Pre-heat the pliers before grasping the metal parts. This will allow for faster heat conduction and dexterity since you will not have to hold an awkward plastic object near the flame for about a minute. An alcohol lamp on your work space may be better than a bic for ease of heating small objects. Bics get HOT in a minute. We’re all about the A-Z of glasses in this space, so here’s everything you need to know about glasses hinges, from types to pros and cons of each type to how to care for them. Remember, when it comes to eyeglasses, the hinges can make or break the frames. While there are a variety of styles that are used by eyeglasses manufacturers, one style remains the best - the OBE hinge . If your lenses are scratched, there two ways you can help to polish or blend them-out. These methods won’t remove the scratches entirely, but will help to reduce their visibility. *Note, these methods are for the lenses and not the frame. If one side of your frames looks higher than the other, you need to adjust the arms of your glasses — the part of the frames that hooks behind your ear.

If you wear metal frames: Simply widen the plastic nose pads using your thumbs until the frames fit comfortably. Need new glasses and not sure where to get started? Maybe you can feast your eyes on some fancy frames.

Call a local eye care provider today to have a professional adjust the fit and balance of your eyewear — whether prescription eyeglasses or sunglasses, or even that expensive pair of designer shades you just splurged on. Weight is also awkward in that just a few grammes difference can be felt by the wearer. On one fix I added some extra mass to the other side, just to balance things.

It’s better to have your glasses fixed by a professional if your frames are made of certain materials that resist adjustment. These materials include frames made of aluminum alloy, titanium or memory titanium, and memory plastic. Because of the mechanism described above, when the small temple screw is not or only partially inserted, the plunger retracts into the mechanism because of the spring. The barrel hole on the temple is attached to the plunger, so this causes the hole to misalign with the other hole on the glasses frame. Misaligned holes on a spring hinge. You’ll notice that there is no perfectly round path for the screw to go through. This is what the hinge is supposed to look like to be able to drive the screw in. Standard hinges are more affordable. Thanks to the uncomplicated design and wide use of the barrel hinge, eyeglasses that feature them are often more affordable. Standard Barrel Hinge Cons: I used to teach school and had quite a few times the kids would come to me because the screw to the hinge had come unscrewed and was lost. I put a large paperclip through the place the screw should be, cut off both ends (all good teachers have toolkits in their desk right?), and used needle nose pliers to bend the ends of the paperclip tight against the hinge where they could not "catch" themselves on it. It is a permanent fix and eliminates those pesky screws from ever being lost again.

Eyeglasses hinges are a pivotal element in the creation of frames. These hinges are the minute mechanism that connect the front of the frames to the arms that rest on your ears. When thinking about eyeglasses hinges, there are three key types that you’ll see most often. We’ll go into more detail about each style of hinge below. The Standard Spring Hinge Non-gel toothpaste: With a soft cloth or cotton pad, apply a small amount of toothpaste to your scratched lenses. Rubbing in a side-to-side motion, gently buff-out the surface scratches. To clean your lenses, immerse your frame in lukewarm water mixed with dish detergent. Use your thumbs to gently rub the lenses clean of any residual toothpaste. Dry using a microfibre cloth. I glued the hinge to the lens side of the frame first as I knew the earpiece would be easier to adjust for the final alignment of the two parts. I noticed that for some reason if I lined up the earpiece to be level and symmetrical with it's counterpart while the glasses were open, it was slightly "off" when closed. I decided to leave it that way because the fit and comfort during use was more important than having them line up when closed. Frames without hinges are engineered for an active lifestyle. In a career or hobby where your glasses need to flex with your movements, hingeless frames are a perfect option. With their innovative, flexible temples, hingeless glasses are designed to grip the head and move with you. Hingeless Cons:

Standard hinges might not be the most comfortable if you have a wider face that needs the temples on your frames to extend out wider. I bought a cheap, 12 dollar, pair of foster grants that had similar temple piece as my glasses. the spring hinge made the holes not line up closely so temporarily used just a piece of paper clip. I googled a bit and found some good help instructions on youtube and also a new product called Snapit screws that have a long extension on the end of the screw to help guide it in the hole then you break off the extension part. For acetate eyeglasses frames, the eyepiece is heated until it expands, the lens is snapped into position. Due to everyday wear and tear your glasses can become loose, crooked or out of alignment. Although you cannot repair all types of repairs on all types of glasses, It is still possible to fix eyeglasses for some common problems by DIY.

I know, this covers the functional and structural aspects, and does not give a very fashionable look. You can recognize an external spring hinge by the fact that there is a visible bulge on the side of the temple that faces your head. The benefits of spring hinges is that they provide more comfort, help the glasses stay on during physical activity, and require less adjustments than traditional hinges. How does a spring hinge work? Library temples are straight all-shaft temples with no bend in them. Most eyeglasses frames' temples have temple tips that are adjustable so that they can be changed (bent) to adjust the fit of the glasses.