Repair of reading glasses

[Bill]

I don't know why I get sucked into these things....

I have been asked to try to repair the glasses of SWMBO's sister. She lost her husband last week after a very short and traumatic illness. Apparently he used to repair her glasses.

Both side arms have broken off at the hinges, and have been repaired repeatedly with, I'm told, superglue, which has run into and around the hinges. The frames are plastic but the side arms are all metal, attached to the frames via the hinges by small plates and two screws. Both breaks are on the hinge at the side arm side. I'm told the glasses are 35+ years old and are important because of some feature of the lens coating.

She has visited two local opticians who have said they can do nothing because of the glue. She doesn't seem to want to have an eye test at the moment. I've done a search and printed out some adverts for frames repair.

If I'm to attempt a repair myself, I see two possible options.

1. Take the metalwork off the frames, attempt to dissolve the glue with acetone, then dismantle and attempt a glued repair with epoxy, then re-assemble the hinges.
2. Glue some hinge-type plastic across behind the existing hinge. Does such stuff exist?

The third possibility is to just glue something across the hinge area to make them permanently open, which I assume was the way they were before, but this seems pretty unsatisfactory.

Any advice? Has anyone ever tried this type of repair?

[Baz]

Let me be first this time!

Angle Grinder.

Baz

[Adrian C]

Bill wrote: I'm told the glasses are 35+

What is the special feature of the lens coating? And has *that* actually lasted 35 years and not been superceeded by something else?

ISTR We have an optician somewhere in the uk.d-i-y readership here.

[Andy Dingley]

New glasses. Glasses are _really_ cheap these days, even cheaper on- line, and even with complex coatings.

Prism is about the only thing that still cranks the price of lenses up.

[Bill]

This would all make sense to me and most people, but I seem to be committed to a repair. I think the lenses just have some sort of tinting which makes text easier to read, but it's not for me to ask or comment.

I've soaked some of the old glue in acetone and not much seems to have happened, so the plan now is to cut out a bit of strong cloth to fit round the hinges and soak it in epoxy. This will retain the glasses' fixed wing feature that they must have had for the last many years.

It's all a bit depressing.

[Dave Liquorice]

Quite not to mention that after the 35 years the chances of the prescription still being correct are minimal.

She really needs a full sight test and prescription, then see if the old specs are still suitable if (big if) they are then spend the time/money repairing them.

[Lobster]

Yes. eg from 19 quid at

David

[Cicero]

=========================================

Even cheaper, if you know your prescription.

These are good value if you need several pairs of glasses. They're very basic and have a slightly restricted viewing angle but useful for leaving lying around where you can always find a pair:

[geoff]

I asked a couple of years ago, but have since mislaid the info

There's a company in Watford around Olds Approach which actually makes prescription lenses

does anyone know who they are ?

[Tim Lamb]

Cheap enough!

They don't mention polarising. Is this practical with prescription lenses?

regards

[Rick]

Have you got a pic, i'm struggling to see exactly what has broken, is it the hinge part which has broken off the arms? If the hinges on the frame front are OK then it may be possible to get a couple of arms.

[Rick]

Also...

These people may be able to help,

don't know if they deal direct with the public (looks as though they might), they are who many in the trade use when it comes to the sort of repair which needs equipment/expertise not usually available in store.

[gazz]

why not make them into futuristic glasses, glue some small rare earth magnets to the stubs where the arms used to attach, then get the person who wears them to have a couple of flat faces piercing put in their face so the glasses can cling to their face.

Actually I wonder if I should patent that idea?? would work for those who wear a piz nez that keeps sliding off their nose, tho they are usually metal frames, so a couple of magnetic studs in their nose would do the job,

you could also do the same to give animals glasses, magnetic studs where the arms sit, tho how you'd interpret the answers they give to the sight test i dunno.

[Bill]

In message , Rick writes

This address might work, but I can't get a very clear picture

photo shows the arm temporarily attached to the frame with some tacky foam tape. The arm part of the hinge is totally worn away and covered in glue. The frame part has glue inside the two slots in the hinge, although the screws can be unscrewed on both sides. The metal inserts that hold the hinges into the frames seem to be glued as well as screwed.

This evening I have established that they were purchased in 1973 and are only used in church. They have not folded for many years. We have agreed a plan (unless someone here convinces me that this is a terrible idea). I have cut some tiny pieces of strong but thin sailcloth to match the metalwork around the hinge. I will clean and abrade the metalwork as fully as possible and then, with the foam tape holding everything in place dowse all the cloth with epoxy to make a sort of epoxy reinforcing plate across inside the frame/arm junction. I had hoped to be able to make this a sailcloth hinge, but the geometry makes this impossible. The only thing I'm doubtful about is how the terylene-with-filler sailcloth will absorb and grip the epoxy, but I need to press on with this.

I have pointed out the advisability of getting replacement glasses, but received the same lack of response that I usually get from the ladies.

[Matty F]

the hinge is broken as it usually is, I get a piece of fine steel wire out of a twisty-tie, wrap it around the remaining bit of the hinge and the arm and glue with epoxy.

[mogga]

An opticians may well have the mahcine to read the prescription. If they're only used in church for reading tiny print then probably a standard pair of magnifyers (from the chemist/pound shop) will do for now.

[RobertL]

dy

or for those who do not want to pierce their skin, the magnets could be inserted up the nose and just lodge there.

Might get strange effects when kissing someone who also has magnets though...

Robert

[Tim Downie]

All this agro for a pair of reading glasses only used once a week?!

Unless you wife's sister is going for the "bag lady" look, I can't see why she's so attached to these glasses.

I rather suspect there's another problem (like agoraphobia) that is stopping her getting her eyes retested or even buying a pair of cheap off-the-rack reading glasses.

Tim

[Adrian C]

Or just needing (and appreciating) the attention of kindly people at an understandably difficult time in bereavement.

It's not the issue of the glasses non-functioning, it's the repairer - and the sentiment that these were the personal items that _he_ fixed might be something stopping her from letting the item go.

A friend that went through the same, was initially demanding with all sorts of things that she soon managed to sort out for herself and her satisfaction, having time to think. Events are going at an unwelcome rush at the moment, and rash decisions... well... :-(

For the OP, Time will heal. Do a patch up job for now, and later down the line maybe help her get a new set done.

[Bill]

In message , Adrian C writes

Yes, that's the plan. The epoxy bodge is now setting - it takes 48 hours to reach full strength, so they should be 'ready' for Sunday.

It may reveal my age to say that this is the third close bereavement in the last 4 months. Things haven't been helped because so many people keep quoting what the Liverpool coroner is supposed to have said. Something like "Time doesn't heal, things just become easier to live with". I'm not quite sure how saying that to people is supposed to help, but maybe I'm more in tune with machines than people.

Thanks to everyone who joined in. I didn't use the angle grinder, but I did use the £9.99 in the sale Aldi 160W CombiTool to prepare the metal surfaces. Great value even though it took me ages to find the non-intuitive on-off switch.