it was hard to type in the title of this thread without cracking a smile...or a scowl.
which line memory metal frames are the least likely to brake...regardless of price?
or is this a hopeless pursuit?
it was hard to type in the title of this thread without cracking a smile...or a scowl.
which line memory metal frames are the least likely to brake...regardless of price?
or is this a hopeless pursuit?
BingoOriginally Posted by ak47
Erik Zuniga, ABOC.
I think there is an real opportunity for a frame manufacture to create a real durable, decent looking memory metal frame... it would be the first one.
Haven't had an issue with Aspex
+1
I have only seen one bridge break on the bendable stuff. The biggest issue is that they are getting away from the temples being memory metal and going with the 360 temples on the majority of their frames. I think they are the best on the market for memory though because they actually go back to their original shape after bending them, unlike many of the others.
I use a lot of Charmant's CFX bendable s, memory. Been fortunate...never had one of these break.
+1 for the Charmant product
Clinton Tower
The intellect to live free is in short supply
ALT248=°
While always continuing to search for better product, I think we also need remember not to set the patient's expectations too high. I have had many a patient come into our office and ask where the "unbreakable frames" are. I tell them that we don't have any. Then, I show them the Flexon, Turaflex, Line Art, Aspex, etc. I tell them that it tends to hold up better than a standard frame, but it is still a pair of eyeglasses. I also show them our safety section. Sometimes, a rigid stainless steel double bridge with one of those 1.5 inch thick spring hinges is what the guy really needs. Treat them like eyeglasses, and don't use them for bar bets. Very few memory metal frame warranties requested at our practice in mining / ranching Nevada.
BTW, I was skeptical at how Line Art would do in our practice. I thought it was over-priced. Flying off the shelves. I guess some people can sense quality when they see it.
wow, thats amazing, how many years have you been dispensing the charmant CFX without seeing one break?
We do a lot of Turaflex; they're holding up great.
i like the CFX from charmant, and honestly we've had very few broken carrera's from safilo too. i always tell patients they won't last forever though :)
"what i need is a strong drink and a peer group." ... Douglas Adams - Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
I don't know where you get your frames but Flexon (Marchon)...Capri Flexure....Airlocks (Marchon) have not withstood the wear of normal use. Most split exactly down the middle of the bridge within 1 1/2 - 2 years. airlock temples braek at the curve and in general I do not think there is such a thing as a reasonably long wearing memory flex frame.
Do they still make Turaflex? I thought they were all Titanflex now. That's one of the memory metals I don't like. It just doesn't feel resiliant.
They still do both.
USA only it appears.
You guys seem to be having much worse experience with memory metal than I have. I find Carrera to be the most fragile, but we do exceptionally well with Nike, OP, Izod, and especially Aspex's Easytwist frames with Turboflex hinges.
I like the idea of any memory metal frame line as long as it comes with a good spring hinge. Larger eyesizes for the folks that have the "orange on a toothpick-type" heads, too. Finally, if the patient is a drinker, he'll eventually end up at the local poolhall, at the front of a group of onlookers and loudly proclaim, "My glasses are unbreakable!" A lenghty explaination and several demonstrations will follow and, when the last of the thirty or so patrons tests this unbelievable claim, the frame will pop--right at the bridge. Patient stumbles home wearing broken frame, goes to sleep, and wakes up to the broken unbreakable. He will eventually make it to your office to say he just woke up to a broken frame (that's to say, your broken frame)...Don't sell memory metals to that guy.
We do best with the Charmant/Aristar CFX and the Aspex. No warranties with either in two years. OVVO makes some pretty interesting stuff also.
i have never found memory metals that can brake ......
in fact I have not even found memory metals with power steering
Memory Lane*
When Marchon first introduced it the rep said it had a "lifetime" warranty. Our stylist at the time started to sell it that way and I was beside myself telling her that we could never honor a lifetime warranty.
After one particularly supercilious patient wanted his 5th free frame (yeh-2 too many) I said he had to produce the written warranty for it to honored in the future. We never saw him again.
*pun intended
Memory metals are a good marketing ploy but certainly not unbreakable. They were bad news and a disappointment to many consumers.
Until such time that:
1)Manufacturers stop hyping the "bend me, shape me, anyway you want to" lyrics, billboards....expect breakage.
2)Eye Care Professionals quit using demonstration techniques like wrapping the temples around finger, quashing the frame into a little pretzel ball, and having it "magically" bloom to "restored" shape status......expect breakage.
3)The frame material is presented in a fashion that truly represents what it is.....a light-weight, highly flexible alloy, in certain parts of the frame.....engineered to flex when impacted, break when pushed beyond 90 degrees of bend. Expect breakage. It is just less likely to require repeated adjustments and maintenance.
Like all frame materials used by different manufacturers, the price reflects both the quality and quantity of the frame finish, and amount of alloy(titanium with nickel) used.
Eyes wide open
Taido Steel, Nagoya Japan. Titanium + nickel + aluminum alloy temper in 400 c. Production line is about 400 meters long, extrude from a big poll to 1 mm wire. Infra red detector to spot improper heat treated sector through 1,000 meter per cycle.
After welding do they reheat the whole frame so the metal is back "in phase"?
A friend who is a metallurgist once told me that is why titanium (not just memory metal) frames break at places like the nasal eyewire.
I've always assumed the cost of this extra step was more than the limited number of returned warrantied replacements.
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