How to Repair Broken Glasses Sidepieces With 3d Printing

Hi people !

A friend of mine asked me if it was possible to repair his sailing glasses. He really likes this model and was not able to find some new glasses like these ones. I never tried so detailed / complicated 3D printing but the challenge was interesting. So let's do it ! :)

I drew on a piece of paper the outline of the broken piece and scanned it. Using Inkscape I completed a vectorial sidepiece. I tried to make it good-looking to blend with the glasses front piece. Because I used the original broken piece to draw the hinge part, it was easier to obtain the good angle between the hinge and the arm.

I used Sketchup to design the sidepiece. I imported my drawing to extrude perpendicularly the side and the above drawing. Then, I used the option "intersect faces" to produce the sidepiece. I corrected some mistakes and holes in the design and I checked the size in all dimensions to be sure of the piece. The second arm is a mirror view of the first one.

As I expected, the first test was not perfect. I had some measurements wrong so I rectified the 3d model and reprinted it. The second time was the good one. I used PLA on a Ultimaker2 with 0,1mm layers and 99% of infill. The result is not too rigid or too soft but it is rough to wear.

After a bit of sanding, the result is great and the glasses are usable. The grip with the skin is poor, this is why I added the hole at the back of the sidepiece to be able to put a string or something. I will try to put retractable tube on the arm to make a better grip.

I am glad that we saved the glasses and I hope it will inspire you not to trash glasses but to try to repair them.

I hope you enjoyed it.
You can follow more projects on my french blog.