My rant about eyeglasses

[Kuan]

You know how there's a screw at the hinge? Why the hell do they use a fastener as the pin in a moving part? Would you put in a big screw to connect a piston to a rod?

[The Clk Man]

I think I need glasses at 48 yo. My wife says that I squint so much that I look like I'm constipated.

[The Clk Man]

Originally Posted by Matt L

I'm a bit older than you, and my eyes have been getting progressively worse for the past ten years.

Go to the optician and get checked out. I wear bifocals for normal driving and walking around, and reading glasses (between the two prescriptions) for computer work. It's normally not an extra charge to get three prescriptions (two for bifocals, one for computer glasses).

Then you can buy a pair of glasses there, or you can go online and get them a lot cheaper. I do both.

Finally, in my opinion, insurance that covers glasses is a total waste of money. You can only use it at overpriced outlets. It's cheaper to go to a place like Sears Optical with no insurance, than to buy a pair of glasses that are "covered" by your insurance. And that's not even counting the premium.

My sight just started failing, I guess that's not so bad to need glasses at 48.

[The Clk Man]

Originally Posted by Matt L

Consider yourself lucky.

But also consider yourself and your personal comfort. I am quite nearsighted, so need glasses for distance. But close up with those glasses is getting worse every year.

If you're not nearsighted, you still get the same effects, but you can't take your glasses off for easy reading like I can (well, at 1 foot away max). It gets harder to see close things. Your lenses get harder with age, and won't deform to the extent necessary to see well close up.

Eye strain gets you slowly. You don't realize how hard you've been squinting at the screen until you get a proper pair of glasses.

An eye exam should cost less than $100. The last 2 pair of prescription reading glasses that I bought cost me $30 together, including postage, but they were on sale.

Ive been an offset printer for 30 years, it no wonder I can't see anymore.

[Mike D]

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

I think I need glasses at 48 yo. My wife says that I squint so much that I look like I'm constipated.

Ummm, not exactly Robert. I believe when Vickie said, "You're full of &*^%", which, although it can be a side effect of constipation, wasn't probably the meaning she was trying to convey.

[Mike D]

Originally Posted by Kuan

You know how there's a screw at the hinge? Why the hell do they use a fastener as the pin in a moving part? Would you put in a big screw to connect a piston to a rod?

How else could you make the hinge tension easily adjustable?

[t walgamuth]

The shaft on the screw is plain where the arm rides so it makes sense really.

Did you have trouble with it coming apart?

[Kuan]

Is this really the best design? These aren't mine, these are the kid's glasses. Two days ago one of the screws came loose. Took it to the optical place. Yesterday the other came loose.

[The Swede]

These work well for me.

[Kuan]

I like it. Not much different from your natural look.

[mgburg]

I'm wearing tri-focals in a titanium frame...and the bows are spring-loaded for that "wack-you-side-the-head" hits that would, normally, break lessor type frames...and the whole sheebang is screwed together with 4 of those mini-screws.

Solution?

Head over to a real hardware store and somewhere inside that place should be a "jewler's" set of screwdrivers. Hide those under your PLAYBOY stash and when the kids' frames get loose, you can save yourself the pain of driving to the optometrist's office and tighten the buggers up yourself...but just enough to keep the screws in place.

Another trick? For the kids' glasses, if you're so inclined, put an extremely small "dab" of LOCK-TIGHT (TITE?) on the screw before cranking down on it. That might keep the buggers in a bit longer...but with kids...I doubt it.

[Kuan]

Yeah, loctite blue, and damn kid should just not have to open and close those darn things.