Diy-Ban - the Wooden Sunglasses

Hello today I want to tell you the story of my Diy-Ban sunglasses.
I'm Italian, sorry sometimes my English it is not always correct.

I used a type of tropical wood known as Ipè is very heavy, hard and stable.

With 3D studio Max I modeled the frame, previously downloaded from the web, and adapted to allow a correct 3d milling.

I exported n. 3 .STL files (one frame and two temple) and I imported into the Cut3D software, generating gcode for 12 milling, roughing and finishing on both sides.

The front will be made from a piece of Ipè of dimensions 80 x 180 x 23.3 (z) mm. I added the tabs in the most fragile points but also simpler for their removal.

After setting the size of the block i have chosen the parameters of the roughing and finishing.

The wood in question is very hard so I set for roughing a depth of cut of 1 mm and 2.6 mm stepover, finishing with stepover 0.3 mm

I generated 4 Gcode for milling the front (roughing and finishing on 2 sides) and then i generated 8 files for the temples with the same procedure, the only difference is that the block had this dimensions: 80 x 180 x 15.7 (z) mm.

You can open this files with this software:

Vectric Cut3D (.v3d)
Vectric Aspire (.crv3d)

The most delicate part is be milled on both sides of a block in such a way that once rotated by 180 ° the zero point coincides with the edge opposite.

For this it is essential that the blocks to be milled have the same size set in the CAM with a precision possibly the tenth of a millimeter.

In addition to this it is necessary to also have a locking system (and unlocking) piece that allows a rotation of 180 ° without deviations.

So I fixed on the floor of my CNC a piece of birch plywood on which I milled pocket of the exact size of the blocks which for convenience I made the same size (80x180) 5 mm deep.

The purpose of the pocket is to be able to set us inside the blocks to be machined without losing the alignment in the X and Y axes as well as to have a perfectly linear sull'azze Z.

The first block is ready to be processed but must be held in place to prevent movement in Z.

After the hard work of CAD and CAM now I expect the final exam, see the final result and hope that the end milling successful considering the fact that only the front the CNC has been working continuously for 7 hours.

To mill all the three blocks (front and back) my cnc spent nine hours.

After releasing all 3 pieces from the tabs I've hand-finished with sandpaper lightly just trying to soften the forms and eliminating the milling pass.

Then I anointed with the oil of linseed and wiping with a cloth beeswax make them shiny and pleasant to the touch.

Probably find a way to fix the hinges to the frame is the most complicated, at least it was for me.

It seems incredible, but on the internet I could not find a store that would sell. I only found a shop in Italy that sells beautiful metal hinges with micro-screws and nut but only in a kit for 10 pairs of glasses at a cost of about 80 Euros, I asked if I could send only a pair of glasses but answer was: no!

So I tried to recover the hinges from old celluloid glasses but are embedded in plastic and adapt them to a wooden frame is not easy at all.

So I decided to make do (as usual) and I decided to print them in 3D with my 3D printer.

Based on the measurements of my glasses I modeled with 3D Studio Max, a micro-hinge as that in the image above

I exported the model in .STL I tried to print it in ABS.

As pin i will use a needle sewing custom.

Another delicate operation is to make small pockets to house the hinges in the frame and temples.

With a micro milling machine and a tool of 0.75 mm and especially with a lot of patience I carved small pockets.

Later I made the holes (diameter 1.2 mm) to insert the micro-screws with nut

To be able to mount the lenses must be formed in the inner part of the front of the incisions so as to allow a perfect fit.

Always with a tool 0.75 mm going very slowly I made an incision of about 1mm depth along the inside perimeter.

This particular could not miss ... I had to mark them in some way

Engrave the words "Ray-Ban" was too trivial, "Diy-Ban" instead is more appropriate given the context.

With Aspire Vectric I prepared written and exported gcode for machining a pocket with my cnc laser.

I'm not a optician nor a watchmaker and these operations bring me a bit of stress.

I bought on Ebay of micro-screws M1,2 + nut that I will use for tightening the hinges.

Probably This is for me the most delicate part of this project.

I admit that the assembly of temples did not come very well, I'll do better next time. My next project is about sunglasses using curved sheets of veneer.

Thanks for reading!