Fixing glasses (spectacles)

[Mark]

Hi,

Can anyone suggest the best type of glue to fix the arm of a pair of metal framed glasses? One side arm has come away by the hinge point but it is not the hinge that is broken. The arm has a small hole and by the hinge there is a small pin which fits into the hole in the arm.

I've tried epoxy resin, but it only lasted a couple of weeks before coming away again.

TIA, Mark.

[The Natural Philosopher]

It is almost impossible to repair any metal to metal join with glue, to match the origial metal strength.

Possibly the best is the sort of car body filler sold as JB weld or liquid metal. Its better than commercial DIY epoxy, which needs a bit of heat to cure well, and very careful mixing to do its best.

However what you probably need is a splint.,.glass or carbon fibre tape, soaked in polyester resin or similar. Or a short lenght of carbon fibre tube over the parts.

[Roger Mills]

Take them to your local friendly optician. He should be able to find a spare arm off a scrap pair of spectacles. Mine did under similar circumstances. Only cost me a small donation into the charity box!

[Mark]

Thanks. I'll give this a go. (I think the break is too close to the hinge for a splint to work though).

[Dave Liquorice]

I doubt you can glue it. Soft solder might work for a while but I think you really need to off silver solder it. Or better take them to a proper opticians and get a real repair done.

[Stephen Howard]

I've not found a glue that can successfully repair spectacle arms - if it works at all it doesn't last very long, and a slight knock to the frames is usually enough to undo the repair.

Soft solder can work in some circumstances, where there's sufficient surface area, but generally speaking it's a silver solder job.

Regards,

[John]

If you're anywhere near Darwen in Lancashire, take them to Rick

He often posts in here and uk.rec.cars.misc as "R D S" and he's a good guy.

[Mark]

Nowhere near Lancs, I'm afraid.

[Matty F]

A bodgy repair that seem to last forever is to get some fine steel wire, such as from a Twisty Tie with the plastic stripped off, and wind that around the break, and use epoxy on that. Thread the wire through any holes that are there.

[John Storey]

Hi, If you want to get your frames repaired have a look at this website

have used them a few times, their service is good with repairs being returned in a couple of days.

Regards

John Storey

[NOSPAMnet]

Would a short piece of heatshrink tubing be able to be fitted to the part needing secured . Anglers use very small bore stuff ..I have some lengths if needed .

[NOSPAMnet]

Any chance of getting a pic in closeup?

[Chewbacca]

If they are just reading glasses Asda sometimes sells two pairs for £2 which look ok.

[Alang]

or

[Mark]

I'll try, but it's *very* small. I'm taking them to an opticians today so I'll be back here if they can't help.

(The main difficultly IMHO is that where it's come adrift is adjacent to the hinge).