Upcycled Surgical Eyepatch Glasses

by ilpug

9.2K279

Intro: Upcycled Surgical Eyepatch Glasses

Hello

A few days ago my grandpa was giving me some stuff, and in the box was a bag of these old surgical eye patches he had from when he got a cataracts surgery done. I immediately grabbed them, seeing their project potential.

When I got home I tossed them on my worktable, and forgot about them. Today I was sitting around and this idea just popped into my head. It's simple, and has a great result. The eye patches are designed to limit light, so these would work as ski goggles or ambient sunglasses.


STEP 1: Materials

  • Eye patches. These are Sof Guard brand, and I have no idea where you can get them just like this, the Internet turned up no suppliers. You can get other mesh ones though.
  • 3D movie glasses- Available at movies, some let you keep them, most don't. You can steal them as many do, or get them online for super cheap. I found mine on the ground. Knock the lenses out, it's easy. You should probably already have a pair, if not, bad hipster, no cred.
  • Six tiny screws. I got these from an old circuit board I eviscerated. Look at Radioshack if you have none or can't find any

STEP 2: Tools

  • Power drill
  • eyeglass screwdrivers
  • 1/16 drill bit
  • A vise helps. If you are super careful you can hold the pieces together and drill, but watch your fingers.
  • Hands
  • You can use a knife to scratch the brand name off the glasses if you want, I was too lazy to.

STEP 3: Tear the Eyes Out

Tear the rubber rims off the eye patches. This is easy, it just pops off. Toss the rubber unless you have an application for it, they are neat shapes.

If you haven't already, pop the lenses of the 3D glasses out, pushing with your thumbs works well.

STEP 4: Clamp

Clamp the patch lenses onto the glasses, as shown, and figure out which holes you want to drill though.

STEP 5: Drill and Screw

Drill holes through the glasses frames at the points that match up with the chosen holes in the mesh lenses. Stick the screws through and tighten them. Effectively, you are done.

STEP 6: Clean Them Up

I gave the "lenses" a good scrub to make them shine better. At this point, feel free to paint or other wise decorate your glasses.

STEP 7: Style!

Show off your new glasses. They look a bit steam/cyber punk, and can be worn comfortably.


Any questions?

9 Comments

ilpug 11 years ago

You could, but the screws are tougher and produce and overall cleaner project, with the bonus that if I ever want to disassemble the glasses, I can do so with minimal effort

lsivad 11 years ago

Aren't those suppose to correct vision also?

black hole 11 years ago

That would be 'pinhole glasses.' According to eye doctors, they don't improve you vision at all. Then again, they don't get paid for saying, "Yep, you can fix your vision for only a few bucks!"

ilpug 11 years ago

No, the eyepatch lenses are just to limit light from getting to eyes that might be light sensitive after surgery.

onrust 11 years ago

those look pretty menacing.......good job :)

sunshiine 11 years ago

Very clever! thanks for sharing!
Sunshiine

randofo 11 years ago

Yes. I have a question. How well do they work?

ilpug 11 years ago

Well, it's hard to describe... I wore them outside around noon and it definitely reduced the glare on things. They aren't the same as normal sunglasses, but they definitely reduce glare. The purpose of the mesh in the eye patch is to soften the effects of light on sensitive eyes after surgery. Heck, If I run into you at the next Maker Faire you can check them out in person.