Wednesday, January 2, 2013

I can see!!!! said the blind man.

I seldom get more than a year out of my glasses before the polycarbonate lenses start to degrade long before I am due for a new prescription. Not sure just why. I suspect perhaps it is the hot blast from the oven when I open it, or the wood stove or perhaps some form of UV degradation from welding and/or sunlight. Beyond the usual scratches they seem to get a sort of oxidation that eventually makes everything look hazy. Up close you can see the rough surface of the lens. In bright conditions I can barely see through them.
A couple of years ago I had a flash of brilliance . . . car headlights are made out of polycarbonate . . . . . soooooo why not?
About 15 minutes of rubbing with a piece of clean cotton T shirt and some of the headlight restorer and the results are astounding. I did remove the lenses from the frames to get access to all surfaces. The emollients remove all the oxidation from the surface of the lenses and restore them to close to new condition. A vast improvement.

4 comments:

  1. I've give up wearing mine for work. They just get scratched too easy and the dust sticks to them like glue. Mine you my eye sight isn't too bad so I can get away with it. I have got flexable frames though and they've saved them more than once!

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    1. Unfortunately I am as blind as they get without my spectacles. 7.25 diopters of correction. Without them I can see about 6 inches clearly, anything beyond that is just a total Vaseline haze. I have contacts I wear when I am kayaking as rolling in salt water with glasses just does not work. Wearing glasses has actually saved my eyes on more than one occasion from flying chips of wood and steel.

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    1. I never claimed to be the brightest bulb on the tree, but every now and then even this dog gets some sunshine on his but.

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