Not exactly immodest title, but I have been using this modded mask for 2 years now (wanted to, before publishing here) and now I am SURE.
Ingredients:
1. Micromask (about 75 dollars)
2. 2 lenses ground to your prescription by an olde-worlde hands on optician (50 dollars)
3. A tube of clear optical adhesive, waterproof. Free. See below.
Process:
1. Buy a new micromask and clean off the inside of the lenses, remove any silicone mold flashing that may be on the lenses corners (inside). Make very sure, of course, that this mask fits you well. It should, they are terrific masks.
2. Take your prescription glasses and the mask to an optician. The more down to earth the better. Forget fancy chain o department store types, they will think you are mad. Ask the optician to grind lens blanks to fit INSIDE the mask. The curve towards your eye the FLAT PART out.
I used my standard glasses prescription (-1.75 and -2.0) this is quite a light prescription. If I had bad eyes you would need thinned (higher reflex index) lenses to avoid the thickness intruding too much into the mask - your eyelashes may touch.
Some opticians may recommend a lesser or stronger prescription for diving, I have heard of both, but spot on suits me fine.
The overall glass thickness here: mask lens, glue, optical lens, is about 7mm at the thickest part - the outer edge.
3. Mark the lenses well and test fit them. CLEAN WELL, lint and crap will be there for ever between the two lenses unless you do, and may lead to the glue ceding. They should touch glass to glass all the way around. They must be pushed into the corners a little. Check and double check, Try with a drip of water, or syrup, or whatever. If they don't sit right, don't proceed. You may have missed a bit of mask flashing on around the lens.
4. TRICKY BIT. I have found that 6 drops of glue are perfect. The glue is not that thin, more like syrup and it's a little hard to do. If in doubt go one drop more, but NOT less. If you are using a different mask with bigger or smaller lenses adjust.
5. TRICKY BIT II. Clamp. prepare and have your clamps at hand, If you do it well, my left lens, one clamp with protected head, in the middle, should squeeze out just enough glue to seal the edges of the lens too. On the right, one drop too little, and I needed extra clamps to force out the bubbles to the edges. The bubbles drift slow, up to 20 mins in some cases, but they should go.
6. Leave to dry in the sun for a week, remove clamps, and another week. LEAVE FLAT as the edge glue will settle nicely around the lens that way.
Mine have a 66ml internal volume and I don't even feel it until past 40m, yet is great for spearing in.
I had to buy two tubes of glue, if you live in the USA this may be easier. Google the product, use that EXACT same one (some are not waterproof).
I will send the remains (nearly full) tube to anyone for free if:
- they pay postage if it is more than 5$
- they promise to post their results here
- they post on to the next guy under same conditions
Don't even think to ask for a tube unless you intend to fully comply with the above 3 points. I have friends with sharp sticks in most parts of the world... :martial
Ingredients:
1. Micromask (about 75 dollars)
2. 2 lenses ground to your prescription by an olde-worlde hands on optician (50 dollars)
3. A tube of clear optical adhesive, waterproof. Free. See below.
Process:
1. Buy a new micromask and clean off the inside of the lenses, remove any silicone mold flashing that may be on the lenses corners (inside). Make very sure, of course, that this mask fits you well. It should, they are terrific masks.
2. Take your prescription glasses and the mask to an optician. The more down to earth the better. Forget fancy chain o department store types, they will think you are mad. Ask the optician to grind lens blanks to fit INSIDE the mask. The curve towards your eye the FLAT PART out.
I used my standard glasses prescription (-1.75 and -2.0) this is quite a light prescription. If I had bad eyes you would need thinned (higher reflex index) lenses to avoid the thickness intruding too much into the mask - your eyelashes may touch.
Some opticians may recommend a lesser or stronger prescription for diving, I have heard of both, but spot on suits me fine.
The overall glass thickness here: mask lens, glue, optical lens, is about 7mm at the thickest part - the outer edge.
3. Mark the lenses well and test fit them. CLEAN WELL, lint and crap will be there for ever between the two lenses unless you do, and may lead to the glue ceding. They should touch glass to glass all the way around. They must be pushed into the corners a little. Check and double check, Try with a drip of water, or syrup, or whatever. If they don't sit right, don't proceed. You may have missed a bit of mask flashing on around the lens.
4. TRICKY BIT. I have found that 6 drops of glue are perfect. The glue is not that thin, more like syrup and it's a little hard to do. If in doubt go one drop more, but NOT less. If you are using a different mask with bigger or smaller lenses adjust.
5. TRICKY BIT II. Clamp. prepare and have your clamps at hand, If you do it well, my left lens, one clamp with protected head, in the middle, should squeeze out just enough glue to seal the edges of the lens too. On the right, one drop too little, and I needed extra clamps to force out the bubbles to the edges. The bubbles drift slow, up to 20 mins in some cases, but they should go.
6. Leave to dry in the sun for a week, remove clamps, and another week. LEAVE FLAT as the edge glue will settle nicely around the lens that way.
Mine have a 66ml internal volume and I don't even feel it until past 40m, yet is great for spearing in.
I had to buy two tubes of glue, if you live in the USA this may be easier. Google the product, use that EXACT same one (some are not waterproof).
I will send the remains (nearly full) tube to anyone for free if:
- they pay postage if it is more than 5$
- they promise to post their results here
- they post on to the next guy under same conditions
Don't even think to ask for a tube unless you intend to fully comply with the above 3 points. I have friends with sharp sticks in most parts of the world... :martial
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