Now, if you’re anything like the average glasses wearer, then it’s almost inevitable that at some point or that you’re going to come across a situation where having to do minor repairs in your glasses in this blog post I’m going to give you some useful tips about how to make some adjustments to your glasses so that they’re usable until you’re able to get access to a professional.
So today, I’ve got a little bit of a guide for you about how to make these adjustments to your glasses so that you can get them up and running and so that you can get by until you’re able to access a professional adjustment on your glasses. So we’re going to cover the following five areas in today’s blog post, we’ll have a look at the basics of what you need to get these minor adjustments done, then we’ll go over the four common adjustments and repairs that you may need to make at some point, and these are;
- Fixing the problem of glasses that slide down your nose.
- The basic adjustments to nose pads support, followed by
- Adjustments to level the size of your glasses and finally,
- Making minor fixes to the hinges of your glasses frame.
Now, when you’re at an optometrist’s office or your optical practice makes adjustments to your eyeglasses, they’ll usually have access to an eyeglasses frame heater, as well as a good selection of tools and screwdrivers to do the job. So in the absence of these tools, you do have to get creative and I would suggest that if you’re careful, you can replace the frame heater with a hairdryer and you can also purchase screwdriver kits on Amazon or even get one bundled with a cleaning kit by Chalo Thurm. Below are links to some of the recommended suggestions, so you can check that out.
- Budget all-in-one DIY glasses repair kit https://geni.us/amznrepairkit
- Eyeglasses Screwdriver https://geni.us/amznglasscrewdriver
- Toolset https://geni.us/amzntoolset
- Frame heater https://geni.us/amznframheat
Fixing the problem of glasses that slide down your nose.
By the way, the hairdryer can just be a basic one, nothing fancy at all is needed for this, now, one of the most common problems with glasses that require fixing is when the fit is so loose that they fall down your nose and the problem in about 90% of cases is the drop on the sidearm with it not being positioned in exactly the correct point for your ears. So you get a bit of slack and that’s why the movement occurs at the point where the bend that forms the drop begins is usually too far back towards the tip of the side. Now, see, many people try and fix this problem by simply bending the drop even more than what it is already, so they exaggerating the bend but this just simply won’t work.
So the tip to fix this issue is quite simple, and it’s just a case of straightening out the side, first of all, and then creating a new drop where the bend starts closer to the front of the frame. Now, when you get this point right, the bend should follow the curve of the ear and you should find that this will instantly fix the problem and there won’t be the slack and the movement that there has been before that to make this adjustment, we have to heat the metal or the plastic frame gently at the point where the bend currently is. Then this makes the material more kind of malleable, makes it easier to be able to adjust without the frame cracking or without the metal snapping.
So what you want to then do is just straighten out the bend and then you can create the new bend at the point where you desire, at this point just a quick disclaimer. If you’ve got a normal acetate plastic material or normal metal frame, then heating up isn’t going to be a problem but if you’ve got perhaps a new material or more of an advanced material like titanium or, these new plastics which may get brittle when they heat it, then this could be a bit more of an issue. So just be careful with new materials, don’t overheat the frame as well, and don’t heat the lenses. The lenses particularly are quite vulnerable.
So if you’re using a hairdryer, don’t get the heat on the lenses because the lenses can melt, I’ve seen that happen, and also the coating in the lenses can get damaged as well if you’ve got the heat on the lens for any significant amount of time, so you can simply just get a cloth to wrap over the front of the glasses over the lens so you don’t accidentally hit the lens too much.
Now, the other common need for adjusting or making minor repairs on glasses is the fitting around your nose.
So generally metal frames like this have silicon nose pads, while plastic frames like this one have an all-in-one nose pad that’s built-in. Now, while the plastic all in one frame has no nose pads, which are not adjustable, the type on metal frames usually are quite
adjustable and repairable to a point.
I have one here with a nose pad missing and that’s a common problem for a lot of people, these nose pads may drop off, but they are removable and replaceable. So to replace these nose pads, you do have to check whether your nose pads are of either the push-on type or whether they require a screw to hold the nose pad in place. So the one I’ve got here is a push-on nose pad and they can be attached on just by pushing it on and you’ll get a little click as it goes in. Also, you can unclip it off as well and the great thing about the push on top is that they don’t require any additional screws to go in and the nose pads can be purchased on Amazon.
So if you just want to keep a stack of them, if this is a common problem for you or it happens to other members of your family as well, then having a small selection of these nose pads is probably a good idea and you can get them on Amazon as part of a kit with screws and a screwdriver as well or you can just buy the pads on their own just to keep in stock for the occasions where you may need them. Below is a link so you can check out some of the ones I’d recommend.
Now the arms and the nose pads are also adjustable. they can move the arms that hold nose pads to make them more comfortable and to make them fit your nose more comfortably. Also, if you bring the nose pads in, so if you pinch them in together so that the arms push the nose pads in, and this will have the effect of lifting the whole of your glasses on your face as well.
So if you, again, are suffering from your glasses falling down your nose, this is also a way of adding extra support around the nose pad area, as I said, it lifts the glasses off and on the flip side, if you push the nose pads out, this has the effect of lowering the whole of the glasses on your face as well.
If you wear very focal glasses, you do want to be aware of the impact that this might have on how you look out of the very focal and this can affect the vision and how easy it is for you to find the point in the very focal length that you desire. Just keep that in mind and the course of the normal use of you may well find that your glasses become out of shape, the best way to check how well they are lined is to lay the frame down upside down and tap on the sides like so just to check for any rocking of the frame.
You can then at this point close the frame sides and confirm which side may appear higher or lower than the other, you could gently bend the sides to straighten it out, and you can also carefully hit the joints as well while avoiding the lens. Of course, as I mentioned before, in practice, you would normally use a special set of pliers with end covers to protect the frame from scratches and this may be something and you can purchase from Amazon if you want to do that and keep a small set of pliers for this kind of a job. Here is a link for that as well.
So we would then grab the sides and gently adjust up or down as needed, again, be careful and consider whether breakage is likely given the age of your glasses or how badly out of shape they are and just consider whether it’s worth the risk if a huge amount of adjustment is needed.
Now, when it comes to fixing hinges, then your tiny glasses.
A screwdriver will be your best friend in this kind of situation because they’re much smaller than your average regular small screwdrivers, so these tiny screwdrivers will make it easier as well for you to have to tighten the sides if they work themselves loose, which again, is a very common thing that happens.
Now, the biggest problem when it comes to hinge repairs is fixing hinges that have a spring mechanism to them, so often people get the screws working loose and as a result, the side may drop off and you need to get the sides reattached. Now, you’ll find then when this happens that the holes do not line up the only way to get the holes lined up so they can pass the screw through is to somehow engage the spring mechanism, so the best way to do this is to follow the following steps.
So first insert the screw as far as it will go, and then secondly, open the hinge out and prop it open in place with a straight portion of something like a paperclip in the gap. At this point, you should be able to find that you can now push the screw fully down and tighten it to fall into place. Don’t worry, if you don’t get the seal on your first attempt, it’s quite normal that it can take several goes before you can get this in successfully.
I hope you find this very helpful and hopefully, you’ve got a bit more confidence now about being able to make some of those adjustments yourself.
I look forward to seeing you at the next one.
Take care.
