if you have one of those little kits for replacing missing screws on you glasses, dump out the screws and put in some from a old pair of yours.i spent the better part of 20 minutes trying to get a lens in a pair i take on trips as back-up and could not get the supplied screw in the leg hinge.i ended up taking some out a really old set and one of those went in with no problem in seconds.i take that kit on canoe trips and it's a good thing i never had a problem out on the trail,so if you have one in your BOB or whatever replace them with real screws and not the ones from the kit,thats the one with the red top tiny screw driver with the screws in the hollow handle.the driver worked ok.

If screws don't work, a bit of wire from a paper clip will work fairly well. Is the problem with the newer screws a different size or is it a different threading?

hike..i think it's just poor quality screws in the kit.the ones out of my old glasses looked much better as far as the threads went,even the slot was centered and deeper.

It would also be a good idea to take a small amount of thin wire to do the job. Not all screws are the same size, as I once discovered, so if you're with a friend and nothing fits, the wire will make-do. If it's thin enough, run it through two or three times to help spread out the stress.

Sue

Paperclips are so useful for so many things, I make sure all of my kits have a few.

You could also use thread-lock on the screws, then you're much less likely to need a spare.

Unless the tread-lock gets in the hinges of the eyeglasses and then you have a much bigger problem.

Unless its a straight driver, and the screws are phillips. I have been spectacle-dependent since they found me to be dopey in first-grade, and discovered that I smartened up if moved to the front row... my problem with glasses repair kits, beyond mis-sized screws and bad driver metallurgy, is that I am trying to do fine motor manipulation with out much visual assistance. No matter how bright the light is, doesn't help if you can't see in the first place: it's like shouting at someone who doesn't speak your language. Ineffective. Too, a couple of spectacle failures have involved frame breakage, including one pair of titanium frames that broke at the top of the lens. Duct tape solved the problem, but a spare pair would have solved it better. Note on military/sport glasses: besides being the most effective contraceptive known to humankind, the elastic band gets tired, and, if tightened for improved security, it changes the eye-lens distance and blurs my vision. The best solution is to choose your parents carefully to avoid bad eye genetics-

I feel your pain, and I ,too,have needed my glasses the most when trying to mess with that little screw. i did buy one kit that thoughtfully included a small magnifier. But the best solution is to always carry a spare pair with me.

I always found it very irritating that glasses are very expensive, but most of the repair kits are worthless. For what we have to pay for glasses, they should come with several spare screws and the appropriate driver.

Make your own kit. Ask your eye Doc for spares when you buy your glasses. More than likely they wont charge you for them. Then buy a quality jewler's driver.

ETA: On a recent trip, my titanium frame broke at the bridge. JB Weld held them together untill my new pair arrived, and the color even matched pretty well.

Bought a set of decent drivers years ago. I just hate seeing a kit that costs $2 or more that is worth $0.01.

I am dependent on glasses too. Sometimes when least expected a lense will decide to leave the frame and I find myself trying to fix them while I am half blind. I tried several approaches like having several real cheap glasses around me to use for those critical few minutes.

Maybe I should put a spare pair in the car, but it can happen when I am not in the car. And it is near impossible to carry the spare all time.

Also, having one pair for driving and one for reading complicates things. So, maybe I should have a bifocal, lower half of the lense for close-work trying to fix the original broken pair, and the upper half of the lense for driving back home if I lose the screws or it is too dark to see and fix anything.