TIPS ON DISPENSING

[helpuc]

I have found a little tip to help adjust the magnetic clips that seem to give me a headache. I took an old pair of nose pad pliers and put shrink tubing on the tips to protect the frame finish. This gives you a good grip on the endpieces without damaging the frame.

[helpuc]

Great suggestion that I will use in the future. The only thing with nosepads that gives me trouble is when I've forgotten to clean out the odd piece of plastic that often gets wedged in the guard arm. I usually remember it when the screw won't close down completely, then have to backtrack and clean it out.

What I need is a tip for getting the bushings out of Silouette type frames without gouging the lens. I've only gouged one, but it was not an experience I'd care to repeat. I have my suspicions that some of you are actually gluing the bushings in to vex me.

If I understand your plight, you need to remove the plastic bushings from the lens correct? Silhouette maks a little tool with two pins that line up to the holes. Just center and push. For those little guys that just won't come out I take a drill bit from the lens drill kit and insert by hand and work it gently. This usually works.

[Hollybabette]

Let's say a patient orders transitions and you activate them and dispense them to the patient. They call a few days later complaining that the lenses are not activating or getting dark enough. Put the glasses in the freezer for 5 minutes. Let them warm up on the counter and then take outside into strong sunlight. The cold with activate the photochromic particles inside the lens. Works like a charm and patients giggle about how silly it sounds. :)

[garyandrew]

The purpose here is to start a thread, that if it works Steve will put in a permanent file. Steve informed me that starting a new forum was difficult with this software as once you do it you cant remove it.The purpose here is to pass along to others all the little tricks of the trade , that has anything to do with dispensing. There are quite a few old timers like myself, Al, Bob and a number of talented opticians of all ages on this board.In light of that i am going to start off with a relatively easy one dealing with the removal of a screw from a metal frame, that wont seem to come out. Quite often if you heat it slightly in a salt pan, then turn it slightly to the right , and then to the left the screw will come out. I am going to try and post at least one new tip a week, until i run out,and i challenge the rest of you to do the same and maybe we can make this a thread to remember

This is of the easiest way to remove those screws out of your metal frames. Applying heat to the frames would make the substance more compressed. Reason why screw were lightly loosen from its grip. I would like to add another tip for this one which i Andrei(Arizona optometrist) thought me when we were on college. Instead of applying heat, we could use lubricants or tapping it slightly(like we deed).

[kaypaula]

i've found an easy way to discribe people's rx in laymans terms. i tell them that their prescription in like dollar bills and quarters. if their rx went from a 2.50 to 3.25, i tell them that the change was like 75 cents. my colleagues think i'm a bit nuts, but most patients like it. i don't know, i could be nuts.

Ha! I do the same thing :)) It really does help them to relate to how "much" of a change they've had. Telling someone that their Rx has changed by .75 diopters isn't much help to most of them. I start with telling them that the smallest change is a quarter.

[jacksonstewart]

Hi......looking for the gogs as for rough and tough use....

[Happylady]

Ha! I do the same thing :)) It really does help them to relate to how "much" of a change they've had. Telling someone that their Rx has changed by .75 diopters isn't much help to most of them. I start with telling them that the smallest change is a quarter.

Yes, most people don't understand diopters. I figure .25 diopters is one step. So if the rx has changed .75 diopters I tell them it's changed 3 steps. People seem to understand it.

[MVEYES]

Take a paper clip and flatten the end with an optical hammer on your metal anvil. Make sure it is pretty thin. Rotate the lens slightly and keep the clip parallel with the flattened edge of the lens. Move the clip slowly around until the cord pops off or get it so you can cut the cord . Restringing is a lot cheaper then a chipped A/R coated progressive.

[Java99]

I'm new to this board, so forgive me I didn't go through all of the years of "tips" yet. But for the 'New' opticians replacing nosepads with screws can be a challenge until they are really comfortable with a screwdriver. If you wedge a business card between the nosepad arm and the lens, if the screwdriver slips you won't scratch the lens :)
This can also be helpful if you've had WAY to much coffee.

If you stick your thumb where you'd put the business card, after a few jabs with the screwdriver you won't slip anymore. Pain is a great teacher :)

[helpuc]

If you stick your thumb where you'd put the business card, after a few jabs with the screwdriver you won't slip anymore. Pain is a great teacher :)

Your not a real optician unless you have felt the tip of an optical screwdriver pierce at least one of
your fingers. After 37 years it ALMOST doesn't hurt anymore!

[craig77]

here's one to save any frustration replacing the figure-8 lining in a supra..when you get it started, stick a leap3 pad to your thumb pull off the backing then place it against the figure-8 lining and pull it around

[Jesseree1430]

So this really isnt a dispensing tip but more of a fit question...when putting a patient in a ST 28 for a computer bifocal does anyone have a good way of measuring the seg height for the line because I have found that the patients drops their head to look at a computer screen and that equals to about a 3mm drop in the line.... any suggestions?

[Richard Scot]

Here's a finishing tip that can repair the terrible cosmetics of that shiny ring around polarized lenses you (or lab) might have forgotten to set on 'front bevel' in the edger. Suspend the lenses so just the very edge barely rests in the tint tank corresponding to the original color of the lens. Rotate every so often as to cover the offending areas. Even a poly-polar lens was salvageable and ended up looking great doing this.

[harry a saake]

this is particulary handy for those of you who have a hot air heater only, as you can do the same thing in a salt pan.

When wanting to bend down the end of the temples, and heat them both evenly, simply cross the temples together down apx. where they start to bend, then heat them, and now you can bend one temple after the other, with out having to put the other temple back into the hot air, speeds up the process also.

[ac3201]

I have found that clear nail polish works well. The trick is to back the screw out a bit and add the nail polish to the inside of the barrels and then tighten screw. The polish will coat the threads and when it dries will seal nicely.

I found nail polish can sometimes be difficult to loosen after time, even with the application of remover. So, I started using hair spray, yep, no kidding. I spray the threads and insert the screw. Strong enough to hold the screw in place and yet can easily be broken loose with a screwdriver.

[jsphtay]

I found nail polish can sometimes be difficult to loosen after time, even with the application of remover. So, I started using hair spray, yep, no kidding. I spray the threads and insert the screw. Strong enough to hold the screw in place and yet can easily be broken loose with a screwdriver.

Nail polish is good. but apply at the thread end will do. Wow nv thut of using hairspray. wont u make the whole frame messy?

[skt]

after all these years, I have settled on liquid interliner for holding screws in...works like a champ!

[musicevangelist]

An easy method of demonstrating the change in a Transitions lens is to walk outside with your Px holding your lorgnette by the lens. When you take your fingers off the lens you can see the level of change easily. Of course this only works on a sunny day.

[Chris Ryser]

So this really isnt a dispensing tip but more of a fit question...when putting a patient in a ST 28 for a computer bifocal does anyone have a good way of measuring the seg height for the line because I have found that the patients drops their head to look at a computer screen and that equals to about a 3mm drop in the line.... any suggestions?

Lower edge of pupil will make it high enough. I always was the most successful when fitting an ST lens a high a I could get away with. Takes little more getting used to but in the end that lens is a winner.

[specs4you]

Yeah, I wear this...only sell a round if you can, the line is less marked and easier to wear plus it is un-noticed to the people looking at you. I wear and fit at same as reg St bifocal, bottom lid. makes no diff. when I use a desktop or a laptop even tho the screen heights are varied.

[mjacob]

I'd only been working as an Optician for almost couple months now. Before i'd worked mainly as tech/ did some Optical work as well. So, i'm still learning new things everyday. Few of the problems that i've faced is:

(1) Recognizing Poly lens (2) Distinguishing if a lens is AR coated or just clear (3) SLAB-OFF GRINDING - when it's used ? (4)Prism
(5)marking on PROGRESSIVE LENSES (6) Reading a Bifocal/tri/progress on lensometer.

I've faced these problems so far. If anyone could help with this..it would be really grt. Thanks all.

[CCGREEN]

If it is a grooved rimless and you cant get the lens out without chipping it. Razor blade.........cut the cord....bit more work for you but replacing the cord cost nothing. Replacing a chipped lens....many many dollars.

[CCGREEN]

Let's say a patient orders transitions and you activate them and dispense them to the patient. They call a few days later complaining that the lenses are not activating or getting dark enough. Put the glasses in the freezer for 5 minutes. Let them warm up on the counter and then take outside into strong sunlight. The cold with activate the photochromic particles inside the lens. Works like a charm and patients giggle about how silly it sounds. :)

Tempture......its all about temperature and UV light with transitions. The hotter it is the lighter the lens will be....colder the darker they will be. In the north where it is cold people grump cause they are to dark...in the summer they do not grump. In the south where it is hot people grump because they are not dark enough...in the winter they do not grump. And of course the more UV they get exposed to the darker they will be.

[finefocus]

I'd only been working as an Optician for almost couple months now. Before i'd worked mainly as tech/ did some Optical work as well. So, i'm still learning new things everyday. Few of the problems that i've faced is:

(1) Recognizing Poly lens (2) Distinguishing if a lens is AR coated or just clear (3) SLAB-OFF GRINDING - when it's used ? (4)Prism
(5)marking on PROGRESSIVE LENSES (6) Reading a Bifocal/tri/progress on lensometer.

I've faced these problems so far. If anyone could help with this..it would be really grt. Thanks all.

(1) Poly has a distinctive sound - take a lens you know to be poly, and one you know to be CR39. Drop them on a table top from a few inches high; hear the difference?
(2) Use the lens as a mirror to reflect an overhead light; is it mirrory and colorless, or less mirrory and muted blue/green/purple?
(3) When the Rx is anisometropic (and especially with the extreme version, antimetropic). How much power difference triggers a slab? There is a book answer, but remember that sensitivity varies from patient to patient.
(4) Too big a subject to cover here, but remember all lenses (that aren't plano) are prisms in concentric form. You are asking about prism resulting from the Optical Center being displaced, on purpose or not.
(5) This is easy; a PAL will have two circles, or triangles, or Z's, or something, 34mm apart. Put those marks on the card for that design and locate the Main Reference Point where the pupil should be located when viewing a distant object at normal posture. Under the outer mark is the add power. Under the nasal mark is code for mfg, design, and material. Get the Progressive Lens Identifier put out by the OLA from your lab.
(6) This subject has been discussed here on OB; use the search function. You already do know what power should appear in the bi/tri segments, right?

[DeniseC]

Your not a real optician unless you have felt the tip of an optical screwdriver pierce at least one of
your fingers. After 37 years it ALMOST doesn't hurt anymore!

Agreed! Just recently re-upped my tetanus shot for said screwdriver meeting the bone in my finger. You'd think after 25 years I would have learned! So, here't the TIP -- Tetanus shot every 5-10 years in our field.