Unconventional optical tools!

[optigrrl]

What is your favourite unconventional optical tool, one you always seem to go to that you brought from home, invented or made into a workable tool....

I use fine/ultra fine nail files - when I have to trim down temples and their sleeves, I can buff the rough edges of the sleeves so that it has a finished look to it.

I use paper clips for help with inserting screws into spring hinges.

Safety pin to open holes in the inserts for silhouette mountings after I trim them flush to the lenses.

Hair-cutting scissors for accurate trimming of press-on prism.

And a few more, but it's late and I'm old...:p

[Chris Ryser]

Looks like all your optical tools come from the "Office Depot or Office Max"

[optigrrl]

hehe - not ALL of them...

[GOS_Queen]

Instead of curling ribbon to mount a lens into a semi rimless frame, I like the stiffness of a box "tape". Tape probably isn't the correct word but you know the stiff stuff that is used to hold 2 or more boxes together for shipping?? it's probably 1/4 of an inch wide - usually white or black ... ??


that stuff is goooood... (even if I don't know what it is called)

[chip anderson]

GossQueen: A piece of 20# test fishing line (same stuff you put in the frame for string mounts) works a whole lot better for stretching those strings around frame and leaves no lint, won't chip lens edges and doesn't get stuck in the groove. It's also cheap, readily available and gives you a hundred yards or more of the stuff to replace broken strings.


Chip

[For-Life]

Instead of curling ribbon to mount a lens into a semi rimless frame, I like the stiffness of a box "tape". Tape probably isn't the correct word but you know the stiff stuff that is used to hold 2 or more boxes together for shipping?? it's probably 1/4 of an inch wide - usually white or black ... ??


that stuff is goooood... (even if I don't know what it is called)

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is my favourite.

Chip, I find the liner will still be prone to chipping, maybe that is just me.


We used to use invisible nail polish for locktite and nail polish remover to remove fitting marks, but I have gone back to optical for those two. For the locktite I find it sits in the holes better while I edge and for the remover I find it is quicker and safer to use the professional stuff.

[fins2os]

WD-40. I keep a pen tube of it at my dispensing station. It's great for getting the sticky stuff the frame tags leave behind and lubing hinges.:o

[CME4SPECS]

WD-40. I keep a pen tube of it at my dispensing station. It's great for getting the sticky stuff the frame tags leave behind and lubing hinges.:o

fins2os, Do you really like to use a petroleum product that close to someone's eyes? I think a safer approach is bee's wax. Get the hinge hot in the salt pan and melt the wax into the hinges.

[spexlady]

push pins for bulletin boards - I use them for a lot of things (to get monofilament out of the lens groove, push out grunge from screw holes, pull out sticky spring hinges). And my thumbnails get used for removing the monofilament from the groove of semi-rimless lenses!

[CDOT]

Instead of curling ribbon to mount a lens into a semi rimless frame, I like the stiffness of a box "tape". Tape probably isn't the correct word but you know the stiff stuff that is used to hold 2 or more boxes together for shipping?? it's probably 1/4 of an inch wide - usually white or black ... ??


that stuff is goooood... (even if I don't know what it is called)

Damn Right!! This is my absolute necessity...i WILL not use the ribbon!:)

[SarahMP584]

Me too! I think they call it strapping tape. Not sure though, but I cant live without it or push pins, or lighters for melting the ends of monofiliment. :cheers:

[spexgrrrl]

I'm sure some of you can relate to this.....if I'm out at a restaraunt with a someone and notice their glasses are crooked I use my fork to adjust the temple. Its nice how the prongs of it bend to whatever width you need! I of course use a napkin or cloth so I'm not scraping up the finish! Its fun to see how terrified the person is while you are doing it too, haha. :bbg:

[Chris Ryser]

Keep the old tooth brushes they are perfect to clean behind nosepads and other hard to get places. :bbg: :bbg: :bbg:

[DocInChina]

GossQueen: A piece of 20# test fishing line (same stuff you put in the frame for string mounts) works a whole lot better for stretching those strings around frame and leaves no lint, won't chip lens edges and doesn't get stuck in the groove. It's also cheap, readily available and gives you a hundred yards or more of the stuff to replace broken strings.Chip

And I thought that was my idea. It used to work great.

[Chris Ryser]

And I thought that was my idea. It used to work great.

Hi Doc,

You are to young for that...................we used all these tricks in the 1950s and 1960s during the last rimless wave, specially when SL and todays Essilor dominated the market with their NYLOR frames.
:bbg:

[Rheaopt]

I have a screwdriver body with an old screw extractor ground to a point to remove broken monofilament from rimless frames, open drill mount insert holes, align spring hinges, remove broken nose pads from the arms, etc. etc.

[Clive Noble]

Well, we've got Gabriella who has the most amazing thumb and first finger.... now don't get me wrong!... the thickness of her fingers taper towards the end and combined with her not overly long nails, she is able to pick up any screw or nut (again don't get me wrong) and insert it wherever it needs to be inserted..... maybe I should finish at this point!

[loncoa]

Coconuts! We use them for the "second coconut method". This is like on Gilligan's Island where a coconut drops onto the head of whoever, whereupon the affllicted person gets amnesia and begins to act like a totally different person, usually crazy. After much hijinks and running around, just before the end of the episode, they realize if they just drop a second coconut onto their head, they'll revert to normal.

We have a lot of patients (and staff) that this works phenomenally well on.

[FVCCHRIS]

10 lb. sledgehammer....delicate nylor adjustments, generator repair, and if kept in the front office, patient pacifier and refund deterer. You should paint it red and put "for professional use only"..

[Dave Nelson]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the hockey puck screwed to every optical bench in the land. Or is this a Canadian thing?

[loncoa]

Ye got dat right, dere, bye.

[loncoa]

Plus we have several hockey pucks which are attached to nothing at all. Oh yeah, those are employees and patients.