DIY specs fix? Any engineers in?

Mrs P’s specs have hit the deck again. New ones are going to take 3 weeks but she’s getting headaches without any.

I want to fix them but there’s nothing much left to work with as far as hinge is concerned. Any advice gratefully appreciated 🙂

Short term, temp bodge
Sand the frame and the arm and epoxy anything with a 90′ angle over the outside
You will need aradite, superglue gel would also work
200 grit sand 4mm of the frame inboard towards the lens, then 20mm up the arm

Find anything plastic thats malleable to make a brace, glue thst over the top

Ok so they wont fold but should save eyestrain

Tape?
Jack Duckworth used to swear by it!

Sugru?

What singletrackmind recommended would probably be what I’d try.

You could use a cut-out bit of milk bottle as a brace. Trim to shape, sand it to roughen it, bend and glue.
I did this with a broken bit of kiddies car track on a ramp that snapped at the weakest point.
It’s still going 3 years later!

If you were my customer, we’d find a side to fit. Probably charge if outside warranty £15.
If not our customer we’d maybe have a go if not flat out.

Superglue it, then, drill from the front and superglue a pin into the hole

If you’re really stuck for parts silicon sealant mixed with corn flour can make a putty that dries flexible. Modable before curred

I sat on my reading glasses and they broke, bodged a repair that lasted about 3 days, optician sold me a new frame, has to be smaller, and recut the lenses.

Massive win, old Specsavers readers were brittle, ok new Oakleys were 100 quid but I wear them all the time.

Thanks all. Will have a crack tomorrow when can get some Araldite/gel

Another angle (apologies for pic quality)

You will need aradite, superglue gel would also work
200 grit sand 4mm of the frame inboard towards the lens, then 20mm up the arm

Just roughen it up?

You will need aradite, superglue gel would also work
200 grit sand 4mm of the frame inboard towards the lens, then 20mm up the arm

Ok, would you file off the hinge and superglue the 2 faces together first (before epoxying them on the outside?

Superglue it, then, drill from the front and superglue a pin into the hole

That’s a neat suggestion, not sure I have a drill bit that size

Yes I would remove the pin
sand the break as well and glue that too , the inside of the fold
The use something in the man draw in the kitchen , the top of a swartch herb pot for example
Cut to make a tiny right angle peice 5mm x 25mm x 5mm . L shaped . glue that on the outside.
Ok so it wont fold no more but wont fall apart either . Araldite Rapid ftw. 15 min job.
Man points available

Now I see the issue. Remove pin. Feed fuse wire or similar though holes on both parts. Twist until tight. Tape off pointy bit. Done multiple time after fights in my teenage years

If you don’t have a drill small enough you could try making a hole by heating a pin in a gas flame and melting / burning the hole. Might take a couple of heats and pliers to hold the pin.

Try a less important bit of the arm first to see if it’s meltable kind of plastic. Probably will be as they are often heat formed for fit at the opticians.

Good luck!

I would just sand it as is and splodge thickened epoxy on all surfaces and around the remnants of the hinge…

That should be able to hold it for a few weeks…

Failing that some emergency £6 Selectspecs jobs might be good as backups…

A blob of This stuff from Halfords or similar will do the trick.

Superglue gel on its own is not up to it. I had similar problem.

Araldite or similar might work.

Glue unlikely to work.
Pinch a side off another pair?
Looking at the nut and bolt holding it together, it’s obviously been done before.
Also, 3 weeks! Even complicated stuff can be turned around in ten days. Simple single vision anything from 1hr to 3 days.
Get a spare pair.

Good thick covering of sugru – put it on very thick so it has its own body as the strength
amazon next day delivery – any colour she wants.
Glue alone will not work with the leverage involved.
Time spent cleaning the area will help.

Went with first suggestion and we’ll see.

For a brace I cut an old shower gel cap. Pictured below was first trial cut. SAK Champ scissors. Seemed fine so I cut a wider one to guesstimate width and taper of arm..

Using 180 grit sanding block I abraded the areas on frame/arm that were to be glued and braced. Tacked the arm on with some epoxy (two part gel) and sized up the brace by eye before sanding off rough edges

The brace to be shaped and sanded:

Once arm tack had set for 2 mins I risked offering up the brace to assess for fit. It required a curve along length and the 90 deg angle reducing to the match form of specs. I used a tealight to warm and then press(timate!) to suit

Offered up:

Not so bad. So filed and formed a little more. Before mixing another batch of epoxy and affixing the brace.

Noticed the arm was moving inboard as the cure was taking so I gently wedged it in place as precisely as possible by opening SAK/scissors and wedging to fit. Luckily this seemed to work really well as a precise ‘expander’ brace. Also used a small hobby spring-clamp to hold my new plastic brace against the arm

Then I had to go and cook, so will leave it to set for 2 hours and have a gander later

Fingers crossed!

Epoxy used: ‘ Bondit Monster Mix’ £2.99, because it was all they had except for Gorilla Glue at twice the price.

@cookeaa –

and splodge thickened epoxy on all surfaces and around the remnants of the hinge…

Now the brace is on, I’ve also done as you suggested 👍. Thnks

@jkomo –

Looking at the nut and bolt holding it together, it’s obviously been done before.

more than once 😎

Also, 3 weeks! Even complicated stuff can be turned around in ten days.

Yep. They are bifocals. Found out today that I heard wrong re 3 weeks. More like 12 days. A week left now. I’m a ‘bad listener’!

Pinch a side off another pair?

See that one-before-last photo in the above DIY sequence? Look in the background. My identically-framed reading specs which I hardly use. ffs.

headdesk.

Spot on. It will be the muscle memory repeated action of folding then thst will break them
If it feels flimdy bind the whole thing in an outr layer of epoxy and leave to cure overnight on a radiator

If it feels flimdy bind the whole thing in an outr layer of epoxy and leave to cure overnight on a radiator

Cheers STM,

Although they didn’t feel flimsy at all, that was the last thing I did (excepting the radiator part)

I’ll inspect the final job tonight as the patient is currently/happily wearing them. Overall it took a lot more time to post pics and write up than it did to complete (about 25 mins including second epoxy coat)

Even though I could have simply screwed on an arm from my pair, this was still a lot more fun. Thnks STW, big win. 🥳