• ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          0·
          15 hours ago

          You have lenses made for the frames, which may or may not be costly depending on your prescription, but it’s a one-off purchase until your vision changes and you need a new prescription. Then you print the frames and mount the lenses yourself. When you break the frames, print another set and hey-presto, 15 minutes later, you have new glasses and it cost you pennies.

          I released all the files and complete instructions to print and build my glasses here if you’re interested.

          • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.socialEnglish
            0·
            10 hours ago

            This is a great idea, no doubt! I will say, though, that my frame-buying stopped the year I bought some expensive titanium Mykita frames. I’ve replaced the lenses in them 3 times, because lenses wear out (usually from micro scratches).

            The titanium is incredible; I’ve sat on these and they just keep going. But the other major factor is that the hinges are not independent bits; they’re integrated into the frames and are clever little bits of springy… things. They don’t need to be tightened, they don’t wear out, and unlike all other frames I’ve had, they’re not the weak point that breaks first.

            These are more or less my frames - same basic style and construction - although newer and slightly different, the construction is the same.

            If these frames ever die, I’m just getting another pair, and will happily pay the cost. These are BIFL products.

            • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
              0·
              8 hours ago

              If you’re happy with your frames, more power to you of course.

              But there are two things my frames provide that no other frames have:

              • I designed them - and the clip-on sunshades that go on them, and the custom cases. There’s something deeply rewarding about wearing something you made yourself - and also seeing other people wear them too, as two of my colleagues at work liked them enough to print them and start wearing them also. They’re worth pennies in plastic but they’re priceless to me.

              • As long as my lenses aren’t compromised, I’m totally self-reliant. I don’t depend on an optician’s schedule - or that of their low-cost suppliers’ in a developing country halfway around the world for my vision needs. I break, I make anew all by myself at home almost for free. That and never experiencing that sinking feeling when you sit on the couch and you hear that dreaded crunch sound is liberating.

              • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.socialEnglish
                0·
                7 hours ago

                I’m sorry. I think I conveyed the wrong message. I was more gushing over my BIFL frames than suggesting they are superior to DIY frames.

                I can’t change the style of my frames: you can. I can’t easily adapt my frames to sunglass shades, as you point out. You could conceivably create frames with cameras in the hinges, or adapt them for VR, or just make a crazy pair of party frames in rainbow colors and an Elton John flair - I can not. If I had a 3D printer - and the patience to use one well - I’d be all over your solution. It has a lot of advantages.

                I didn’t mean to imply my frames are better; I was only saying that I’m happy to have found what are turning out to be indestructible frames that have outlived multiple pairs of lenses.

                • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
                  0·
                  7 hours ago

                  I’m sorry. I think I conveyed the wrong message.

                  Don’t sweat it. I didn’t read anything in your comment other than that you’re happy with your frames 🙂 I was just adding to why I’m happy with mine.

        • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          17 hours ago

          Also, given I wear these almost every waking hour of my life and I’ll be shit-out-of-luck if these break while I’m out and about, they’re one of the last things I’d want to cheap out this badly on. Assuming you aren’t getting high-end designer frames, you’ve saved $40–$60 at the cost of spending the next two years wearing a dinky piece of brittle, probably uncomfortable plastic on your face. Yay…?

          • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            0·
            15 hours ago

            No. My glasses are perfectly adjusted to my face - simply because I took the time to design them just right for me - and they’re very light. They’re probably the most comfortable frames I’ve ever worn.

            They are not that flimsy. Granted, PLA or PETG aren’t the most rigid or durable materials out there, but they easily match acetate. And if I break the frames, it just doesn’t matter: I can make new ones in minutes. If anything, you’re probably a lot more inconvenienced than I am when you break your glasses because you have to wait forever to get a new pair made, and you have to be a lot more careful than I am. Me, I just care about not damaging the lenses. But I can break the frames every day of the year, not have to go without glasses and I’d still come out ahead financially.

            I didn’t cheap out. I started designing my own frames 20 years ago (out of silver nickel back then) because I wasn’t satisfied with the commercial alternatives. It took me a lot of time to come up with the perfect frames - perfect for me anyway. The cost savings are a nice bonus.

            Don’t dismiss 3D printing just because cheapskates use it to cheap out. Done right, it’s a very nice alternative to mass-produced items - and you know as well as I do that there’s nothing more personal and bespoke than a pair of glasses.

            • rozlav@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
              0·
              14 hours ago

              Any documentation of your work on 3d printed glasses somewhere ? Not for me just for a friend (o･ω･o) Edit : didn’t see your comment bellow

            • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              8 hours ago

              Nah, monopolies like Luxottica can suck shit (although there are plenty of brands not owned by them that you can just as easily buy). Doesn’t change that 3D-printed anything is made of cheap, relatively brittle material compared to easily affordable monel, titanium, and other metal frames. I can’t speak to the durability of plastics manufacturers use versus what you would use DIY, but the metals have to be much more durable, and they consistently look much nicer than the 3D-printed ones I’m seeing online. Also, unless OP’s are somehow way above the ones I’m seeing online in terms of quality, they’re probably more comfortable as well; you can cope all you want that you painstakingly designed it to the contours of your face as much as I can cope that the t-shirt I weaved out of corn husks is better than that mass-produced crap because I tailored it to the contours of my torso.

              It’s cool, don’t get me wrong, but this seems like one of the last ways I would try to cut corners financially.

      • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        19 hours ago

        It’s more that you have the capability already and can do many other things with it, already do other things with it. You’re not going out and buying a Prusa just to print one knob.

          • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            18 hours ago

            Don’t be like me and instead decide that resin is the way to go for your first 3D printer because you have cats and the enclosed FDM options are more expensive basically just for the box.

              • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
                0·
                11 hours ago

                That’s not a huge issue as long as you follow the necessary safety stuff. Quality of the resin prints is extremely high at pretty low cost compared to the FDM printers I’ve seen. Getting near similar quality as resin seems to require much more expensive printers.