Removing gorilla glue from glasses

Soldato
Joined
5 Jul 2006
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2,737
My glasses broke and I decided it would be a good idea to try and glue them back together, result = lens smudged in gorilla glue :(

Does anyone have any tips on removing this?

Mustard didn't work
 
Commissario
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17 Oct 2002
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Panting like a fiend
Acetone if that fails.
I would suggest not using that on spectacles unless they are plain glass rather than any of the more common plastic ones*, and definitely don't use it on lenses with any form of coating as IIRC many of the coatings can be damaged by it (IIRC normal hairspray can be enough to damage some coatings let alone acetone remover).
I may be wrong about it damaging the lenses but unless you can be sure it's quite a risk.

Isopropyl is probably the safest method.


*As it's quite a harsh solvent and can eat some plastics/damage others.
 
Caporegime
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23 Dec 2011
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I would suggest not using that on spectacles unless they are plain glass rather than any of the more common plastic ones*, and definitely don't use it on lenses with any form of coating as IIRC many of the coatings can be damaged by it (IIRC normal hairspray can be enough to damage some coatings let alone acetone remover).
I may be wrong about it damaging the lenses but unless you can be sure it's quite a risk.

Isopropyl is probably the safest method.


*As it's quite a harsh solvent and can eat some plastics/damage others.

Fair point, I'd assumed the lenses would be glass.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Sep 2006
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14,349
Wire wool on glass is good for removing residues especially when used with IPA. Can't say what state it might leave any coatings in as above.
 
Associate
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England
I don't think I've ever had a pair of glasses with actual glass lenses.

Acetone is fairly aggressive, I would proceed with caution.
I've never been offered glass lenses as an option from any optician.

Gorilla glue is polyurathane based. Only acetone will disolve that, but it will also wreck the lenses. I'm afraid the only option is to visit the pound shop and invest a quid in a new pair of glasses.

Incidentally, I have an interesting story related to this. A number of years ago, my glasses disappeared and were eventually found chewed up behind the settee. I suspect the dog, rather than my wife was responsible for this. I bought a pair from the pound shop to tide me over while I waited for the optician to get new glasses made, which took around a fortnight, but then I was silly enough to leave them on the car seat after reading a map and my wife sat on them, so I had to go back to using the pound shop glasses.

To cut a long story short, I went through a period of being as busy as a bagful of busy things and could find the time to get to the opticians so I got into the habit of using the pound shop as the optician of convenience for several years. I only need glasses for reading and the pound shop glasses seemed fine for that, until I took a job that required most of my time using a computer.

I started to become aware of a niggling neck pain that gradually got worse and became so bad that I was constantly taking paracetamol, so I asked the GP what the problem might be. He said it was probably arthritis that I'd have to get used to living with and gave me a sheet of neck exercises to waste my time doing. Anyway, Someone sent me a PDF email attachment that I could barely read and I wondered if I ought to get my eyesight tested again. I did, and was flogged a pair of glasses that were marvelous. When I tried them on in the shop, I could read the smallest text on the card I was offered with absolute clarity, but when I got home, I discovered they were hopeless at reading anything on the computer.

So I went back to the opticians, saw a different bloke and asked what was going on. He asked whether I'd been asked if I used a computer and explained that I'd need mid range glasses for that, so tested me again, using a computer to see what I could and couldn't read. He ordered me new glasses for free and they've been brilliant. While I was with him though, I asked him to explain what the eye tests could tell about my eyesight and he explained that one of my eyes is a fair bit weaker than the other.

"Could this lead to neck pain?" I asked and he replied "Almost definitely." He went on to explain that I will have been slightly twisting my head away from its natural position to compensate for the weaker eye and if I did that for long enough, it would strain the neck muscles. Within a week of getting the new glasses, the neck pain disappeared. As an aside, he also asked about how I had the computer monitor positioned. I told him I'd followed the H&S guidance to the letter. He said the H&S advise I'd been given was utter nonsense. That the natural position for the head to be isn't looking up, but slightly looking down, which sort of makes sense when you consider that humans sucessfully evolved over thousands of years by being more concerned about things that might trip them up, than the modern concept of looking into the sky to wonder if what they saw was a bird, a plane, or Superman.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
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21,778
Might try softening the glue by putting them in hot water and then gently finger nail, say - these glues are usually signficantly weakened at higher temperatures -
hence why I'm looking for something better than standard araldite to fix the favourite mug, they are only specced up to 50c for long term use.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
19 Oct 2002
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Surrey
Maybe try vinegar? But I've no idea whether it might be harmful to any lens coating.

https://www.art-us.com/2019/07/31/how-to-get-super-glue-off-almost-anything/

Vinegar
If you’re nervous about chemicals damaging an item you’ve spilled super glue on, vinegar could be the solution. It’s a natural super glue remover that can be used on a wide range of surfaces. However, vinegar should not be used on rubber, stone, or wood because its acidity damages these materials.
 
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