Spring Loaded Temples & Durability

[Alex Camblor]

The Safilo 2.0 line had the most durable spring hinge design I've seen but not the most elegant looking. Unfortunately they've discontinued it. Elasta's are also very good. I always tell patients that the spring hinge isn't necessarily more durable and its the most commonly broken part.

[jefe]

Safilo springs are the best I've used. Lightec has decent ones. Otherwise, frames with flexible metals or plastics are better than frames with mechanical springs.

[Uncle Fester]

Ahhh, great!

It sucks to see the quality go down the tubes with frames (and everything else). It's like every time Lux or one of the other heavy hitters buys someone out, the quality plummets but wholesale prices increase. I finally caved and brought Rayban suns back, per the doc's insistance. Some of them feel like sunglasses you'd buy at the gas station. They have sharp seams from the injection molds that were never sanded and some of them feel like cheap plastic. I'm very disappointed.

Quality issues have been going on as long as I can remember.

You should have seen the Jimmy Connors and Dorothy Hamill collection by Swan Optical in the 70's!!!

[KrystleClear]

From 4 years ago when Krystle was in boot camp:

https://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php/68995-Spring-hinges-that-don-t-suck?highlight=Spring+hinge+temple

And fixing tips:

https://www.optiboard.com/forums/sho...g+hinge+temple

Ahhh, great!

It sucks to see the quality go down the tubes with frames (and everything else). It's like every time Lux or one of the other heavy hitters buys someone out, the quality plummets but wholesale prices increase. I finally caved and brought Rayban suns back, per the doc's insistance. Some of them feel like sunglasses you'd buy at the gas station. They have sharp seams from the injection molds that were never sanded and some of them feel like cheap plastic. I'm very disappointed.

[Uncle Fester]

From 4 years ago when Krystle was in boot camp:

https://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php/68995-Spring-hinges-that-don-t-suck?highlight=Spring+hinge+temple

And fixing tips:

https://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php/68810-Spring-hinge-busted!?highlight=spring+hinge+temple

[lensmanmd]

Not a fan of spring hinges. CME4SPECS is correct. Most of today’s spring hinges are junk. Not serviceable at all. Sferoflex had a serviceable hinge. Sure, it was tedious, but they had repair kits available, unlike most designs.
And yes, the Elasta line was close to indestructible. A swim in the ultrasonic cleaner and a drop
or two of oil, good as new.
I prefer an old school, riveted, 5 or 7 barrel design over a cheap spring hinge any day.

[drk]

[CME4SPECS]

I am willing to bet that MOST frame "defects" are from spring hinge failure. The design of the hinges today are very poor...the diameter of the little rod that always breaks is ridiculous. Now you go back a few years and look at an Elasta spring hinge, now that was a good hinge. You could take it apart and repair it if need be!

[drk]

I think the only advantage is that they stay in adjustment better, if they're used part-time (on-off) like readers/computer...

[jefe]

Some make the frame more durable, but a lot of the designs are the Achilles heel of the frame

[KrystleClear]

Awhile back, I had a patient come in to pick up her glasses. We did the dispense (I adjusted them, etc). All was fine. Patient takes the frames off and tries to flex the temples. They aren't flex/spring loaded temples. She immediately gets angry. She takes them but storms off muttering that she'll probably break them. I guess I never showed her during the original fitting that these were normal temple hinges. :unsure: My bad. I think my focus was on selecting a good size lens and explaining to her how the progressive would work (first time PAL wearer). She never came back with any issues, yet, but...

My thinking is, most of the broken frames that come into my shop are because of the spring loaded temple breaking. It's usually the spring or rubber band coming off of the hinge piece that screws into the frame front. I see far less non-spring loaded frames with broken temple hinges. I guess it makes them a little more forgiving if you get smacked in the head or fall asleep with them on. It reminds me of back when Flexons were big. They advertised that you could twist them up in knots. Supposed to be so durable. Yet, they ALWAYS broke at the bridge after a year or two. I sometimes wonder if people would use them as a fidget toy and just twist them up to pass time until the memory metal or solder point gave out. I don't really make spring loaded temples a big selling point. I am trying to find a frame that fits the patient well, accommodates their RX well, and looks nice on them. I guess I should show them what kind of hinges they are getting.

So, my questions... Do you think spring loaded temples are actually more durable? And, do you demonstrate to the patient whether a frame they are interested in has spring loaded temples or not?