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I did a thing! (broken Half-X)

Congratulations. You made a pair wearable again. Working on a small piece for a long time takes determination.
 
So, I managed to find a BNIB Plasma/Ice Polarized Half-X a few months ago. Everyone knows the weak link in the frame are the spring hinges. I figured I wanted to try and find a broken frame for sale so that I could have some spare parts if I ever needed em.

Last week I came across a buy it now auction on the bay, it was a complete X-metal/Warm grey set but had a broken hinge, exactly what I was looking for. The price was good so I jumped on it. I had a thought at the time that I may try and fix the broken pair and be able to add another Half-x to my collection at a fraction of the cost of an unbroken pair. Worst case scenario, I wasn't able to fix em and would have spare parts.

When the pair arrived I was pleasantly surprised, the lenses were much better than I anticipated, the rubbers were good and the frame had only a few small marks.

So I decided to put in some effort and try to fix them:

  • Called Oakley service in Canada hoping they may have some leftover hinges - no dice
  • Checked local prescription eye wear stores to see if they had any spring hinges that I could easily modify to fit - no dice
  • Scoured the intertubez to see if I could find any - I did find a few places that had spring hinges but they weren't exactly the same type of collar as the Half-x hinge.
  • Make my own - I like working on **** like this so I decided to make an attempt. Can't be that hard right :idk:

So here is a step by step of my work. Feel free to ask questions, I'm more than happy to answer.

1. Started with this:
20160301_143931.jpg


2. Took the broken part of the hinge out and got a fresh piece of steel for the job.
20160305_101448.jpg


3. Glued the broken parts back together so that I could lay them on the piece of steel. I then sprayed primer over the two so that I had a perfect copy left on the fresh piece of steel.
20160305_103615.jpg

20160305_114659.jpg


4. Then I was able to make some rough cuts to get a general shape:
20160305_121454.jpg


5. Here is where the amount of time invested started adding up lol. Started sanding the shape. Constantly having to be checking back to the original to make sure I wasn't removing too much material. Also on this step I started rounding the "tail".
20160305_124814.jpg


6. Test fitting in the arm... spent soooo much time getting the fitment just right. The key here is to sand a little then test... then sand a little and test again.
20160305_134845.jpg


7. Again, testing the fitment. This time is the little collar bit that slides up the tail and fits outside the head:
20160305_134805.jpg


8. Testing/Fitting the spring and washer at the tip.
20160305_134934.jpg


9. Taking shape... checking dimensions vs. the original part:
20160305_131252.jpg


10. More sanding and fine tuning... also drilled the hole here.
20160305_141141.jpg


11. More sanding/filing and fine tuning. At this point I did some finish sanding with some fine grit wheels. I also polished the part here. I was seeing the finish line!
20160305_145712.jpg


12. Final assembly of the new spring hinge.
20160305_162952.jpg


13. Installed in the glasses. Now I have a complete usable pair :)
20160305_173025.jpg


The hinge works great. Better than I expected if I'm honest. Overall I'm really happy with the results. Took me about 5 to 6 hours total. Quite a bit of time invested but totally worth it to bring a pair back from the dead and hey, let's not kid ourselves, I'm sure the hinges will break again at some point so now I know I can fix em myself. Having put in work myself also makes this pair that much more cool to me. :cool-33:
Holy ****! Between you and the woman that figured out how to cut R2 lenses, this forum has become the forefront of Oakley Mad Science!
 
May I ask what thickness of metal sheet you used to make the new hinge? I've got a broken one and was thinking of using your post as a guide to making a replacement.
 
So, I managed to find a BNIB Plasma/Ice Polarized Half-X a few months ago. Everyone knows the weak link in the frame are the spring hinges. I figured I wanted to try and find a broken frame for sale so that I could have some spare parts if I ever needed em.

Last week I came across a buy it now auction on the bay, it was a complete X-metal/Warm grey set but had a broken hinge, exactly what I was looking for. The price was good so I jumped on it. I had a thought at the time that I may try and fix the broken pair and be able to add another Half-x to my collection at a fraction of the cost of an unbroken pair. Worst case scenario, I wasn't able to fix em and would have spare parts.

When the pair arrived I was pleasantly surprised, the lenses were much better than I anticipated, the rubbers were good and the frame had only a few small marks.

So I decided to put in some effort and try to fix them:

  • Called Oakley service in Canada hoping they may have some leftover hinges - no dice
  • Checked local prescription eye wear stores to see if they had any spring hinges that I could easily modify to fit - no dice
  • Scoured the intertubez to see if I could find any - I did find a few places that had spring hinges but they weren't exactly the same type of collar as the Half-x hinge.
  • Make my own - I like working on **** like this so I decided to make an attempt. Can't be that hard right :idk:

So here is a step by step of my work. Feel free to ask questions, I'm more than happy to answer.

1. Started with this:
View attachment 229136

2. Took the broken part of the hinge out and got a fresh piece of steel for the job.
View attachment 229137

3. Glued the broken parts back together so that I could lay them on the piece of steel. I then sprayed primer over the two so that I had a perfect copy left on the fresh piece of steel.
View attachment 229138
View attachment 229139

4. Then I was able to make some rough cuts to get a general shape:
View attachment 229140

5. Here is where the amount of time invested started adding up lol. Started sanding the shape. Constantly having to be checking back to the original to make sure I wasn't removing too much material. Also on this step I started rounding the "tail".
View attachment 229141

6. Test fitting in the arm... spent soooo much time getting the fitment just right. The key here is to sand a little then test... then sand a little and test again.
View attachment 229142

7. Again, testing the fitment. This time is the little collar bit that slides up the tail and fits outside the head:
View attachment 229143

8. Testing/Fitting the spring and washer at the tip.
View attachment 229144

9. Taking shape... checking dimensions vs. the original part:
View attachment 229145

10. More sanding and fine tuning... also drilled the hole here.
View attachment 229146

11. More sanding/filing and fine tuning. At this point I did some finish sanding with some fine grit wheels. I also polished the part here. I was seeing the finish line!
View attachment 229147

12. Final assembly of the new spring hinge.
View attachment 229148

13. Installed in the glasses. Now I have a complete usable pair :)
View attachment 229149

The hinge works great. Better than I expected if I'm honest. Overall I'm really happy with the results. Took me about 5 to 6 hours total. Quite a bit of time invested but totally worth it to bring a pair back from the dead and hey, let's not kid ourselves, I'm sure the hinges will break again at some point so now I know I can fix em myself. Having put in work myself also makes this pair that much more cool to me. :cool-33:
 

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