Motorcycle Fast Glasses An Overwhelming Success But Still Room For Improvement.

I'm finally getting caught up on a couple of projects this week with the arrival of my new prescription glasses for my motorcycle helmet.  This project I posted about a few weeks ago and I was able to test the design and fabrication I call "Fast Glasses" yesterday.  To help those who have not read the earlier post get caught up I have been working on a new setup for my motorcycle helmet which makes it easier to wear glasses when I ride.  The big problem I have when getting ready to ride and even during the ride itself is having to put on glasses as I cannot wear contacts and do not wish to have eye surgery to correct my vision.  To put on regular glasses is a pain both figuratively as well as literally. So with all of this in mind I worked out a design so that my prescription glasses could be attached magnetically to the inside of my helmet. Instead of having my glasses placed on my face this new design allows me to make the process of putting on, wearing and taking off the glasses faster, as well as easier.

This is the design that I came up with for my glasses that I tested.  The glasses are held in place with mounts that are attached to the inside of the helmet using Velcro strips and magnetic mounts.  Attached to the glasses themselves are the mating magnetic mounts to hold the glasses in place while riding.  I was able to test the new setup yesterday and am happy to report that the design works perfectly. The glasses only take about a second to painlessly put on or remove and are as comfortable to wear as not having to wear glasses at all as there are no frames sandwiched between my head and the padding on the inside of the helmet.   For long rides this will be a huge advantage and will make riding that much more enjoyable.  I was also very much impressed by this and the fact that there is no additional vibration or maybe even less vibration than wearing regular glasses when riding.

There was only one flaw that I could find with the design and that is the current problem to solve at this point.  The mounts are very stable and secure but a bit larger than I wanted as it made my side vision kind of like wearing blinders. Not completely blocking my view but just enough to be distracting.  Not a good thing on a motorcycle so back to modifying my first attempt of this design on this project was called for.

I first off tracked down some smaller magnets for the mounts.  The original magnets are quite small already but not small enough to solve the side vision problem.  I did some searching online and found some neodymium magnets that are only 1/8" x 1/8" x 1/2" in size. I have used similar magnets in other projects and they should be plenty strong for the task at hand. This will help a lot in reducing the overall dimensions of the mounts that are on the glasses.  You can see a big difference in the photos above. The new mounts are quite a bit smaller and will reduce the side vision obstruction by one half.  The original mount is 1/2" thick as the new mount is only 1/4" thick.  A vast improvement.

Here's a view of my new glasses with the old and new magnetic mounts on them.  You can see a big difference in size between the new mounts.  The clip that holds the mount on the left side was not trimmed yet in this photo as I only set it up to show you where I am headed with the design.

The top view of the glasses with the mounts show very little difference in size but I am more concerned about the thickness not the width of the two.  There is more than enough room for the new mounts inside my helmet once the glasses are in place for riding.

Here you really can tell the difference in the two mounts.  The new mount is much smaller than the old mount so it should solve my side vision blinder problem rather nicely.  I also have refined the smaller mount further by decreasing the cavity for the glasses mounting arm to eliminate any vibration or slop in the mount.  The new mount feels much more solid and secure with these modifications.

This is how the new glasses will look once I get the smaller magnets installed into the setup.  All I have to do now is wait for the mailman (mailperson?) to deliver the new parts and I'll have everything ready to assemble.  I also tracked down some simple clip on sunglasses for the new Fast Glasses yesterday that work with the new lenses so I will have that covered as well.  I'll post again with final result once I get what I need. But with what I've learned so far it looks like this project will be an overwhelming success! Have a good one.