DIYbanter - View Single Post

Ecnerwal[_3_]

In article
,
wrote:

I broke a joint on a metal eyeglass frame. The local eyeglass place
that last put new lenses into the frames (they did not originally sell
me the frames) apparently does not have a repair service to direct me
to and suggested that I go to a jewelery repair. I braise and silver
solder - if I bought a "jewelers torch", would that give me a small
enough of a flame to be able to silver solder the frame?

Likely depends more on you than the torch - given your reported past
attempt and results, perhaps not a good plan. If you are not going to
have someone who knows what they are doing at this scale do it, I'd
strongly suggest a lot of practice on things about the same size before
you try it on your "daily use glasses."

Fixing it at all and fixing it so it looks good are two quite different
things. In the former camp copper wire makes a good reinforcement to a
soft (or otherwise) solder repair, when you care more about seeing than
what you look like. The latter is why a jewelry repair was suggested -
general soldering and brazing (I'm not quite sure why searing and
stewing food is something you think will help with glasses repair,
unless you can find a hungry jeweler and trade) and soldering and
brazing for jewelry are often more different than similar, given a
variety of constraints specific to making it look good.

Part of what drives folks to Zenni is that the local "USA" optician is
often selling the same China frames at 10X the price (but they might
come in parts so they can install a screw or two and call them made in
USA) - and if they are not grinding in the back room, they may also be
selling the same China lenses (if you are waiting more than a day for
lenses, they are probably ordering them in from somewhere else.)

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by