plastic eyeglass frames

Not exactly a home, but found in the home.

I have an pair of the original Revo sunglasses, the ones actually made by layering dozens of color corrective laser grade coatings as invented by an ex employee of a well known Silicon Valley laser company. These are the real deal and are not replaceable, the original company having been sold off to a hack Euro conglomerate years ago. I really need to repair these glasses.

Anyway, I broke the cheapo frames while luckily doing no damage to the lenses themselves. I need to repair them and am wondering if anyone can recommend a good epoxy adhesive for this job. I was going to use a Hardman Double-Bouble brand epoxy till I looked at their application chart and saw that gluing plastics is not really their forte.

Any advice?

nb

Reply to
notbob
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Depends on the plastic. If it is something like acrylic or styrene based, a drop of acetone, nail polish remover or PVC cement may work. Be careful not to get these solvents on the lenses.

Reply to
Frank

JB Weld. NOT the 4 minute stuff but the long cure type. WW

Reply to
WW

Perhaps a hobby or crafts group would have answer(s) or maybe a big crafts store

Reply to
LouB

Go to any eyeglass store that does their own work onsite, and they can sell you new frames. That means an old school mom & Pop optician, not a big chain store. As long as the new frames are not bigger in any dimension than the lenses, the lenses can be re-cut to fit.

Reply to
salty

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Cute website that...

Jeff

Reply to
jeff_wisnia

+1
Reply to
LouB

Good idea and one I considered early. Problem is, finding said M&P store locally or even online. I've already found one site that will make me custom eyeglass frames around my existing lense. Only $450!! ...erk! 8P

nb

Reply to
notbob

There is no longer any such thing as a standard eyeglass frame shape, or lens dimensions. They are 'fashion' accessories now, and change constantly. The lenses are cad-cam milled out of a round blank, and once that frame style is no longer in the system, you are SOL. BTDT. Yes, an artisan could hand-grind the edges of the old lenses by eye, but sneaking up on the correct shape for the new frames would take a lot of manhours. I doubt any place would even be willing to try, since if they FUBAR 'irreplaceable' lenses, there is nothing they can do to make the customer whole. Don't forget, along with the shape, they have to get the center axis oriented correctly, at least for prescription lenses.

The last pairs of eyeglasses I bought annoy the hell out me, because big lenses are now out of fashion, so I have to retrain my head to look through smaller lenses, and tune out the frames blocking my peripheral vision.

Eyeglasses should be designed by engineers and ergonomic specialists, not fashion designers. Form follows function, etc.

Reply to
aemeijers

It's all a marketing to get you to buy new frames every few years. I also hate this current squinty-eyed frame fashion and will buy no new ones till aviators come back around

One option you might consider is industrial safety glasses. Most of the new glasses I've bought in the last 20 yrs have been industrial safety glasses. Surprisingly, prescription safety glasses frame makers are more interested in your eyeball than the current trends, although many suppliers have made great efforts to provide a good compromise between eye coverage and fashion. In the end, it is safety engineering that determines how they are designed. I doubt you'll find many of those snow blindness slit frames.

Not only are there some surprisingly good designs out there, but as a general rule, safety glasses frames are waaay cheaper than regular frames, typically 50-70% cheaper, and also better made. I can't remember ever paying more than $60 for frames. I had one pair that was not only fairly fashionable, but were made of stainless steel. Damn, I hated losing those babies. It pays to shop around for safety frames as they are not the usual lines seen in Vogue and GQ and most optometrists get them where they can, not whatever happens to be the most likely to sell. I've rarely seen the same selection at any two shops.

nb

Reply to
notbob

Interesting, thanks

Reply to
LouB

You NEED to know what kind of plastic. many can be chemically welded

- which is FAR superior to any epoxu repair. There is also something called "last glue" i believe, that would likely do the job well - something like superglue on steroids.

Reply to
clare

I will vouch for the JB Weld .... my "can't read with out em" eyeglasses frame broke near the hinge while on vacation at the kids house. The son-in-law was also fixing the spout belonging to the kitchen sink due to an issue with a pin hole leak that sprayed water every time you turned the water on. He had the JB Weld out (the two tube syringe into one kind) so I used a toothpick dipped in a dab of fresh and presto chango with some finger-clamped pressure after about 5 minutes it held till I got back home and then some. Just beware it is metallic colored and you might want to be careful with appearance and application. Oh, and it worked on the faucet leak too.

Reply to
Somebuddy Else

I have no doubt. There are some pretty amazing epoxies out there.

My fave anecdote concerning epoxies is when I moved from Salem OR back to CA on a snowy Winter night. Had to leave that night and car was overloaded ala Grapes of Wrath. When I filled the gas tank it was beyond overloaded and I scraped a pin hole in the gas tank moving down the driveway, gas now squirting out in a small straight stream.

While the service station was unpacking a set of overload springs to install, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off looking for a leak stop and my traveling buddy was holding his finger on the leak like the lil' Dutch boy. Another service station across the street offered a half used tube of Liquid Steel, a reinforced non-mix epoxy. I put a dab on my finger tip and pushed it into the pin hole. It held!! This on the bottom of a full tank of gas. A year later it was still holding. Amazing.

nb

Reply to
notbob

Keep looking. I did this online a while back and the frames were about

75% off the price of a similar pair in a chain store. Fitting my old lenses was something like a $20 charge. I did a lot of searching, and unfortunately, I don't remember now which of the hundreds of places I ended up using. I think they were in Florida.
Reply to
salty

It's done all the time, and does not take a lot of manhours. It's actually quite trivial. I've watched it being done. The guy traced an old lens that had been damaged with a fine line sharpie and had the new lens cut and fitted in about 15 minutes.

Reply to
salty

Do you remember where you saw it and happen to have a mailing address?

nb

Reply to
notbob

Look under "Optician" in the phone book for a location near you.

Reply to
salty

Must be a regional thing. Around here they all told me to go away. And on a new lens for an existing frame, that means the store owns the lens- OP wants HIS lenses in a new frame. Were these prescription lenses you saw cut? the center axis does matter for those.

Reply to
aemeijers

You saw it done by an "Optician" at a location near me?

nb

Reply to
notbob

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