The mount of the eyeglasses broke. Eyeglass repair and the most common breakdowns

Are your glasses broken? You can take them to the workshop or buy new ones, or you can repair glasses with your own hands, using the materials and tools that can be found in every home. Our instruction will tell you how to fix plastic glasses.

Glasses repair materials and tools:

• drill with a very small bit
• needle with thread
• Super glue
• nail polish remover
• cotton swabs
• wax paper or soft cloth
• rubber bands
• wooden lath

How to fix glasses

1. To repair glasses, clean, sand and degrease the plastic at the break.

2. Prepare the conductor (a device that allows you to fix the frame parts in a certain position) to fix the glasses.

A wooden rail or an old ruler will serve as a conductor. Cut the rail so long that its length is slightly less than the width of the glasses.

Wrap the piece of wood with wax paper or a soft cloth. This is necessary in order to protect the lenses from contact with the surface of the conductor.

3. Fix the goggles on the conductor. Attach a fragment of the frame to the rail and wrap it with rubber band several times.

First make sure that the elastic bands are clean and will not stain the lenses of the glasses. Then attach the second half of the glasses, pressing it well against the first. Use the rubber band again.

Align the parts of the glasses with each other, once again make sure that they are in contact.

4. Apply glue to the place where the glasses broke. This is the most critical stage of the repair, so everything must be done very carefully.

• Fill the break with glue, make sure that there are no voids or air bubbles

• Quickly wipe the surface with a cotton swab to remove excess adhesive

• Let the glue dry for an hour.

5. Drill holes for fastening the bandage. After the glue has dried, you need to drill one hole in the frame on each side of the fault.

Lay your glasses on a soft cloth. Drill very carefully so that the connection does not break. Try to make the holes neither too close nor too far apart.

In our example, they are placed too close.

Tape bandage is a simple thread that is pulled through the drilled holes and wound tightly over the glued joint. A bandage is needed to strengthen the connection.

Pull the thread into a thin needle. The length of the thread folded in half should be about 60 cm.

First, pull the thread as many times as possible through the drilled holes. If the needle no longer passes, you can begin to wind the threads around the bow. Wind the thread tightly, but do not overdo it so as not to break the glasses again.

6. Apply glue to the bandage. Remove air bubbles with a needle if they form. Let the thread soak and remove excess glue with a cotton swab. Let the glue dry for 15 minutes, cut off the protruding ends.

7. Take a long thread, glue one end of it with masking tape to the bow.

Fully wrap the headband of the goggles.

Almost everyone who wears glasses on a regular basis regularly encounters breakage due to careless handling or wear and tear during operation. Repair of glasses may be required for most of their components - lenses, frames, nose pads, temples, etc. For various reasons, it is impossible to buy new glasses - expensive frames or specially selected lenses force the consumer to pay attention to the repair of glasses.

Types of repair operations

Lens repair

Most often, users face the problem of eyeglass lens damage due to careless use or wear. The functional state of the lens may deteriorate due to wear, chips or cracks. A possible way out of the situation could be polishing the optical lens. But this solution is applicable only to plastic versions of spectacle glasses. At the same time, plastic glasses should not have toner or other coatings. Polishing the surface will remove scratches, scuffs and microscopic chips.

If the lens is made of glass, only glass replacement is acceptable. Glass replacement is carried out promptly, an identical glass is selected by an optics employee and mounted within a few minutes.

Restoration of temple strength

During operation, the tightening of the screws loosens. In most cases, this "ailment" is inherent in metal frames, as well as frames without a rim. The process of loosening is inevitable, as the glasses regularly bend and unbend during wearing. There are two ways to solve the problem: either visit the optician regularly and use the services of a master repairman, or purchase a specialized set of screwdrivers for self-tightening the shackle screws.

Frame repair

Both metal and plastic frames are exposed to mechanical damage. In case of breakage, a fixing bracket is inserted into the plastic frame, which stops the breakage. But such a bracket does not guarantee that the frame will be securely fixed. This, in turn, will weaken or completely eliminate the corrective effect of wearing glasses.

Therefore, in the event of a malfunction of the plastic frame, it is recommended to order a new one.

Metal frames are characterized by such a problem as deformation. Deformation occurs as a result of careless handling of the accessory - most often they step on or sit on glasses. A factor such as putting on with one hand can lead to deformation of the frame. Repair techniques allow you to straighten any, even severely curved frames.

But such precedents are possible when a metal frame or temples break in half. Even such serious damage is not a reason to buy a new frame. Optical shops are now ready to offer the consumer the repair of glasses using laser welding technology. This method allows you to restore the integrity of the frame or temple without compromising their strength characteristics. The soldering area has no traces of solder or sanding and looks uniform. As the masters assure, laser welding is a guarantee that the glasses will have their original appearance. When repairing glasses, it is convenient to use laser soldering when connecting small fragments or parts. The junction point of the fragments is resistant to corrosion. Laser welding is also attractive because it allows you to work with frames made of precious metals; you can also work with frames that are encrusted with precious stones by laser soldering.

Do-it-yourself glasses repair

Correction of some defects of this accessory is permissible to carry out at home. Naturally, in this case there will be no guarantee that the glasses will not lose their corrective properties. Do-it-yourself glasses repair is easiest when screws or other fasteners are loose. To perform these manipulations, you need a set of special screwdrivers that allow you to work with ultra-small screws. Also, similar screwdrivers will be needed to install new nose pads.

It is not recommended to repair metal-framed glasses with your own hands, since in artisanal conditions it is impossible to return the original geometric parameters. Plastic frames are more repairable; it is allowed to glue such frames with epoxy glue if the frame is broken in half in the region of the bridge of the nose.

In most cases, such a do-it-yourself repair will not look aesthetically pleasing, but the accessory will retain its functional state.

How to protect glasses from breakage

This list of rules is a guarantee of a long service life of glasses:

• when the glasses are not in use, they must be stored in a case. This will protect the accessory from most possible mechanical damage;
• glasses are put on and taken off only with two hands to prevent the frame from being distorted;
• a microfiber cloth should be laid at the bottom of the case so that the lenses do not get scuffed, scratched or chipped;
• glasses should be stored in a case with glasses up;
• it is required to periodically take glasses to the optician and check the tightening of fasteners and connections - more regularly it is necessary to check glasses with rimless or metal frames;
• it is unacceptable to apply significant mechanical forces to the mechanisms of points;
• the purchase of the accessory and its maintenance must be carried out in licensed optics salons. These organizations must have a full package of permits, the availability of which is required by the law of the Russian Federation.

Article author: Pavel Nazarov

Glasses- This is an optical device that serves to optically correct human vision in case of its deviation from the norm and 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 turn to professionals who will repair them, and if repair is not possible, they will help you with the choice of new ones.

If the glass fastening screw or in the hinge of the temple (arm) fastening 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 exerting more effort, until it stops.

But if the frame of the glasses is broken at the place of the bridge, or the temple is broken off at the hinge point, then it is no longer easy to eliminate such a breakdown of the glasses, tools and knowledge of technology are needed for repair.

In modern glasses, the temples are often attached to the hinges using flex. This mechanism is a spring that fixes the temple (arm) in a predetermined position and makes it possible to move apart the temples, in contrast to the standard angle of 100˚ of conventional glasses, at an angle of up to 160˚.

The frame with flex eliminates pressure on the head when wearing glasses and distortion of the frame when removing glasses with one hand, so glasses with flex last longer and are more comfortable to wear. But the more complex the glasses are, the more likely they are to break.

How to turn a screw
in the hinge of fastening of a spectacle frame with flex

If it is not difficult to screw a fallen 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 match the hole on the temple. The screw cannot be turned.

When analyzing the breakdown, everything became clear, you need to push the flex bar and screw the screw into place. The bar is easily pulled out with an awl or needle if you pass them through the screw hole, but then there is nowhere for the screw to be screwed. Otherwise, it seems that there is nothing to cling to. But if you look closely, it turns out that there is a ledge in the bar protruding from the temple, over which it can be advanced. Only there is a problem of lack of hands. The third hand can successfully serve as a vise.

The temple is clamped in the vice jaws, if the material from which the temple is made is soft, then a piece of leather should be laid between the vise jaws. But even with the help of a vice, 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 the same hand, with a small screwdriver, move the flex bar up so that the holes match. With the second hand, you need to insert a screw into the aligned holes and screw it. I only got it after 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. In order for the screw to no longer unscrew, I riveted it a little, from the side of its exit from the spectacle frame.

If a suitable screw could not 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 flex eyeglass frames with flex

I got glasses for repair, the temple (arm) in which broke off at the place where the hinge was attached to the flex.

There is a lot of pressure on the temple-flex junction and repairing the glasses with superglue or epoxy would not provide a secure connection. There was only a mechanical way of repair.

At the end of the temples 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 reliable way to repair was to connect the parts with a rivet.

Industrial-made rivets for such minor repairs do not exist. But a brass sewing pin with a metal head with a diameter of 0.7 mm was well suited as a rivet. The size of the pin determined 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 (shackle), at a point from the calculation so that it passes through the center of the strip fixed in the hinge of the frame.

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 powerful household 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 breakage 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 that secures the temple to the hinge of the frame. Before drilling, you need to mark the point of drilling. To do this, the plate is inserted all the way into the groove of the temple located at its end, and in this form the assembly is clamped in a vise lined with leather. The shackle 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, inserting a drill into it, a hole is drilled in the plate. You need to drill very carefully, applying little effort, as the drill can easily be broken.

The holes are drilled, and you can proceed to the final stage of glasses repair, rivet connection. A flat plate is inserted all the way into the groove of the temple, and the pin is threaded through the holes.

With the help of wire cutters, 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, you need to 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 flare the pin with a large hammer, applying weak blows to the protrusion of the pin through the metal rod.

As you can see, the repair of the glasses is completed, the connection of the temples with the base with a rivet turned out to be neat, without spoiling the aesthetic appearance of the glasses.

While I was repairing the glasses, fitting one temple into place, the second one broke on the glasses. I had to repair it using the technology described above. 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 the repair, the glasses at the junction of the temples with the console no longer broke.

Broken hinge eyeglass temple repair

A neighbor turned to me with a request to try to repair his favorite glasses, as they refused to repair him in a specialized workshop - they advised him to buy new ones.

The shackle of the glasses broke at the hinge point 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 fix it.

First you need to unscrew the self-tapping screw and glue the broken part of the loop to the temple with Super-glue "Contact". I often use this glue to glue any cracked or broken parts. But in this case, the fracture area is small and the glue will not hold securely. Therefore, the parts were glued mainly for the convenience of further repairs.

Next, a bracket was bent from a paper clip, as shown in the photograph, and, using heating with an electric soldering iron, was fused in the longitudinal direction of the temple. The middle of the bracket should go along the line of the crack.

For the reliability of the connection, a second bracket was fused across the temple. In order not to burn your fingers and melt the bracket into the right place of the temple, it is convenient to hold it with tweezers. It takes up to a minute to warm up the bracket, there is no need to rush. When the bracket is heated to the melting temperature of the plastic, it will easily enter it.

After the brackets are fused into the temple, it remains only to level the protruding plastic and cut off its excess with a knife after cooling or grind it off with fine-grained sandpaper. If the bracket appeared on the surface, then it can be reheated and drowned deeper.

Now the brackets are not visible, the resistance to breakage after reinforcing the temple with steel brackets has become higher than it was. At this point, the glasses will no longer break. If desired, the junction can be polished, making it completely invisible.

The repair has been completed and now the glasses began to look like new and, if treated with care, will last a long time. When I returned the glasses to a neighbor, he was very surprised that they could be repaired, but he doubted if the temple would break off in this place again. After a month of wearing, he began to ask me what glue I glued the glasses with. After all, he did not know that the shackle at the point of failure was reinforced with metal brackets.

Repair of the place where the temples of the glasses are attached to the rim

Another pair of glasses with a broken shackle came in for repair. But in this case, the temple was intact, but the place where it was attached to the rim collapsed.

The temple loop was made of brass, so it didn't break. This failure is more likely related to the design flaw of the frame of the glasses, and not to the handling of them.

The temple loop was fastened in a rectangular hole made in the frame with a single self-tapping screw screwed into the metal of the loop. When wearing glasses, the self-tapping screw was slowly unscrewed, and the load on the plastic increased, which is why it cracked. In the end, the self-tapping screw completely unscrewed and got lost, as a result, the shackle fell out of the mount.

There was no suitable screw, so I had to use the standard M1.5. To do this, a thread was cut in the loop bar with a tap.

The plate on the rim for fixing the temple loop had a crack. But it was not advisable to install a metal bracket to strengthen it, since it was necessary not only to strengthen the plate, but also to increase the area of ​​​​support of the 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 ​​support of the screw head on the plastic increased many times over, and the crack partially melted, which also increased its strength.

Next, the mating surfaces of the plates were smeared with Super-moment glue, the hinge plate was inserted into the square hole in the base of the glasses, and the screw was screwed in. At the same time, a broken fragment from the frame was also glued. It did not bear the 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.

Rimless frame repair
with lens mount on a fishing line

In a semi-rimmed 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 end of the lens). Thanks to this way of fastening the lenses, the glasses have an elegant look and less weight compared to the rim frame, especially if the lenses are plastic.

But for elegance you have 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 goggles and start to shoot a piece of clothing over your head, then it may well happen that the glass will fall out or pop out of the frame of the fishing line, as in the photo. If the lens fell out, but the fishing line remained securely fixed in the half-rim, then due to the elasticity of the fishing line, the lens can be installed in place. If the line is detached from the frame, then the line will need to be replaced with a new one.

But do not get upset and run to the workshop, such a breakdown of the half-rimmed glasses frame is not difficult to fix with your own hands. For repairs, ten centimeters of transparent fishing line with a diameter of 0.8 mm are enough. Fishing line can be asked from familiar fishermen or asked at any fishing tackle store. I cut off half a meter for thanks.

The first step when starting repairs is to remove the old fishing line from the frame. Usually it is enough to move the fishing line back and forth with effort and it will move away from the attachment point. If its melted ends interfere, then the fishing line can be cut. She won't need it anymore anyway.

After releasing 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 one of its ends obliquely so that the end of the fishing line becomes sharp. So it will be easier to insert it into the holes of the frame.

If the fishing line cannot be threaded through the fixing hole of the frame, then it must be cleaned. This is best done with a mini drill with a 0.8 mm drill bit. But if it is not possible, then you can use a needle or a thin awl, and a straightened paper clip will do.

The holes in the semi-rim of the frame are cone-shaped, their diameters are 0.8 mm from the side of the lens, and 1.5 mm from the outside. This is clearly visible in the photograph. Thus, by melting the end of the fishing line, you can securely fix it in the frame.

First, the fishing line is threaded into the hole, which is located in the nose pad, without a lens. Next, the end of the fishing line is melted with a soldering iron and quickly, until the end of the fishing line has hardened, it is drawn into the hole in the nose pad. Retract slowly so that the line does not jump out of the hole.

If you have a high-power soldering iron, you can wind several turns of any wire with a diameter of 1-2 mm copper, aluminum or steel on its tip. And with this impromptu sting, heat 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 the nail, you need to hold it with pliers. You can use the sharp tip of a heated electric iron to melt the fishing line or, at worst, even 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 cut off in such a way that its end protrudes from the hole by a couple of millimeters. Next, the lens is removed, the second end of the fishing line is melted, and after cooling, its lens is installed in the semi-rim.

The remnants of 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 like new. The repair took less time than reading this article, which I hope was useful to you.

Repairing a broken eyeglass frame

A few years passed, and my favorite half-rimmed glasses with a fishing line cracked as a result of a collision with a right-angled kitchen shelf.

As you can see in the photo, the frame broke in the glass installation area at the narrowest point. For its repair, gluing technology was used, followed by reinforcing 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. Next, 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 the reliability of gluing, this gap was filled with a small amount of soda and then impregnated with glue.

After such gluing, the frame received sufficient strength, but for a higher strength of the connection, a metal bracket made from a paper clip was additionally installed.

The bracket was melted into the frame of the glasses using an electric soldering iron. In the photo, for clarity, the bracket is shown not yet completely recessed into the plastic.

In the end, the bracket was completely sunk into the plastic of the glasses, the place was cleaned with sandpaper and polished with felt. There are practically no traces of repair left.

In the same way, you can successfully repair plastic temples and a cracked frame in the place of emphasis on the nose with your own hands.

Repairing a broken plastic eyeglass frame

I had to repair glasses with a plastic frame, in which one of the plastic lenses fell out of the rim.

Upon closer examination, it turned out that the bezel at the bottom was cracked in half. This is one of the breakdowns of glasses that can be fixed on your own in a few minutes.

To do this, it is enough to lubricate the place of the crack with Super Glue and on the inside of the rim a couple of centimeters away from the place of the crack. Next, insert the glass into the rim, squeeze it tightly and hold it for a couple of minutes.

The rim of the glasses in the place of the crack does not carry any power load, and therefore there is no need for reinforcement with steel wire. The glasses have been repaired, the appearance has not changed, and now, with careful treatment, they will last a long time.

Broken eyeglass frame repair

They brought me glasses with a metal frame with a broken rim at the bridge of the nose, which the repair shop refused to repair. The breakdown was really serious. Glue, even the strongest in this case, will not hold, since the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe end of the rim at the fracture site was no more than a square millimeter.

I also immediately thought that this was a hopeless case and it was impossible to repair the glasses, but after a while the idea suddenly came up how to do without metal welding. After all, you can repair the frame by gluing a broken metal rim directly to the lens of the glasses. The area of ​​the bonding surfaces will become large and thus sufficient strength of the frame after the repair as a whole will be ensured.

Universal super-glue "Contact" is well suited for gluing frames. This adhesive is based on cyanoacrylate, has a high adhesive strength and polymerizes upon contact with water in the air. The higher the air humidity, the faster the adhesive hardens, so even wet surfaces can be glued. The setting time of the adhesive, depending on the humidity of the air, ranges from a few seconds to several minutes. The adhesive cures completely within 24 hours.

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 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 it off without damaging the optical surface of the lens. Excess adhesive 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 adhesive tape. Super glue softens well with acetone, which is safe for glass. Therefore, to remove adhesive residue 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 through all the movements and practice installing the lens in the frame before applying glue to it. When the movements are worked out, you need to apply glue to the end of the lens, insert it exactly into place in the frame and pull the frame ring off 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 adhesive tape and tighten the frame with a thread, bandaging it as in the photo. The glasses should be left bandaged for a day until the glue has completely hardened. If there is a gap between the rim of the frame and the lens, then it is advisable to additionally fill it with super-glue.

Checking the spectacle frames after repair by gluing showed that it has a sufficient margin of safety for further operation. The appearance of the glasses remained without visible changes.

Repairing a broken eyeglass frame

At the request of a friend, I had to repair glasses, in which one of the temples broke in half. The breakdown occurred at the point of joining of its metal part with a plastic extension.

The metal part of the temple was attached to the plastic part by a protruding pin, which was tightly 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 break occurred along the plastic line, and it was impossible to catch the pin with the tool. I also did not want to grind off the plastic, 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, an overlay of a special shape was made from a sheet of brass 1 mm thick. I do not give the geometric dimensions of the earpiece, since all the temples are different and the overlay for repairing a particular spectacle frame will have its own dimensions, depending on the width of the temple at the point of failure.

As you can see from the photo, two holes were drilled in the overlay and three bends were made. Bends are needed to prevent axial swing of the connected parts of the temple. The dimensions of the holes determined the finished holes in the metal and plastic parts of the temple, and amounted to a diameter of 2.5 mm and 1.5 mm, respectively.

The metal part of the temple was attached to the overlay with 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. In order for the riveted part of the screw not to protrude in the plate, the hole was preliminarily countersinked.

The pad was fixed to the plastic part of the temple using an M1.5 screw, screwed into the previously existing threaded hole in the remaining pin.

The photo shows a view of the lining 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 parts.

It remains to attach the temple to the frame of the glasses with the help of a regular screw and the repair can be considered complete.

This is how the glasses looked after the repair. If you do not look closely, 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.

Plastic eyeglass frame repair
with broken headband and temple loop

Glasses with frames made of thermoplastic plastic are easier to repair, as they easily melt when heated, adhere well, and dissolve in some types of solvents, such as dichloroethane or benzene.

I encountered the repair of glasses in a plastic frame, which was broken in three places at once. The right ear hook was broken off the frame.

Also, as can be seen in the photo, part of the rim was broken off from the side of the temple attachment to the base. Apparently, the glasses accidentally sat down or stepped on.

The repair had to be done in two stages. First, using super-glue "Contact" according to the technology described above, used to repair a metal spectacle frame with a broken rim at 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, during operation, will create a large load on the glued part of the rim. Therefore, in order to ensure sufficient strength of the rim, two steel brackets fused into plastic, bent from a paper clip, were additionally installed at the place of gluing.

To fuse a paper clip, you need to take it with tweezers and attach it to the place with a crack, as shown in the photo. Next, with a soldering iron tip with a power of 12-40 W, you need to heat the bracket, slightly pressing on it from above. This usually takes several minutes. You shouldn't rush here.

When the bracket has slightly entered the plastic, the tweezers can be removed and further, by pressing, continue to heat the bracket until it is completely drowned in the base of the glasses.

Next, with a soldering iron tip, the plastic squeezed out by the bracket is smoothed out so that the bracket is completely hidden. After the plastic hardens, the resulting unevenness is ground off with a needle file or sandpaper, 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 temple to the base of the glasses.

From copper or steel wire ∅1-1.5 mm, you need to bend a rectangular loop. 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 parted to the sides. This shape of the loop will ensure its secure fixation in the plastic body of the glasses.

Next, the eye is placed on a flat surface covered with a soft cloth and pressed down with a heavy object. The base is closely attached to it, as in the photo. It remains to fuse, according to the technology described above for the bracket, to drown a home-made eyelet into the body of the base of the glasses. After cooling, the swivel made will hold tight enough and work well. If the plastic at the melting point loses its luster, then you can cover this place with a thin layer of liquid transparent nail polish. The lacquer is usually made with a solvent that softens the thermoplastic.

As you can see in the photo, the repaired swivel of the glasses turned out to be quite neat.

From the outside, there are practically no traces of repair of the plastic frame. The glasses have been repaired and are ready to be worn.

How to repair glasses
with a broken shackle 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 shackle broke off at the place of the hinge with the screw, that is, the hinge with the screw remained on the frame, and the shackle without a hole. The frame is plastic. I took the glasses in for repair, they said they can’t fix it, I need to buy new ones. Maybe you can recommend something.

My advice:
- Everything can be repaired, but the laboriousness of the repair and the need to purchase a special tool often make repairs economically unfeasible. This is just your case. But since the main cost of glasses is optical glasses and their installation, you can repair glasses at a low cost if you buy a cheap frame from which the temples will match your glasses in color, fastening method and loop size. Better yet, buy the exact same frame. Swapping the temples from one pair of glasses to another is not difficult. Glasses will be like new.

This is not to say that glasses break often, but they still break, and, as a rule, at the most inopportune moment. In addition, glasses are not so easy to replace, because, firstly, it is most often a diopter, and secondly, we get so used to them that it seems to us that changing our favorite eyepieces, even if old and worn out, to new ones as difficult as, say, giving up your daily cup of coffee.

But what to do if the arm of your glasses suddenly fell off? Is it possible to fix them at home in this case? Of course, you can, especially if a bolt connecting the behind-the-ear part of the frame to the nose just flew out in your bow, and you did not have time to lose it, and also if you have a miniature screwdriver in your house, and even better a special one - for repairing glasses or watches .

Unfortunately, most often a simple layman does not have any of this at hand. It doesn't matter, you can go the other way. In the bow of the frame there is a hole for a bolt, through which you can fasten the fishing line (this stuff is usually enough in every home). If the hole is broken, it's easy to drill a new one, or at least without dragging it through, just tie the fishing line to the ledge left at the junction of the bow and the bow of the frame. We measure about twenty centimeters of fishing line and tie any small sinker to its other end. Now we throw the fishing line with a sinker instead of a broken bow (or bows, if both are damaged) behind the ear or behind the ears - and please, this device holds the nose of the frame no worse than the “native” bows.
If you don’t like having thin fishing line on your ears, you can, before tying the sinker, put on it an ordinary drinking straw, which is sold for a penny in any grocery store. These tubes have a special "accordion" for bending, as if specially invented for the construction of homemade spectacle frames.

With a sinker, you can also dream up. Of course, a regular nut is the easiest way to solve the problem, but not the most aesthetic. Therefore, in the form of a sinker, you can tie rare pebbles with holes to the fishing line, the so-called "chicken gods", key chains, various details from jewelry and other jewelry (for women), and so on.
It is difficult to say that the resulting glasses will be as elegant and comfortable as they were before the breakdown, but it is quite possible to use them.
True, there is an even simpler way to solve this problem - take the glasses to the workshop, especially if you live or work in Moscow. There are a lot of glasses repair shops in the capital, and they are most often located right near the metro (you just have to pay attention to this). Don't worry, these repairs usually take no more than fifteen minutes, so you only have to leave the house a quarter of an hour early or return home the same way to pick up the repaired glasses (if you don't like to wait or the breakdown is quite complex).

But after that, your glasses will again be like new, you will not find any flaws in them. Moreover, most often in the workshop all other flaws are corrected at the same time, for example, in the case of one broken bow, they will check and correct the second one so that the frame will serve you faithfully for another ten years. Well, such repairs are mere trifles ...

It is difficult for people with reduced visual acuity to do without corrective devices: glasses or contact lenses. The latter are not suitable for everyone, so many still use glasses. However, glasses are a rather fragile accessory that requires careful handling and proper care. Even with care, breakdowns are not uncommon. The first thought in this case is to contact a specialized workshop, but do not rush, because many damages can be repaired on their own. In the article we will tell you how to fix glasses at home and at minimal cost.

Causes and types of breakdowns

The main causes of glasses breakage are wear and tear due to long-term use and mechanical stress. Glasses break from falls, squeezing, rude attitude.

The most common problem is loose or missing frame and temple screws. Retightening the screw is usually not difficult, but how do you fix the headband of the glasses if the part is lost? Breakage of the hinge mechanism is also not a rare case. It occurs due to careless opening of the temples or if the glasses are accidentally sat on. The cause of breakage of metal frames is most often squeezing. An accessory without a case should not be carried in a pocket or bag. Plastic frames are quite fragile and often suffer from falls from heights. The reason for the loss of glasses is the mechanical deformation of the frame, and scratches on the surface of the lenses arise from ignoring the recommendations for the care and operation of glasses.

The answer to the question of how to fix glasses with the above breakdowns can be found below.

Necessary materials and tools

Repair of glasses will require the use of the following materials and tools:

• A set of watch screwdrivers or a set for repairing glasses. The screws in the glasses are tiny, and it will not work to pick them up with a regular screwdriver. If there is no suitable tool, you can use a thin knife, but be careful not to break the notches on the hat.
• Nippers and pliers. Useful to make it more convenient to hold the frame and cut off excess wire.
• Scissors.
• Small hammer. It can be used to rivet the bottom of the screw to prevent it from becoming loose in the future.
• Glue. The choice should be stopped on a fast-hardening adhesive suitable for gluing frame material.
• Electric soldering iron.
• Paper clips, wire and pins with a head. Needed to strengthen damaged frames and to replace lost or broken parts of the hinge mechanism.

• Fine-grained sandpaper. Useful for polishing the restored area of ​​the frame and temple.
• Fishing line 0.3 - 0.8 mm. It will be needed to repair semi-rimmed frames with broken or weakened fishing line.
• Durable thread.
• Clear nail polish. The repaired and protected area of ​​the frame may lose its luster, nail polish will restore it to its original appearance.
• Scotch. Useful to protect the lens from glue.

Replacing a Lost Screw

How to fix the headband of glasses if it fell off? The cause of the problem may be a loose screw holding the shackle on the frame. Well, if the part has not been lost, then it is easy to return it to its place by carefully twisting it with a screwdriver or a knife. To prevent the trouble from happening again, you can rivet the lower part of the screw with a small hammer. If there is no miniature tool at hand, you can use an ordinary hammer and a metal rod.

However, how to fix glasses if the screw is lost? In this case, you can try to replace the screw with a new one. Glasses repair kits have such parts. You can also use a screw from an old calculator or electronic watch. If the new part is slightly wider than the old screw, no problem. With gentle force, you can cut a new thread. This method is also suitable for repairing spectacles with stripped or worn threads due to prolonged use of the spectacles. The excess length of the new screw is removed with pliers and riveted.

The question often arises: how to fix glasses at home if there is no suitable screw at hand? In this case, you can replace it with a pin with a flat or small round head. The pin is inserted into the hole for fastening, the lower part is cut off and riveted.

Glasses repaired in this way do not lose their functionality and will last for a long time.

Replacing the screw in flex glasses

The flex is a moveable bar that allows the temples to open 160 degrees, as opposed to the conventional mechanism where the arms open 100 degrees. Glasses with flex do not squeeze the head, so they are more comfortable to wear. Repairing the temples of glasses with such a mechanism is not much more difficult than conventional ones.

When there is no screw in the flex mechanism, the movable bar retracts into the shackle. As a result, the holes do not line up and the screw cannot be tightened. It is easy to return the bar to the desired position with a needle, but then it will be inconvenient to screw in the screw. In this case, you can use a thin silk thread by threading it through an open hole. The thread should secure the mechanism in the open state and tighten the screw. Next, the thread is cut. The remaining piece will not interfere with the functionality of the glasses.

It is even easier to make such repairs with the replacement of a screw with a pin. The thread is not needed, and the flex can be pushed out with the tip of a pin. Next, the pin is cut and riveted. The renovated area gets neat and inconspicuous.

Hinge mechanism failure

How to fix glasses if the hinge mechanism itself is broken? Repair begins with the careful removal of the damaged part, it is important not to spoil the frame. For these purposes, a file is suitable. When the surface is leveled, proceed to the manufacture of the replacement part. Copper wire of suitable diameter is passed through the remaining whole loop of the mechanism and bent into the shape of the Greek letter omega. Next, the parts are connected and the wire is heated with a soldering iron, gently pressing it into the softened plastic until completely immersed. Thus, a strong connection is obtained. When the wire has cooled, the place is ground and leveled. You can mask the repair with matching color nail polish.

Unfortunately, this repair method is only suitable for plastic frames.

Plastic frame repair

Many are faced with the problem: how to fix the frame of glasses so that the repair is not too noticeable? The easiest way to repair a frame made of plastic. First of all, it is necessary to protect the lenses from the ingress of glue. This is especially true for polymer lenses and lenses with anti-reflective coatings, the adhesive can be easily removed from glass with a solvent or nail polish remover. Scotch tape is suitable for these purposes. They paste over the lens around the perimeter. It is advisable not to touch the center of the optical surface, so as not to damage its properties.

The next step is to coat the end of the frame and the fracture site with glue, insert the lens and fix it tightly. The glue sets in a couple of minutes. It will take about a day for it to dry completely. For a tighter fixation, you can wrap the glasses with a strong thread. After complete drying, excess glue is removed.

When the glue is completely dry, proceed to strengthen the site of the breakdown. To do this, you need a paper clip or staple. The paper clip is bent like a staple, leaving the ends 1-2 mm long. If the work is carried out with a bracket, its ends are shortened. Then, with the help of tweezers, hold the bracket over the breakage site, heat it with a soldering iron and gently sink it into the plastic of the frame. After cooling, the place is sanded with fine-grained sandpaper and masked with nail polish.

How do you fix glasses with a broken nose bridge?

The procedure is similar to the repair of the frame. First, the fracture site is fixed with glue. To ensure that the connection is tight and does not move during the drying process, a construction of two wooden planks and stationery rubber bands is used. After complete drying, the excess glue is removed, and the fracture site is additionally strengthened with a metal bracket. Such repairs are almost invisible and do not spoil the appearance of the glasses.

Line break in semi-rimmed frame

In such a frame, the lens is held on one side by the frame, and on the other by a fishing line. The glasses look sleeker and weigh less. However, this design is less durable than the classic version of the frame. The most common failure is a broken line holding the lens from below. Can damaged glasses be repaired? Easy peasy! For repairs, you will need a new fishing line of a suitable diameter and a little patience. Line can be purchased at any fishing tackle store.

First you need to remove the old fishing line. This usually happens easily, but if the end of the fishing line is stuck, a needle or thin awl may come in handy. A new fishing line is inserted into the cleaned hole, its end is melted and carefully fixed into the hole. The holes for the fishing line are made cone-shaped, they are narrower from the inside than from the outside, which allows you to fix the fishing line without a protruding edge. Next, insert the lens and tightly fix it with a fishing line along the facet. The edge of the fishing line is passed into the hole, cut off and melted, tucking the end into the cone of the hole. If the melted ends of the fishing line protrude, they are carefully cut with a blade. After repair, the glasses look like new.

How to fix glasses with a broken metal frame is a question that often arises, because it is difficult to do without welding. Metal frames are usually very thin and no amount of glue will hold strong enough. In this case, the following method will do.

The essence of the method is to fix the lens to the frame with glue. The lens is covered with adhesive tape around the perimeter to protect it from glue. To clean the ends of the adhesive tape, you can use fine-grained sandpaper. Glue is applied to the end of the lens and inserted into the frame, tightly fixing the structure. When the glue sets, the glasses should be wrapped with a strong thread and left to dry completely.

After a day, you can remove the fixing and protective materials and clean the glasses from excess glue. If the work is done carefully, the repair will be almost invisible.

Lenses falling out of the frame

The most common cause of lenses falling out of the frame is the loosening of the screw that secures the frame, or its deformation. In the first case, it is enough to tighten the screw, and in the second case, it is necessary to return the frame to its original shape.

The metal structure is the easiest to work with. It is enough to fix it in a vice and slowly bend it in the right direction. In order not to damage the coating of the frame, use a piece of soft cloth or leather.

Before working with a plastic frame, it must be heated. It is best to heat with a pot of boiling water. The hot steam will soften the plastic and make it softer and more pliable. Next, the frame is returned to its original form.

The most common reason for lenses to fall out of a semi-rimless frame is the loosening of the retaining line. In this case, the best solution would be to replace the fishing line with a new one.

• If you are not confident in your abilities and are afraid to permanently ruin the accessory, it is better to contact a workshop where you can fix your glasses.
• Glue can be removed from glass lenses with acetone. However, for polymeric materials, this method is detrimental.
• You can cover up chips and cracks in the frame by preparing a mixture of glue and ordinary baking soda. Such a "putty" will reliably hide the defect, and after complete drying it can be sanded.
• You can mask the traces of the repair with a suitable color nail polish. The surface will be smooth and shiny again.

Following simple rules for the care of glasses will allow them to last longer, without breakage and damage.

Glasses are fragile things that require careful handling and care to avoid dirt and breakage. The most commonly needed repairs are the hinge mechanism of the temples, falling out lenses and frame cracks.