Custom Clip-on Sunglasses With Sugru

I wear contacts, my wife does not. Naturally this lead her to be jealous of my awesome sunglasses. To address this difference I customized a pair of shades she liked so that she could clip them on over her prescription glasses.

Big sunglasses(hence forth refereed to as shades for brevity and clarity) work best for this, it's important to pick a pair that will fit over your prescription glasses (hence forth refereed to as glasses). This Instructable will also require a few basic tools and a packet of Sugru.

For this project you will need the following:

• Shades
• Glasses
• Small Paint Brush
• Small Screwdriver
• Scissors
• Liquid Dish Soap
• Sugru
• A Dremel tool (or a file or sandpaper)

The shades need a bit of modification before we can create the Sugru mounts. We need to remove the arms and grind down the nose pieces. Use the small screwdriver to remove the arms. That was easy. We're off to a good start.

Now for those pesky nose pieces. They stick out a bit and prevent the shades from sitting flush against the glasses. I used a Dremel with a grinding wheel to grind them down flat. Taking my time it took only a few minutes. If you don't have a Dremel you can also use a file or some sandpaper, it'll just take longer and leave you with a tired arm. I wasn't too worried about how they looked since they wouldn't be visible from the outside, I just wanted to make sure that they were smooth with no rough edges.

We are going to be using Sugru to make custom mounts for our glasses, which will entail molding the Sugru directly against them. However, by design, Sugru is sticky stuff and we don't want the mounts to stick to the glasses.

To that end we will be using liquid dish soap as a release agent. Lay your glasses against the shades to judge where the Sugru might go, then set the shades aside. Next, using the brush, apply the soap liberally to all areas of the glasses that the Sugru might touch. Generally this would include the front edges of the frames and the joint area of the arms. You don't want to have any globs or drips, but you need a good coating.

Make sure not to get any dish soap on the shades, we need the Sugru to stick to those.

Alright, let's do this thing!

If you haven't used Sugru before, take a moment to look over this little guide. It's pretty easy to use but it's a good idea to know how to handle it and clean up.

First, figure out where the Sugru is going to be put on the shades. You can set the glasses against them and then use a marker to mark the spots if you want. I just kinda geusstimated and it worked out fine.

Next, using your Dremel/file/sandpaper, rough up the spots a bit to give the Sugru something to stick to.

Then, cut open the Sugru package, knead the Sugru a bit and roll it to make a little rope. You won't need much for this project. I was able to do the shades, fix a USB cable and modify a phone case all with the same packet of Sugru.

Pull four pea sized pieces of Sugru off and roll them into little balls, then apply them firmly to the shades. When you are happy with the placement, take a look at your glasses and double check the soap, cause it's go-time.

Now, press the glasses against the shades, the Sugru will squish out a bit. Use your fingers to form the Sugru around the glasses. You want the Sugru to come over the edges of the glasses just a little bit, so that when it sets up later it will hold on to them but still be able to be pulled off easily. When you are happy with the Sugru, set the whole thing aside and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.

After that time the Sugru will be pretty stiff, but not yet fully cured. Carefully remove the glasses, making sure not to mess up the Sugru you carefully formed, and wash the soap off the glasses. Finally, set the shades somewhere safe and let the Sugru cure for 24 hours. When fully cured the Sugru will be a tough, slightly flexible rubber. Use this time to clean up and imagine how cool you will look tomorrow.

You've done it! You now have awesome clip-on sunglasses.

I hope you found this Instructable to be useful and easy to follow. Thanks for tuning in!