Oftentimes glasses creak or make a cracking noise which does not sound like a quality built when you have them new. Why this happens and how you could reduce those creaking noises will be explained in this article by master optician Michael Penczek.
The glasses you put on your nose oftentimes need to bend a little in the middle and on your sides so you can wear them. When the frames flex the lenses sitting in the frame do not flex as much. This produces a subtle movement of the lenses in the frame that produces es the creaks.
The creak itself is not bad because nothing gets damaged when you hear the noise. But in some cases, it is really annoying. So there are different methods to make this situation better. I as an optician highly advise you to revisit your optician and to let the professional perform the options below. The optician will then perform one of the following tasks to get rid of the creaks:
- The optician will heat the frame and change the curve a little more towards the curve of the lenses
- The optician will use wax or oil and place it in the notch where the lens sits
- A silicone layer could also be used as a cushion to get rid of the noise
Why wasn’t this done in the first place you ask? There are different reasons for that. First of all, it requires more time to produce glasses. This is not an excuse for you having creaking glasses but with some optical shops pumping a lot of glasses through the workshop a minute or two of craftsmanship accumulate over time.
But in some cases, it is not because of bad quality but the optician decided to not put old or wax in the notch. The reason, therefore, is some of the wax could end up on the lens surface which would then produce a smear on the lens.
In most cases the flex of the frame produces the noise. In seldom cases the hinges produces the creak.
How To Get Rid Of the Creaks?
First of all, you should locate exactly where the creaks on your glasses come from. When you open and close the temples and you can hear the annoying sounds try to loosen the screw a bit or apply a little old to the hinge. In most cases, the noise will be gone.
When you opened and closed the frame and you could hear nothing but when you put the glasses on it sounds like it will break in half the lenses need to be popped out of the frame. Or the frame needs to be opened in order to get access to the notch of the frame.
Depending on whether the frame is transparent or not I would choose a different solution. Think of it this way. When you apply a silicone layer to the notch even though it is transparent it will be a little visible in a clear frame. So maybe apply the layer in spots where the nose is located this way the silicone becomes less visible. When you do not want to get your hands on silicone which is compatible with most frames then you could also simply wait.
Having that said when you do nothing the creaks will go away on their own. Because after a while mostly after a few weeks the glasses got a little greasy. Of course, you cleaned them but some of the greases slipped in between the lenses and the frame and reduces the noises. When you do not want to wait a few weeks you could also drip some oil between the frame and the frame. Now with the applied oil layer between the lens and the frame friction is reduced and with it the creaking noises.
When you want to perform those actions on your own I highly recommend you read the articles first on how to put the lenses out of your frame and how to reinsert the lenses afterward. With wax, you chose the messiest solution for your problem. In most cases, you need to heat it so you can place it correctly in the notch. If you applied too much to the notch the smear on your lenses will come up every time you try to clean your lenses.
Because with the wiping of the lenses with a microfibre cloth you will touch the edges of the frame where a little wax then will be loosened and come on your lens’s surface. Another wipe and the smear are there.
In the first paragraph, I also mentioned the possibility to heat the frame and adjusting the curve of the frame to the lens curve. But with heating up the frame too much you can fairly easily damage it this is why I would not recommend this solution to someone who is not an optician and has the technical skill to push and pull in the right spots of the frame.
Conclusion
When your glasses make creaking sounds do not immediately think it will break or the quality must be inferior. Simply talk to your optician right away if you do not want to wait for the sounds to go away on their own. A professional just knows how to get rid of the sounds on the glasses where to apply the oil, wax, or a silicone layer and if this will not work with acetate frames the optician can shrink the frame to reduce the motion. Of the lens in the frame.
When the lens is slightly too big and therefore produces noises the optician can cut the lens a little so it fits the shape of the frame better. In a professional workshop, this just takes a few minutes. This is why you should visit your local optical when your glasses creak.
I wish you a great day.
