Homemade Glasses With Laser Cutter

by David Yakos in Workshop > Laser Cutting

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Homemade Glasses With Laser Cutter

Homemade Prescription Glasses out of Wood with my Laser Cutter

I had an extra pair of lenses from my the glasses store fixing my frames... so I made a pair of wooden glasses.

Supplies

Wood and lenses

Tools: Laser cutter, Dremel, Sandpaper, clear coat, sander,

Create the CAD

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First i had to make the file to laser cut

  1. I scanned my lenses on a flatbed scanner next to a ruler so i could scale them when I imported the image into SolidWorks.
  2. I traced the lens shape and then drew the profile I wanted for the glasses "free hand" in the CAD software.
  3. I then exported a cut pattern for my laser cutter.

Laser Cut the Pieces

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  1. I cut the pieces out of material that was about .5 inches thick with the laser. The pieces can then be sanded down for a round shape rather then cut them out of thin material and trying to bend them.

Shape the Pieces

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  1. Shape the glasses on a belt sander to give them a rounded shape so they fit around your head. This is a lot better then just flat panels.
  2. Use a Dremel to do some of the find sanding and shaping.
  3. For the groove to fit the lenses in, Use a cutter bit on the Dremel and cut a channel to would allow the lenses to pop in from the inside.

Clear Coat and Assemble

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  1. Since the wood was laser cut, it was leaving black marks on my nose and smelled like a camp fire. I used some clear coat to trap in the smell and seal them after wiping them down.

Nose Guards and Assembly

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  1. Pop in the lenses and secured with a couple drops of wood glue
  2. Added the glasses arms
  3. ... after all that... they weren't sitting perfectly on my nose so I cut a couple pieces of rubber with a razor knife for nose guards and super glued them to the frame.... now they are just right.