Don't break the little wire?

September 22, 2008 8:19 AM

Glasses Filter: How do I put a lens back into frames without a bottom rim?

I got some new eyeglasses recently, for the first time I picked out the semi-frameless type with the metal frame only on the top part and the lenses held in place with a nylon wire that looks like fishing line.

Well, I knocked the lens out within a week, and had to take it back to Lenscrafters to have them fix it. Im afraid that I'll stretch the line or break it if I pull on it myself to make it fit around the lens.

So I dropped them and popped it out again this morning, and a trip across town to the doctor's office is not in my schedule for the next couple days. Is there an easy way to pop the lens back into the frame without messing it up? There has to be a tool or a trick to it, right?

Searched eyeglasses+repair, got nothing. Googlefu is weak as well.

posted by T.D. Strange to health & fitness (6 comments total)

I've done this a million times. Gently, but firmly roll the nylon string over the edge of the glasses using your fingers. Don't use anything but your fingers. It -may- stretch a bit, but it will get you by in the interim.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 8:27 AM on September 22, 2008

When I had those I would put the strap end of things in first, then press in on the top. But that strap is pretty easy to at least stretch out far enough to where getting to the doctor's office to have it redone as soon as possible is a good idea.

And maybe switching to some full rim frames if this is a continuing problem.
posted by theichibun at 8:29 AM on September 22, 2008

Yep, it will work, but if the lens is popping out that easily, it won't ever get much better. I had a pair where a lens popped out repeatedly and the only long term fix was to replace the little piece of nylon with fishing line tied just a hair shorter. It looked almost perfect.
posted by advicepig at 8:32 AM on September 22, 2008

It's not that hard, and the nice new strong polymer chains in the monofilament that hold the bottom of the lens should cooperate nicely.
I'm hard on my glasses and have repaired a few of these over the years.

Hold the lens up to the frame in it's correct orientation. Lens in front. I've done it with the whole arrangement upside-down, bottom facing me.
Then guide the monofilament into it's groove (crucial to get the monofilament seated first. If the lenses are square-ish, it's often easier)
Then, with a finger (or two) firmly gripping the bottom edge of the lens with the monofilament in it's groove, push and click the lens into the top (hard) part of the frame.

This has worked for me. But look at it this way: the companies that engineer and manufacture these lenses need these things to be properly assembled by people of varying skills in thousands of locations all over the world. They don't make it THAT hard.

I'm very comfortable mucking around with glasses, I've owned every kind and I've abused all of them. YRMV. Be gentle.
posted by asavage at 8:38 AM on September 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

just take it to any place that sells glasses; in the mall, walmart, whatever. They can and usually will fix them even if you didn't buy them there. I was never asked if i did, nor was I charged.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:49 AM on September 22, 2008

this has happened twice with my glasses, similar to yours. Each time I took it to a glasses place near my house, a place where I had no file or connection. They put it back in with no problem.

I don't remember exactly what they did to put it back in place, but it involved a small piece of gift-wrapping ribbon (the kind you can scrape with the edge of a pair of scissors to curl) that they used to hold the "fishing line" wire.
posted by Lucinda at 9:48 AM on September 22, 2008