked and broken pieces together. But in this case, the fracture area is small and the glue will not hold reliably. Therefore, the parts were glued together mainly for the convenience of further repairs.
Next, a staple was bent from a paper clip, as shown in the photo, and by heating with an electric soldering iron, it was fused in the longitudinal direction of the temple. The middle of the staple should follow the crack line.
For the reliability of the connection, a second bracket was melted across the temple. In order not to burn your fingers and to melt the staple into the desired place on the temple, it is convenient to hold it with tweezers. It takes up to a minute to warm up the brackets, there is no need to rush. When the bracket heats up to the melting point of the plastic, it will easily enter it.
After the staples are melted into the temple, it remains only to smooth out the protruding plastic and cut off its excess after cooling with a knife or grind it off with fine-grained sandpaper. If the bracket appears on the surface, then it can be reheated and drowned deeper.
Now the brackets are not visible, the resistance to breakage after reinforcement with steel brackets of the temple has become higher than it was. The glasses will no longer break at this point. If desired, the junction can be polished, making it completely invisible.
The repairs have been completed and now the glasses began to look like new and will last a long time if treated with care. When I returned the glasses to a neighbor, he was very surprised that they managed to be repaired, but he doubted if the temple would break off in this place again. After a month of socks, he began to ask me what kind of glue I glued the glasses. After all, he did not know that the bow at the place of the breakdown was reinforced with metal brackets.
Repair of the place of attachment of the temple ear to the rim
Another pair of glasses with a broken-off bow got into repair. But in this case the temple was intact, and the place of its attachment on the rim collapsed.
The temple loop was made of brass, so it didn't break. This breakage is more likely to be attributed to a constructive flaw in the frame of the glasses, and not to handling them.
The temple loop was fastened in a rectangular hole made in the frame with one self-tapping screw screwed into the metal of the loop. When wearing glasses, the screw slowly unscrewed, and the load on the plastic increased, so it cracked. In the end, the screw completely unscrewed and was lost, as a result, the bow fell out of the mount.
There was no screw of a suitable size, so I had to use the standard M1.5. For this, a thread was cut in the loop bar with a tap.
The plate on the rim for securing the temple loop had a crack. But it was impractical to install a metal bracket to strengthen it, since it was necessary not only to strengthen the plate, but also to increase the support area of \u200b\u200bthe screw head
Therefore, a washer ribbed around the circumference was selected and fused into the plate by heating with a soldering iron. As a result, the area of \u200b\u200bsupport of the screw head on the plastic increased many times, and the crack partially melted, which also increased its strength.
Next, the mating surfaces of the plates were greased with Super-moment glue, the hinge plate was inserted into the square hole in the base of the glasses and a screw was screwed in. At the same time, a splinter from the frame was glued on. It did not carry a load and therefore there was no need to strengthen its fastening with a bracket.
The next glasses were repaired with their own hands and their operation for several months confirmed the reliability of the repair performed.
Semi-rim frame repair
with a lens mount on a line
In a semi-rim frame, the lenses are half mounted in the frame, and the rest of them are held in the frame by a fishing line half recessed in the facet (a groove running along the entire length of the lens end). Thanks to this way of attaching the lenses, glasses have an elegant look and less weight than a rim frame, especially if the lenses are plastic.
But elegance has to pay with a more careful attitude during operation, since such a frame, in comparison with a rim frame, is less reliable. If you forget to take off your glasses and start shooting a piece of clothing over your head, it may well happen that the glass falls out or pops out of the rim of the fishing line, as in the photo. If the lens falls out, but the line remains securely fixed in the half-rim, then due to the elasticity of the line, the lens can be replaced. In case the line is detached from the frame, you will need to replace the line with a new one.
But do not get upset and run to the workshop, such a breakdown of the semi-rim frame of glasses is not difficult to eliminate with your own hands. For repairs, ten centimeters of a transparent fishing line with a diameter of 0.8 mm is enough. The fishing line can be asked from familiar fishermen or asked at any fishing tackle store. I was cut off half a meter for thanks.
The first step when starting a repair is to remove the old fishing line from the frame. Usually, it is enough to move the line back and forth with effort and it will move from the attachment point. If its melted ends interfere, then the line can be cut. You won't need it anymore.
After freeing the holes from the old fishing line, you need to check whether the fishing line purchased for repair fits well. To do this, you need to bite off with side cutters or cut off one of its ends obliquely so that the end of the line becomes sharp. This will make it easier to insert it into the holes in the frame.
If the line cannot be passed through the mounting hole in the frame, it must be cleaned. This is best done with a mini drill with a 0.8 mm drill. But if it is not possible, then you can use a needle or a thin awl, and an unbent paper clip will do.
The holes in the half-rim of the frame have the shape of a cone; from the side of the lens, their diameters are 0.8 mm, and from the outside, they are 1.5 mm. This is clearly visible in the photograph. Thus, having melted the end of the line, you can securely fix it in the frame.
First, the line is threaded through the hole in the nose pad, without a lens. Next, the end of the line is melted with a soldering iron and quickly, until the end of the line has hardened, it is pulled into the hole in the nosepiece. It must be pulled in slowly so that the line does not jump out of the hole.
If you have a high-power soldering iron at your disposal, you can wind several turns of any copper, aluminum or steel wire with a diameter of 1-2 mm on its tip. And with this improvised sting, warm up the fishing line. In the absence of a soldering iron, you can melt the fishing line with a nail heated on a gas stove burner. In order not to burn yourself, the nail must be held with pliers. You can use the sharp tip of a heated electric iron to melt the fishing line or, at worst, even with a small flame of a lighter.
After fixing one end of the fishing line in the nose pad, a lens is inserted and the fishing line, threaded into the hole from the side of the temple, is pulled. Next, the fishing line is pressed with your fingers at the point of passage in the facet of the lens, and is cut in such a way that its end protrudes from the hole by a couple of millimeters. Then the lens is removed, the second end of the fishing line is melted and after cooling, the lens is installed in the half-rim.
Remnants of the molten fishing line protruding from the holes of the frame must be cut flush with a sharp knife.
The glasses have been refurbished and are as good as new. The repair took less time than reading this article, which I hope you found helpful.
Repairing a broken half-rim of glasses frames
Several years passed, and the favorite half-rimmed glasses on the fishing line cracked as a result of a collision with the right angle of the kitchen shelf.
As you can see in the photo, the frame broke in the glass installation zone in the narrowest place. For its repair, the technology of gluing was used, followed by reinforcement of the fracture site with a metal bracket.
At the first step, the frame must be glued with Super-moment glue or similar, designed for gluing plastic products. To do this, you must first apply a thin layer of glue to the inside of the rim of the frame, which is in contact with the glass along its entire length. Then also apply a thin layer of glue to the end of the glass in contact with the frame.
After gluing, a small gap was found between the glass and the nose pad. For reliability of gluing, a small amount of soda was poured into this gap and then impregnated with glue.
After such bonding, the frame received sufficient strength, but for a higher bond strength, an additional metal bracket made from a paper clip was installed.
The bracket was fused into the frame of the glasses using an electric soldering iron. The photo, for clarity, shows the bracket not yet fully recessed into the plastic.
Ultimately, the bracket was completely sunk into the plastic of the glasses, and the area was sanded and polished with felt. There are practically no traces of repairs.
In the same way, you can successfully repair the plastic arms and the cracked frame at the point where it rests on the nose with your own hands.
Repairing a broken plastic eyeglass rim
I had to repair glasses with plastic frames, in which one of the plastic glasses fell out of the rim.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the bezel at the bottom was cracked in half. This is one of the glasses breakage that you can fix yourself in a few minutes.
To do this, it is enough to grease the crack with Super-glue and from the inside the rim a couple of centimeters to the sides of the crack. Next, insert the glass into the bezel, squeeze it tightly and hold it for a couple of minutes.
The rim of the glasses at the crack site does not bear any force load, and therefore no steel wire reinforcement is necessary. The glasses have been repaired, the appearance has not changed, and now, with careful treatment, they will serve for a long time.
Repairing a metal eyeglass frame with a broken rim
They brought me glasses with metal frames with a broken rim at the bridge of the nose, which the repair shop refused to repair. The breakdown was really serious. Even the strongest glue in this case will not hold, since the area of \u200b\u200bthe rim end at the fracture site was no more than a square millimeter.
I also immediately thought that this was a hopeless case and the glasses could not be repaired, but after a while I suddenly got an idea of \u200b\u200bhow to do without metal welding. After all, you can repair the frame by gluing the broken metal rim directly to the lens of your glasses. The area of \u200b\u200bthe bonding surfaces will become large and thus sufficient strength of the frame will be ensured after the whole repair.
Universal super-glue "Contact" is well suited for gluing frames. This glue is made on the basis of cyanoacrylate and has a high adhesive strength and polymerizes on contact with water in the air. The higher the air humidity, the faster the glue hardens, so even damp surfaces can be glued. The setting time of the glue, depending on the air humidity, ranges from a few seconds to several minutes. The glue hardens completely in a day.
By the way, not all home craftsmen know that if you need to quickly repair a crack or chip in hard materials, you can prepare a homemade putty by mixing super glue with baking soda.
The lenses of the glasses were plastic, and to protect them from getting on the optical surface of the glue, strips of adhesive tape had to be glued on both sides around the perimeter of the lens. It is undesirable to glue the entire surface of the lens with a single piece of adhesive tape, since after gluing it will be difficult to peel off without damaging the optical surface of the lens. Excess tape on the ends of the lens can be easily removed with fine sandpaper.
If the lenses are made of glass, then you do not need to glue the tape. Super glue softens well with acetone, which is safe for glass. Therefore, to remove the remnants of glue after repair from the optical surface of the lenses, it is enough to wipe them with a soft cloth moistened with this solvent.
Before gluing, you need to think over all the movements and practice, installing the lens in the frame before applying glue to it. When the movements are completed, you need to apply glue to the end of the lens, precisely insert it into place in the frame and tighten the frame ring with your fingers for a few minutes. I could not take photos of applying glue and installing the lens, since only a few seconds were allotted for this operation.
When the glue sets, remove the tape and tighten the frame with a thread, bandaging it as in the photo. The glasses must be left tied for a day until the glue has completely hardened. If a gap remains between the rim of the frame and the lens, then it is advisable to additionally fill it with super glue.
Inspection of the spectacle frames after repair by gluing showed that they have a sufficient margin of safety for further use. The appearance of the glasses remained unchanged.
Repairing a broken eyeglass frame temple
At the request of a friend, I had to repair glasses, in which one of the temples broke in half. The breakage occurred at the junction of its metal part with its plastic continuation.
The metal part of the temple was attached to the plastic part by a protruding pin, which was firmly inserted into the hole in the plastic part of the temple and fixed with a screw. It was not possible to remove the pin from the plastic after unscrewing the screw, since the breakage occurred along the plastic line, and it was impossible to hook the tool onto the pin. I also didn't want to grind down the plastic by shortening the temple.
The difficulty of repairing the temple at first glance was aggravated by the fact that the metal part was all in openwork holes. But as it turned out, it was a plus. To restore the integrity of the temple, a special-shaped overlay was made of a 1 mm thick sheet of brass. I do not give the geometrical dimensions of the lining, since all temples are different and the patch for repairing a particular frame of glasses will have its own dimensions, depending on the width of the temple in the place of breakage.
As you can see from the photo, two holes were drilled in the pad and three folds were made. Bends are needed to exclude axial swing of the connected parts of the temple. The dimensions of the holes determined the ready-made holes in the metal and plastic parts of the temple, and were 2.5 mm and 1.5 mm in diameter, respectively.
The metal part of the temple was fixed to the cover using a shortened M2.5 screw with a conical head. The screw was used as a rivet.
It was inserted from the outside of the metal part of the temple and riveted from the inside with a small hammer. To prevent the riveted part of the screw from protruding in the cover plate, the hole countersink was previously made.
The pad was fixed to the plastic part of the temple with an M1.5 screw screwed into the previously existing threaded hole in the remaining pin.
The photo shows a view of the overlay after installing the screw and rivet from the inside of the temple.
And in this photo, a view from the outside of the temple after connecting its broken off parts.
It remains to attach the temple to the frame of the glasses using a standard screw, and the repair can be considered complete.
This is how the glasses looked after the repair. If you don't look closely, then it is difficult to notice the restored place of the temple, it is not striking. But on the other hand, the temple has become much stronger and now it will definitely never break in this place.
Repair of plastic eyeglass frames
with broken rim and ear hook
Glasses with frames made of thermoplastic plastic are easier to repair, since they melt easily when heated, adhere well, and dissolve in some types of solvents, for example, dichloroethane or benzene.
I was faced with the repair of glasses in a plastic frame, which was broken in three places at once. At the frame, the right loop of the temple attachment was broken off.
Also, as can be seen in the photo, a part of the rim from the side of attaching the temple to the base was broken off. Apparently, the glasses were accidentally sat down or stepped on.
The repair had to be done in two stages. First, with the help of "Contact" super-glue according to the technology described above, used in the repair of the metal frame of glasses with a broken rim near the jumper, the broken plastic part of the rim was glued to its original place.
In the glasses being repaired, the temples were equipped with flexes, which, when used, will create a large load on the glued part of the rim. Therefore, to ensure sufficient strength of the rim in the place of gluing, two steel staples fused into the plastic were additionally installed, bent from a paper clip.
To melt a paper clip, you need to take it with tweezers and attach it to the cracked place, as shown in the photo. Next, with the tip of a 12-40 W soldering iron, you need to heat the bracket, slightly pressing on it from above. This usually takes a few minutes. There is no need to rush here.
When the bracket has entered the plastic a little, the tweezers can be removed and then, pressing, continue to heat the bracket until it is completely drowned in the base of the glasses.
Further, the plastic squeezed out by the bracket is smoothed out with a soldering iron tip so that the bracket disappears completely. After the plastic has hardened, the resulting unevenness is ground off with a file or emery paper, and the roughness is removed by polishing with felt. After that, you can start repairing the swivel joint.
First, you need to remove the remaining loop with side cutters and use a file to level the surface of the junction of the temple to the base of the glasses.
A rectangular loop must be bent out of copper or steel wire ∅1-1.5 mm. The photo shows a loop made from wire for electrical wiring. Copper, unlike steel, bends easily and has sufficient strength.
Based on the size of the base, the ends of the loop are shortened to the desired length and spread apart. This shape of the loop will ensure its secure fixation in the plastic case of the glasses.
The eyelet is then placed on a flat surface covered with soft cloth and pressed down with a heavy object. The base is close to it, as in the photo. It remains by fusion, according to the technology described above for the bracket, to sink the homemade eyelet into the base case of the glasses. Once it has cooled down, the swivel joint made will hold firm enough and work well. If the plastic at the melting point loses its shine, then you can cover this place with a thin layer of liquid transparent nail polish. The varnish is usually made with a solvent base, which softens the thermoplastic plastic.
As you can see in the photo, the repaired goggle joint is quite neat.
From the outside, there are practically no signs of repair of the plastic frame. The glasses are repaired and ready to wear.
How to repair glasses
with a broken bow at the hinge
In the Guestbook, Margarita from Rybinsk asked me the following question:
- I have such a problem, the child broke his glasses! The bow broke off in the place of the hinge with the screw, that is, the hinge with the screw remained on the frame, and the bow without a hole. The frame is plastic. I took the glasses for repair, they said not to fix it, I need to buy new ones. Maybe you can advise something.
My advice:
- Everything can be repaired, but the laboriousness of the repair and the need to purchase special tools often make the repair economically inexpedient. This is just your case. But since the main cost of glasses is made up of optical glasses and their installation, you can repair glasses at low cost if you buy a cheap frame, from which the temples are suitable for your glasses in color, fastening method and loop size. Better yet, buy the exact same frame. Moving the temples from one glasses to another is not difficult. The glasses will look like new.
Are you experiencing vision problems? A fragile frame often breaks, and it is not always possible to buy a suitable new one? Are you ready to try your hand and do it yourself? We will show you how to do this.
Before starting work, you need to think over everything and prepare properly. No soldering or complicated tools needed. First you need:
- a sheet of thick paper;
- pencil;
- stationery scissors;
- ruler;
- scotch;
- scissors for metal;
- three coils of wire of different thickness: 1.2 mm, 0.8 mm, 0.3 mm (0.2 mm).
Sketch of glasses shape, decor
The appearance of the glasses and their finishing should first be drawn on paper in accordance with the required size. You can find a suitable template on the Internet.
Advice! The easiest way is to fold the details over the frames of the finished glasses. In order not to scratch the lenses, they are protected by sticking pieces of adhesive tape.
The main thing is to think over the decorative processing to the smallest detail, since in addition to external beauty, its main function is to strengthen the entire structure
Stages of work
The design of the frame depends entirely on the creative vision of the master.... So what's the deal:
1. Frames for glasses are formed from wire of the largest diameter and connected along the bridge of the nose with the usual weave in the form of a "figure eight".
2. To hold the volume lenses in them from the inside, a duplicating layer of the thinnest metal thread is attached in the same way.
- a pair of curls is bent: large - on the outer element, compact - on the inner one, the middle is separated with a filigree and the end of the wire is hidden under a large curl, fixing on the base with a pair of wire turns;
- the inner element is completed with a curl that will hide the free end of the filament;
- the wire thread around the outer edge is bent inward for the subsequent forming of the nasal "pads".
4. Inside the frame with the same "figure eight" they attach a looped piece to support the glass from the corners and in the middle of the top. For the loops of the bows, the metal rods of the upper and lower bases are bent, braiding them with a figure-eight decor.
5. For decorating the top of the frame and reinforcing the loops, a 0.8 mm wire is suitable. The pattern is determined according to personal preference and taste.
6. For making temples:
- measure their length and add 5 cm;
- a decorative element is placed in the middle to prevent them from bending outward.
7. Fix both temples and decorate them.
