Fixing broken Metolius belay glasses

I just snapped the leg on my third pair of Metolious belay glasses. Every time it's snapped cleanly where the leg makes a swoopy bend. Any ideas on how to fix it? Tape does not stabilize it well and glue is impossible. I was thinking about maybe getting one of those heat shrink plastic tubes at a hardware store. Metolius would probably take it back and give me a new pair but I hate to throw things in the trash. 

You mean you broke one of the temples where it bends to go around your ear? Or do you mean the end piece, the part of the frame just past the prisms?

My suggestion would be to contact Metolious and ask what replacement parts they can supply. But your heat shrink might work using several layers.

Call metolius, I have had great experiences with them either repairing or renewing equipment over the decades.

James Arnold wrote:

Call metolius, I have had great experiences with them either repairing or renewing equipment over the decades.

Same here and they're very efficient.

Hey, thanks everyone recommending that I contact Metolius. They have already replaced one pair of snapped specs for me. I'm sure they would do it again. I just hate to trash things if I don't have to. I would like to repair if possible. There is no replacement part. The part that snapped is the twist in the main frame that holds the prisms, before the hinge. 

Wire and JB Weld. Won't be pretty but.

Possibly a short section of metal spring slipped over and packed with JB Weld.

If you have this problem or similar ones where the manufacturer doesn't rock like Metolius:

If you live/travel somewhere they clean the streets, pick up a few street-sweeper bristles that you'll find lying on the pavement. They are a very nice, stiff spring steel, perfectly shaped for splinting eyewear temples. Fatigue flex one of the bristles until it breaks at the right size. Goober on some generic, good hardware store grade glue (epoxy, E6800...), and then surround all with heat shrink tubing and shrink. 

The street sweeper bristles can work well for cam trigger pull splints too. 

Love this forum! Thanks everyone for the great advice. Good to learn about JB weld and the utility of street sweeper bristles. If I try one of those, I'll report back. 

Last night I tried one more low effort fix with climber tape, mummy wrapping very tightly in each direction a few times with very overlapped turns of the tape, just a few mm offset each turn. It appears to be holding for now, not floppy Let's see how long it lasts. 

Well, I wrote to Metolius just to let them know about my newly snapped pair for their tracking and product development purposes. They wrote back saying they have a new batch with better materials and they want me to be a product tester - presumably since I'm so good at breaking their stuff with my normal wear and tear. Ha! I guess I'm getting a free pair after all. I have accepted for the good of their R&D department.

L Kap wrote:

Well, I wrote to Metolius just to let them know about my newly snapped pair for their tracking and product development purposes. They wrote back saying they have a new batch with better materials and they want me to be a product tester - presumably since I'm so good at breaking their stuff with my normal wear and tear. Ha! I guess I'm getting a free pair after all. I have accepted for the good of their R&D department.

TLDR - get metal frame belay glasses

Long story -

Got my 1st belay glasses in ~2012, "Belay Specs". Wore them over prescription glasses, loved them. My wife, on other hand, did not share my joy.
She tried someone's YY plastic belay glasses, liked them. We got a pair. Plastic flexed, both prisms popped out, easy fix. Year later,  leg broke, used tape to keep it all together. I also saw writing on the wall, and got YY metal belay glasses. Metal frames were more expensive than plastic frames, but we have been using them for, probably, 8-9 years without any problems.

PSA - make an effort to tighten all screws once in a blue moon.

TLDR - get metal frame belay glasses

My first pair of belay glasses (CU brand) was metal frames with plastic tubes over the metal prongs that sit on the nose. The plastic eventually came off the metal prongs which left only a thin sheet of metal sticking up on either side of my nose. I did not like having that kind of pokey metal on my face where it seemed like one bad slam into the wall or a falling climber could result in a nasty collision of sharp metal and my cheek or eyeball.

I do like the Metolius belay specs very much, but for the tendency to snap. They are comfortable and do an excellent job of bringing the climber into focus usually by the first gym bolt, which my first-gen CU metal pair did not do. That pair was not useful until the climber was at about the 3rd bolt.

Have the metal ones improved any?

I'm hoping this new Metolius pair - with claimed improvements to materials - is less prone to snappage. 

L Kap wrote: amarius wrote:

My first pair of belay glasses (CU brand) was metal frames with plastic tubes over the metal prongs that sit on the nose. The plastic eventually came off the metal prongs which left only a thin sheet of metal sticking up on either side of my nose. I did not like having that kind of pokey metal on my face where it seemed like one bad slam into the wall or a falling climber could result in a nasty collision of sharp metal and my cheek or eyeball.

I do like the Metolius belay specs very much, but for the tendency to snap. They are comfortable and do an excellent job of bringing the climber into focus usually by the first gym bolt, which my first-gen CU metal pair did not do. That pair was not useful until the climber was at about the 3rd bolt.

Have the metal ones improved any?

I'm hoping this new Metolius pair - with claimed improvements to materials - is less prone to snappage. 

The back view of YY Classics - hope it helps to get a better idea how it is put together. The plastic nose saddle is attached to the metal pieces using screws, a bit similar to the regular eyeglass design. The saddle conforms to the shape of user's nose quite nicely.

My original Belay Specs had tubing over metal pieces, it fell apart. I put climber's tape over them, then got replacement