TOOL KIT
Getting to Work
by Thomas M. Sadler

There are basically three kinds of tools needed in the dispensary. The first are basic hand tools you can't do without. There's also a variety of hand tools needed to repair three-piece eyewear. And, finally, there are beyond-the-basics tools that simply make your dispensing life easier. Here's a look at each of these areas.

THE BASICS

■ Screwdrivers and blades: A good set, including both straight and philips blades.

■ Wrenches: A set that's sized specifically for nuts used on eyewear.

■ Lens truing pliers: This should have two different rubber jaw pads, one solid and one with a cut-out center, to properly grip the lens and reduce the risk of lens damage.

■ Nosepad adjusting pliers: A good one should have one jaw sized to grip the two most common pad arm boxes and one flat or slightly concave jaw. The jaws should be as thin and narrow as possible, and be polished and rounded on the outside to eliminate the risk of frame damage.

■ Wide temple angling pliers: For adjusting pantoscopic tilt.

■ End piece angling pliers: This has one flat nylon jaw and a tapered round metal jaw. In addition, it is a good idea to have flat/flat end piece angling pliers or nylon bracing pliers on hand. The double flats of these two pliers create a firmer, more secure grip, but do not allow access to the same tight spots as the flat/ round end piece angling pliers.

■ Narrow double nylon pliers: For general gripping and bracing.

■ Cutting pliers: Preferably a chappel cutter for a nearly flush or flat cut on soft metals, and a carbide or stainless steel cutter for hard metals.■ Chain nose, long chain nose, or flat/round pliers: For general bending and or bracing.

■ A set of files: To include at least a fine round (rattail) file, a fine equaling file, a medium coarse half round zyl file, and a fine riffler (screw finishing) file.

The advent of bushing mount and pin-and-screw mount three-piece eyewear has introduced a new set of dispensing and repair problems that require specialized hand tools to solve. Hand tool manufacturers have developed a multitude of tools to solve the dispensing problems created by this popular eyewear.

The tools listed here, when used in combination with the basic tools above, make dispensing three-piece mountings no more difficult than standard eyewire type mountings.

There are two primary problems when dispensing and adjusting three-piece mountings. The first is securely mounting the lens without damaging the lens or frame. Second, because the frame is held together by the lenses, the holes in the lenses become natural weak points. Thus, it's critical to securely stabilize the mounting point and the lens when making adjustments to avoid breaking, cracking, or overstressing.

The following tools have been designed to alleviate these problems, and should be a part of any up-to-date dispensary.

FOR BUSHING MOUNTING

■ Bushing mounting/bracing pliers: Used to both squeeze the end pieces and bridge onto the bushings, and to securely brace the frame part and lens together to eliminate lens stress during frame adjustment. It is important that all pressure exerted by the plier jaws be straight up and down (as opposed to scissoring) for proper assembly and bracing. Parallel action pliers ensure this.

■ Bushing mount removal pliers: Used to gently remove frame parts from lenses by pushing them out of the lens, thereby eliminating the risk of cracking the lens or breaking off the bushing pins. A parallel, straight up and down jaw action is important for effective operation.

■ Bushing cutter: Used to cut off bushing legs prior to assembling the frame to the lens and to cut off the bushing head prior to removal. They are very sharp and smooth to reduce lens damage. It's critical that the cutters never be used for anything but cutting lens mount bushings as any nicks or scratches in the cutting edge will render them useless.

■ Aligning pin (bushing opening pin): Used to re-round and slightly open the bushing legs after cutting them off to ease assembly. This should be made of a plastic or soft metal to avoid lens damage.

FOR SCREW-, POST-, AND NUT-MOUNTING

■ Rimless bracing pliers: To securely brace the frame and lens together in order to eliminate lens stress during frame adjustment.

■ Scratchless screwdriver blades: Both philips and straight. The tips of these blades are recessed slightly within a nylon sleeve to prevent scratching a lens if the screwdriver slips off screw head.

SPECIALTY TOOLS

There are a multitude of unique specialty tools available to help ease the majority of most of the common problems associated with eyewear dispensing.

Some of the most popular of these beyond-the-basics "must have" hand tools include:

■ Cross lock (self-closing) screw holding tweezers: The tip should be small enough to fit into even the tightest screw insertion spot, and it should have enough holding power to allow you to turn the tweezer to get the screw started.

■ 'Pad popper' (snap-in nose- pad removal tool): This allows you to quickly and easily remove snap-in nosepads without throwing the pad adjustment out of alignment.

■ 'Hinge doctor' or spring hinge tool: The best are based on either forceps or pliers which hold the vast majority of spring hinge styles open during assembly for easy screw insertion (or removal).

■ Parallel rubber jaw pliers: For bracing and adjusting zyl frames without scratching or damaging them.

■ Scrutpost or third hand bench block: Used as a basic rubber-topped bench block with added advantage of having a screwdriver blade/wrench tip holder attached. It allows you to hold nuts or screw heads in place while tightening.

In addition to these tools, if you're doing lens drilling or mounting of drilled rimless lenses, you should have a lens hole beveling tool, which enables you to quickly bevel lens holes. All lens holes should be beveled prior to mounting to remove burrs or rough spots, and to reduce the risk of lens cracking or crazing.

There are many more hand tools out there. The best way to see them is to attend trade shows and visit with hand tool manufacturers' booths. They will be happy to update you on the benefits of the tools in their lines, and assist you in determining which hand tools will best suit your specific needs.