Manufacturing our own spectacles?

All this for 15 quid a pair ?

John S.

Does the acetate you have access to have a known, repeatable, and consistent refractive index? (There is a difference between "any old bit of acetate" and optical grade plastic.)

Having said that, an interesting project for you. I look forward to you reporting your progress.

Brian

I think the opticians typically buy uncut lenses (60mm diameter?) and then cut them to fit the frames using a special machine. They don't actually grind the optical surfaces of the lens.

A quick web search finds this:

Google book search will let you look at some pages inside: ISBN-10 0750688947 ISBN-13 9780750688949

(try this url:

You can get very inexpensive eyeglasses from China these days, made to your prescription.

Opticians generally have a retail business to run, insurance often pays for the glasses (so cost isn't important unless it rises much above $500 or so), and frames are often essentially a jewellery item which people are willing to splurge hundreds of dollars for. The actual cost of generic lenses and frames is very, very low, but if you want Armani + Oakley etc. you must cross their palms with silver.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

I like making my own stuff, but there's a limit . I just checked Zenni & their starting price is now $8!!!

Bob

I can sell you one of these, its in mint condirion .

it traces the outlines / inlines whatever of the frames and make templates

all the best.markj

Read an article this last year that compared several sources for prescription lenses on price and how close the lens matched the prescription. Since I don't remember for sure, the name of the big chain outfit included, I won't mention/guess. But Costco came out well on top both for price and accuracy in meeting the prescription. Cost savings on one pair of glasses could easily cover a basic membership.... Don't know if UK has any Costco outlets, but there's plenty of them here in the States.

Jon

On 4 Jan, 16:33, Jon Anderson wrote: . But Costco came out well on top

No we have web sites like www.specs4less You fill in the form pay your 20 quid, used to be =A315 and 2 days later you get a new set of specs thru the door.

Glasses direct has them for =A315

I use these for work and when they get shagged just get a new pair.

John S.

I would have thought this is about the most daft and pointless way to try to save money you could possibly envisage. If you go direct to a manufacturer like I do (Fairplay Optical in Watford, look them up in Yell.com) lenses are not dear (or frames for that matter). £15 or so for lenses for a standard prescription if you send them your frames. They are also horrendously complicated to make from scratch. Contrary to common belief lenses are not made to suit your frames by grinding and polishing a flat sheet of something to the required curvature. They come already pre-formed in every possible prescription as 3" round blanks and all the optician does is scan them and cut them to the shape of the frame on special CNC grinders about the size of a large microwave oven. Fairplay had five of those working flat out last time I was in there 18 months ago.

Fairplay have their own range of frames now at minimal cost, will mend any other fault like broken fishing line in half-frames, broken ear piece plastic covers or missing nosepieces and will deal by post if you send them your frames. They even soldered a nosepiece holder back onto the frame for me once after it broke off after being adjusted too many times and it's still there very solidly 20 years later. It broke off within only a couple of years of me buying what had been a 200 quid pair of supposedly top end specs from the optician in the village. I haven't made that mistake again since. I go direct now.

My most common problem is the fishing line breaking which seems to happen every few years on one side. There's probably a sharp bit on the frame somewhere which cuts through it. My last visit was to get that fixed again after the lense fell out plus the plastic shroud covering the ear bend part of the metal frame had gone hard and cracked on one side. They replaced both plastic shrouds to keep both sides looking the same, fitted the lense back in with new nylon line and charged me a measly 3 quid for what took one of the guys at least 15 or 20 minutes never mind the materials. The petrol to get there cost me more than the repairs and they're only 20 minutes away. If I'd gone to an optician those same repairs would have been marked up many times to probably £20 or more.

Frankly someone cannot see the wood from the trees!

I have just had my first cataract operation which meant that my prescription changed in the left eye. I now have a second op on the 21st Jan but my consultant suggested a new test. OK, I took my new prescription into my local place- a wholesale place ( On-Spec Optical co) and they offered to put a new bifocal in for =A315

- in an hour! During all this, my duff eye has changed and I got new lenses in for =A330.

Frankly, I cannot see what the fuss is all about( pun intended)

Norman

Following my first catarct op, I had new bi-focal lenses replaced in my specs for =A330 at On Spec, a local wholesaler. The lenses were in stock and fitted in an hour.

Norman

Gareth or son of Gareth?

On Sun, 4 Jan 2009 5:13:21 -0600, Derek wrote (in message ):

didja hear the one about the optometrist who backed into his lens grinding machine, and made a spectacle of himself?

sorry about that. tom k.

Damn! My last prescription pair cost me £16!!

Bob

Aaargh. £465.

They are impact-resist, scratch-resistant, anti-glare and extra-thin and lightweight though, and have lasted 10 years. FCUK frames, but not terribly fashionable.

The lenses cost £155 each, they were about 2-1/2 inches round to start, and the lady in the shop cut them to size to fit in the frames.

-- Peter Fairbrother

"Upon Roosevelt's death in 1945, H. L. Mencken predicted in his diary that Roosevelt would be remembered as a great president, "maybe even alongside Washington and Lincoln," opining that Roosevelt "had every quality that morons esteem in their heroes.""

Roosevelt------ hummmm? Died of a cerebral haemorrhage after the Balls Up at Yalta Conference.in 1945

If I recall that is the name used for being shot in the head Almost an occupational hazard??

Norman

The safety glass frames seem to be 70 quid though...

Apparently I now need safety glasses and hi--vis jackets to visit power stations to do IT work, even though we didn't need them when I was building and commissioning the same stations :-|

Mark Rand RTFM

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Dear brother metalworker, you are simply getting fleeced.

But them from

for $19.