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My partners Dad broke his favorite sunglasses. He asked me if I’d try to fix them for him. I’m always keen for a challenge, so I gave it a go.
They’d already been fixed once and the hinge (where it broke) was covered in epoxy. Once I’d got all that off, I could see what was wrong. One of the arms was broken at the hinge.
The broken arm.
I took off the good arm and spent a little while in Fusion 360 modeling it. Then I 3D printed it and tried it out. The first one looked pretty good, but wasn’t quite right. I made some adjustments to the model and tried again. The second one was closer but didn’t quite fit in to the hinge. A few more modifications and I had one that worked. I even included his initials into the side to give them a bit more customisation. I spent a while sanding it to get it nice and smooth looking. It didn’t take too long (although I could have done more and made it a bit better). I think he’ll be really happy to have his favorite glasses back on his head.
The final pair of glasses with 3D printed arm.
The arm is printed in PETG so it should withstand a bit of heat without deforming. It’s also surprisingly strong. I can bend it just as much as you would bend normal sunglasses and it hasn’t broken.
The final arm as printed. Lots of support material was required.
I’d never tried to model up a somewhat complex (not just flat easy surfaces) part to fix something. It was much easier than I expected. I just had to think about it a bit and be prepared for the first iteration or two to not be right. I’d also never tried sanding a 3D printed part to make it smooth and presentable. It worked far better than I expected. Even the rough ugly surface where the support material attached came out mostly smooth.
After finishing this small project, it makes me want to fully 3D print a pair of sunglasses for myself. It’d be a fun project. Although I don’t think I could print the lenses. I may have to buy some and just print the frames.
