I found this old pair of cheap goggles, both as in made that way and for me to purchase. The lenses were some kind of really thin plastic, like the blister packs toys and screws and stuff come in, obviously replacements. I bought the thinnest acrylic sheet that Lowes had to make some new lenses. They needed to be curved, so I made a little buck out of wood, cut two rectangles of the plastic roughly the right size, set them on top of the buck, and put them in the oven (all of that was done one at a time). Started at 220 degrees and just kept creeping up until I got to 310, where the plexi sagged right down. I took the protective film off first and was real careful not to touch the plastic, either before I put it in the oven or until it had cooled. I used some card stock to make a pattern that fit each side pretty well, then covered both sides of the acrylic with masking tape and marked them out. A few minutes at the belt sander and I was done. I did have to chamfer the edges a little from the inside to make it thin enough to fit the pre-formed groove in the sheet aluminum frames. Those frames have a joint that is held together by little bent tabs. Popped those loose, stuck the lenses in, and tabbed it all back together. If you look close there are some gaps and whoopties where the frames have been bent, and I'll have to do something about that strap, and they are still pretty cheap, but at least they are functional. It was an enjoyable way to spend an hour or so. The $4 I spent on the plastic almost doubled my investment, though. Haha
The Jalopy Journal
