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E-Wire / Square wire hinge repair in UK?

MikeVeal

Oakley Beginner
6
53
Hi,
See pic below of my sunglass woes. I have two pairs one silver, one gold. Both have exactly the same problem. Sadly both with the left arm.
DSC_0006.JPG


I can't remember if these were E-Wires or square wires. I've had them for so long I forget.
It looks like the spring is crimped into the arm. In both cases the metal around the arm has opened and the srping has come out.

Is there somewhere in the UK I can send these to get them repaired? I've contacted a few places who seem to want to glue it back together, which will render the spring useless.

Or has anyone found a hack for re-crimping / soldering/ arc welding these back together?


Once I have these repaired, is there anywhere I can buy replacement socks?

Thanks,
Mike.
 
Once I have these repaired, is there anywhere I can buy replacement socks?
@SiRacer420 (when he returns from purgatory) often has such rarities.
With a few more pics, I could attempt to identify them.
As far as repairs are concerned, wire frames can be quite inexpensive to replace, (unless they’re Rx).
Looks like Square Wire 2.0...
 
Last edited:
Well, I've fixed the first pair. The repaired sprung hinge is working fully. Here's how...

In my first picture you'll see that there is a spring on the hinge. Facing the camera you should be able to see a screw going through the spring. You'll just be able to make out the slotted head.

At the sunglasses end of the spring is a spacer. I've drawn it quickly in Sketchup.

1596475125767.png


The spacer has a sloped step section at the sunglasses end. It also has two slots. You can see one slot in my sketchup picture. In the picture the bottom end pushes into the arm first.

Inside the arm of the glasses is a stepped ring. When you push spacer this in, it compresses (hence the slots) and pops out once it's past the ridge in the arm.

I'm not sure exactly why this fails. whether the ridge in the arm wears away, or the ridge on the spacer. Or both.
I tried opening the spacer up, by gently levering the tangs apart where the slot is. It didn't work.

Fortunately I had a microscope and a soldering iron. Solder wouldn't stick to the spacer, it had some kind of coating. I scraped the surface of the sloped bit (in blue) on the spacer with a soldering iron exposing the metal below. Then I could solder to it. Scraping the metal only on the blue bit of my sketchup model kept the solder only on this area.

I used a 0.3mm diameter flux cored silver/tin solder as it's harder than a lead/tin solder.

Once I'd added about 1/3mm thickness solder all the way around, I shaped the solder with my scalpel to restore the slope. Then I press fitted the spring (detatched from glasses) into the arm. It needed a lot of force. Some of my solder was scraped off as it went it. When it did go in it went with a bang.


I think these are Square Wire 2.0s.

So they are repairable. But you'll need some skills, a good magnifier, a good soldering iron and a steady hand.

Thanks Flyer for taking the time to help.
 
Mmmm i might have a pair of these that need fixing wanna have a go.
That's very kind of you to offer, but sadly I'll have to decline.

Seriously it wasn't an easy repair, I had to REALLY push to press fit the hinge into the arm, I thought I was going to break it and I have no idea how long the repair will last.
 
@SiRacer420 (when he returns from purgatory) often has such rarities.
D'ya think he's likely to have an entire arm? Or is there anywhere else I can buy one?
Sadly when I dragged the second pair out to repair them this weekend, the fault is not the same.
The screw has snapped, leaving part of the screw, the spring and the collar inside the arm. The other end of the snapped screw is recessed inside the hinge.
I see no way of repairing this one. A pity as I could have had a prescription pair and a non-prescription pair (for days when I wear contact lenses.)

I guess I have to wait until I can post in the exchange to be able to contact @SiRacer420 directly. Is that right?
 
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