Polycarbonate lenses and bad AR coating, how to fix?

[alkemyst]

I rarely wear my glasses and my prescription doesn't really change much anymore.

My current pair has flaking coating.

I am all for just buying a new set if nothing can help, but if there is a way to clean this coating off, my glasses will be like new again (and these were very expensive frames).

I looked this up on google, but it's really unclear what works and what people have really tried.

Thanks

 

[Meghan54]

Heck, if the frames are in good shape, just get the lenses replaced.

 

[crashtestdummy]

You're not likely to have too much luck stripping the coating without ruining the lenses. You should be able to replace just the lenses without changing the frames, though. Should save you a bit of money.

 

[steppinthrax]

I rarely wear my glasses and my prescription doesn't really change much anymore.

My current pair has flaking coating.

I am all for just buying a new set if nothing can help, but if there is a way to clean this coating off, my glasses will be like new again (and these were very expensive frames).

I looked this up on google, but it's really unclear what works and what people have really tried.

Thanks

HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH A PREVIOUS SET OF LENSES

I was doing some research online, apparently the coating on the lenses are made from glass. I believe I went to MJ designs or Michaels crafts or JoAnn and got this

http://www.walmart.com/ip/12347708?w...491390&veh=sem

I applied it all over the lenses, within a few seconds the coating was gone...

 

[cavemanmoron]

Glass Lenses last the longest.

Photo Gray PLUS for the Win.

Photo Gray fan since 1973.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photochromic_lens

Photochromic lenses were developed by Roger Araujo at the Corning Glass Works Inc. in the 1960s, and the process was used in the first mass-produced variable tint lenses.

 

[disappoint]

I am all for just buying a new set if nothing can help, but if there is a way to clean this coating off, my glasses will be like new again (and these were very expensive frames).

Have you tried nail polish remover aka acetone? If that doesn't do it I don't know anything else that safely will. Then again I'm not a chemist. There is always something stronger like what Walter White and Jesse Pinkman used to eat bodies but I wouldn't touch that stuff with a ten foot pole.

 

[jaedaliu]

I would take it to your local mom and pop optician that does the work in house. Applying a coating should be a $5 procedure that takes 5 - 15 minutes.

With some luck, removing the old coating or just coating over it will be free.

 

[PottedMeat]

Have you tried nail polish remover aka acetone?

only if you want to damage the polycarbonate

 

[sdifox]

HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH A PREVIOUS SET OF LENSES

I was doing some research online, apparently the coating on the lenses are made from glass. I believe I went to MJ designs or Michaels crafts or JoAnn and got this

http://www.walmart.com/ip/12347708?w...491390&veh=sem

I applied it all over the lenses, within a few seconds the coating was gone...

err, that doesn't make any sense. AR coating is most definitely not glass.

 

[steppinthrax]

err, that doesn't make any sense. AR coating is most definitely not glass.

Not sure if it's glass or not, but whatever is on the surface of the lenses is dissolved by glass etching solution.....

 

[edro]

Some AR coatings are fused with the glass in an extremely high temp oven.
At least, in the window world... not sure about eye glasses.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I expect this will not be feasible without ruining the lenses. Costco will sell you excellent replacement lenses at the lowest price on the market. I imagine they will require that you have a prescription that is less than two years old, however.

 

[sdifox]

Some AR coatings are fused with the glass in an extremely high temp oven.
At least, in the window world... not sure about eye glasses.

not on polycarbonate eye glass lenses :awe:

 

[dighn]

armor etch. look it up. i have used this and it worked perfectly. my glasses turned from a blotchy mess into pristine condition again.

goes without saying but only use it on polycarbonate, not glass!

 

[steppinthrax]

armor etch. look it up. i have used this and it worked perfectly. my glasses turned from a blotchy mess into pristine condition again.

goes without saying but only use it on polycarbonate, not glass!

ding ding ding ding ding ding......

 

[sdifox]

armor etch. look it up. i have used this and it worked perfectly. my glasses turned from a blotchy mess into pristine condition again.

goes without saying but only use it on polycarbonate, not glass!

armour etch is for glass...so their website says

http://www.armourproducts.com/ecom-catshow/Armour_Etch.html

 

[steppinthrax]

After having glasses with AR coating on them, I never got glasses that way again. The AR coating seems to get scratched very easily. The only issue without AR coating helps when someone is taking your photo with a flash. Non-coated lenses catch a lot of light....

 

[dighn]

armour etch is for glass...so their website says

http://www.armourproducts.com/ecom-catshow/Armour_Etch.html

doesn't matter. the coating is either glass-like or just happens to be etched by that stuff anyway.

both steppinthrax and I have tried this and it works.

 

[steppinthrax]

Glass etching solution used to be made from HF(-) (Hydrofluoric acid), and it was pretty dangerous stuff.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Glass etching solution used to be made from HF(-) (Hydrofluoric acid), and it was pretty dangerous stuff.

http://vimeo.com/65464524

 

[edro]

not on polycarbonate eye glass lenses :awe:

Oh... it's the first word in the title.
My bad.