Fix Broken Glasses by Soldering

by vreinkymov

42K157

Intro: Fix Broken Glasses by Soldering

If you have a pair of metal glasses that broke, you can fix them by wire-wrap and soldering. The remaining steps will show you how.

STEP 1: Use Solid Wire

As a first step, make sure that you use solid wire. The wire should be a solid conductor and should not be stranded so that it can hold its shape. If the wire is insulated, you should strip it so that you expose it for soldering. For my repair, I used telephone wire.

STEP 2: Begin Wrapping

In this step, begin wrapping wire over the broken segment. No special tool is necessary, just use your fingers. Choose the longer segment if possible. Make sure to push the segment up so that it extends over the end of the broken segment. This will allow it to join with the other half of the break. Leave enough wire for the other segment and complete the wrap for the current segment.

STEP 3: Complete Wrap & Solder

In this step, do the following:

Carefully connect the segments together and continue wrapping so that the break is in the middle of the wrap.
Use temporary adhesive putty (Scotch's 860) to position the glasses for soldering.
Flux the wrap so that solder flows well.
Solder lightly to strengthen the bond, but do not use too much solder to allow for an additional layer. Use just enough solder so that it ends up between the copper wire and the broken frame.

STEP 4: Add Layer & Finish

In this step, do the following:

Add another layer of wire for a stronger joint.
Flux the additional layer.
Solder the additional layer. Use more solder than the first layer so that it creates a strong bond between layers, devoid of air pockets.

If done correctly, the bond should be strong enough to resume wearing the glasses and should be very rigid.

5 Comments

shaffdu 1 year ago

Thanks to you and your fix I was able to repair my glasses. Did 2 layers of solid wire and a 3rd layer with stranded. Mostly happy with the look, coulda been a bit cleaner but no going back now.

The break was right next to one side of the frame, started the wire on the short side with using the nose piece offset to help hold the frame together. With the help of a vise it worked like a charm. In the one pic you can see how I was able to wrap the wire around the nose piece and then start down the bridge to the other side. Was super flimsy until some solder got in the picture.

After it was all done and said I added some superglue to the side that was broken and that cinched the deal. Very sturdy.

Thanks again for the helpful tutorial!!

Dustin

joshkreimer 2 years ago

My eyeglasses broke right in the middle of the bridge while at work recently. I decided to use shrink tubing in conjunction with an adhesive cement (gorilla glue or equivalent) to fix the frames temporarily until new frames arrived in the mail. I wasn't 100% onboard with my own idea, however, so I did some online searching and I found and implemented this fix instead as it seemed like a better solution, and I am very pleased with the result. I did not use putty as suggested, and probably should have; I had to twist my frames a bit after applying the first layer of wire in order to get the lenses aligned. This caused a noticeable weakening in the solder joint, but which was likely corrected after re-heating during application of the second layer of wire.
All in all a very clever fix; thank you to the original poster.

oceanRI 5 years ago

Thanks for this helpful lesson on solder repair. A question : would this work if the break occurred at the very edge of the eyeglass's nose bride (rather than the middle) ? This happened to me and there is no "nub" to connect to ..... just the smooth curved metal of the lens frame. Any ideas ? Thanks in advance.

vreinkymov 5 years ago

Hi oceanRI, that sounds like a tough problem, it's difficult to solder right near the ends of the frame, especially since the heat can warp the plastic a bit. You might consider getting new glasses from an online service like Zenni Optical maybe? That's sort of the next-most cost effective option I know of, other than repairing.