Rant mode on

steamer wrote: ...

You might want to consider the stick-on magnifying lenses. You just wet these little bifocal-shaped half moons, place them on a larger lens, and let them dry. They stay on for months, and can be repositioned or put on other lenses easily. They are only $10 U.S. I have all my safety glasses, welding lenses, etc. fitted out, each with their own pair. You can find them at some drug stores, or order them online.

I have shared your rant every time I've had my eyes checked or glasses "repaired". Probably the CA law was originally intended to safeguard citizens' vision by making new lens and a new check-up mandatory. Like most "good" laws, some of the its ramifications are going to be distasteful to some of the citizens some of the time. Fortunately you were able to work around it; and you had the good sense to know the difference.

Bob Swinney

--OK like most folks my age I depend on my glasses pretty heavily. So when one of the side pieces fell off I was in a bit of a pickle as I couldn't see to fix them! Off I go to Lenscrafters to have *them* fix them. Natch they 'can't be fixed' and they don't have that style frame anymore so I have to buy new frames ($150.-!!) and now the old lenses don't fit so they have to duplicate my prescription for another $200.- and put the new lenses in the new frames. OK, in for a penny, in for a pound, eh? I NEED my glasses to do *everything*. So they go to working out the details and it turns out my original lens prescription is from 2002; works fine, no need to change, BUT in Kahlifoania there's a LAW that says it's ILLEGAL to make new lenses from a prescription that's more than TWO years old: say whaaaat??? So who's the weasel who thought that one up?? My optometrist is in another city, so it meant a trip home, call them, have 'em fax the old prescription to Lenscrafters, go thru the whole rigamarole, spend the MONEY and get the new spectacles. SHIT!!

--What I wound up doing: put on my welding bifocals (which thankfully I did have made special again many moons ago) which have a focal distance of under 2 feet, so I could see the problem with the frames. I reassembled the parts that had fallen apart (something like an eye with a tiny tang on it slipped about 1/8" into a box-shaped hole on the side piece) and put the loose assembly in a small vise. First I drilled a #68 hole thru the intersection (the largest I could safely do). Then I got a 3/64" stainless cotter pin out of stores, pried it open and used one leg as a handle and ground down the two sharp sides of the half-round other half, making it into a "D" section: not round, but close enough. I pressed this into the drilled hole, trimmed it and bent the protruding ends over.

--This was the easy part; the hard part was getting the tiny little screw back in the frames to connect the dots! I couldn't do it; SWMBO couldn't do it; natch the forceps had gone missing, what to do? I went over to the electronics bench and found the smallest diameter heat shrink I had, maybe 1/16" i.d. and slid the head of the screw into one end of a short piece. Then I used the tip of a soldering iron and with it near the heat shrink I rolled the loose assembly along the bench until it shrank around the screw head. This worked as a handle and I managed to get the (nonmagnetic titanium) screw started back in the frames. Screwdriver finished the job and I saved $300.-. Great satisfaction in telling the State of California and Lenscrafters to f*ck off.

If you are that dependent on your your glasses, you should really keep an extra pair around. I ALWAYS put my old glasses in a safe place when I get new ones, as a fallback.

Your idea of using shrink tubing as a screw starter is worth an award. Added idea: for more control or more reach, you could shrink the tubing onto the screw and a thin rod or stick.

BRAVO Steamer!

Doesn't it feel great to be able to "beat the dealer" on stuff like that.

Last weekend I soldered $8 worth (3) of tabbed nicad cells into an otherwise ok Hoover dustbuster, saving my next door neighbor most of the $30 cost of a new one.

It really makes being sneered at as a "geek" by the technologically disadvantaged something to be proud of, rather than mildly embarrassed about.

Speaking of geeks, one of my college buddy's daughters won the "Geek of The Year" award six years ago, after getting her Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate in computer science from our mutual alma mater:

Jeff

Suggest you order a couple of spare pairs of glasses for $19 each from Hong Kong. I got mine last November and both pairs are still like new, use 'em all the time. My previous pair cost $261, these were about $26, as far as I can tell they're about the same quality. I used optical4less.com other guys like zenni.

Grant

Get contacts, specifically the daily disposable ones. Place your order for 360 sets (boxes of 90) i.e. a year supply or so. Then use each set for one week, removing and soaking overnight each day like you would with the non disposable contacts (they're the same exact thing in different packaging) and chuck the set at the end of the week.

If you do something particularly dusty, or have a long day and the contacts get a bit dry, just chuck them and start a fresh set the next day. Should last you like 5 years no problem. Should you optometrist warn you about using the dailies for more than one day, ignore them, I had one give such a warning while three others said it was perfectly fine as long as the contacts weren't getting "funky".

BTW, contacts are vastly superior to glasses for shop use. Unlike glasses, you get full peripheral vision, no fogging, can wear regular cheap safety glasses or goggles as necessary, and with the disposable you never have to worry about scratches or other damage.

Pete C.

Highly dependent on your personal vision issues.

Contacts cannot adequately correct for my... a) astigmatism b) prism c) lack of focusing range

Bifocal tempered glass lenses fix everything and are first-line safety glasses. I still use either a magnifying hood or cheap safety glasses over top when grinding.

"steamer" wrote

snip

A few years ago, I went for glasses back when I was still in the union. Had to go for the Buddy Holly style, as they wouldn't pay for anything fancy.

Went to Eye Glass World, and they were having a twofer special. I got two pairs of progressive bifocals in titanium frames with photogrey and scratchcoat and paid cash. I submitted the bill to my insurance, and was reimbursed $190. Total out of pocket cost, about $60.

If I had gotten the same glasses through the "plan", I would have had to pay $280 out of pocket, and that would have been for ONE pair of glasses. PLUS the $190 they would have paid to the optometrist.

Go figger.

Well, as you note, not everyone is a candidate for contacts, however what I wrote about them being superior is indeed true.

Pete C.

You are my kind of guy. Atta boy!.

Wes

I beg to differ. There isn't any chance I'd be doing something dangeous w/o my glasses. I *might* forget if I had to put on safety glasses if I was wearing contacts.

Wes

? Am I reading correctly that if you can see i.e. have contacts in, you might forget to use proper safety equipment? How about if you had perfect vision, would you still forget to use proper safety equipment? Needing glasses to see shouldn't be a crutch to justify sloppy shop safety.

Pete C.

Check this out.

I haven't tried them but I will next time I need glasses. I've had a pair of Flexon Titanium frames for over 5 years back then, they were well over $200. Once I stepped on them and the frame survived but the lenses didn't. I just got new lenses. Anyway for the price Zenni gets, I'd be willing to try them.

"Pete C." wrote

Should you optometrist

When I got contacts, they gave me an orientation, showing me how to put them in and take them out. They said emphatically NOT to use them for more than a week. (They're not the daily variety, but AccuVue 2) Well, there was a rigamarole because they wanted about 5x what I could get them for at WalMart or 10800CONTACTS. So, they held me hostage for a couple of weeks until I signed papers that if I didn't use their contacts, my eyes would fall out, and stuff like that. After a week, I was concerned that these weren't good any more.

They said don't worry, that they lasted for more than a month on average if taken care of.

Steve

FWIW, I used the same pair of contacts for over a decade - there is an advantage to sticking to the older stuff (in this case the hard contacts)

I'm sure an HSM with a watchmakers lathe and miscellaneous tools could easily open an "eyeglass repair service" Specifically doing the "Unfixables" and i bet a lot of local eyeglass places would refer clients to you if you approached them

In your situation is'm sure for example a NON mechanically inclined person would be happy to have the "UNfixable" pair saved for say $50?

Just tossing that idea out there?

Brent

Ottawa Canada

--Small world! I've met Ellen at various conferences, heh.

--Very scary in the shop; no thanks. Too complex; requires extreme cleanliness and I'm a slob.. ;-)

--Sounds like you've got better insurance than me. Blue Cross sucks big time: BC wants me to go to *their* eye doctors (they got the prescription wrong twice and I went back to the doc I like, who's not on their 'approved' list. Note: the 'approved' fuckups were specializing in glasses for kids; think how many screwed up kids they're cranking out!!) and for this 'privilege' they're socking me and SWMBO $800/mo. No, thanks..