Objective:

Design a foldable monocle for a standard sized prescription lens.

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Skills and Tools Used:

• Fusion 360

• Parametric Surface Modeling

• Industrial Design Sketching

• 3D Scanning

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Notable Features:

• Spline-driven curvature for customization

• Folds for simple storage

• Standard hinge hardware

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Details:

The monocle was officially declared out of style before the year 1900. Forget style - they're nearly useless from a functional standpoint as well. The monocle was a single round lens with no means of being properly held in front of an eye. 

 

So why do I even care about monocles? Well, if you've ever taken a look at my glasses, you'll see that my right lens is essentially flat glass while my left lens is doing some serious corrective action. I've jokingly told people I could wear a monocle but one day I decided to actually model one.  

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There are a lot of ways I could have gone about doing this one, but I decided to get creative with Fusion 360's spline tool and patch environment. I started with a rough sketch that I inserted as a canvas for reference. I traced the outline of the frame's front before cutting it's shape into a curved surface (our faces are quite round). 

 

The beauty of this method is the ability to make the splines visible and click and drag the control points in real time. It allows for immediate changes, subtle or extreme, to the frame curvature.

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I threw in a leg and hinge of my own design using similar methods. There are a few websites online where collections of nose pads, hinges, etc. can be bought. For the sake of simplicity I'd be more likely to use these if I decide to bring this into the real world.

 

My next steps with this project would be to 3D print and finish the frames, and look to get a prescription lens made by one of the companies online that provides this custom service. Alternatively it may be best to  fit the frame to accept a common set of lenses from Warby Parker or similar.

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The beauty of this monocle is the fact that it doesn't need to be held by hand in front of the face. Getting it to stay on the bridge of my nose may still be a challenge, but its a step in the right direction. I'll finally be able to use my left eye to clearly see other people wondering what's on my face.