Adapting open and closed glasses to a half mask, and a home-made shutter for open glasses

Studying the PPE market in the winter, I came across several rather interesting solutions. “I want the same, but to those PPE OD that I already have,” I thought.

The first of them, closed glasses perfectly sitting on a half mask, alas the integrated decision. I was not satisfied with how my closed glasses combined with a half mask. The glasses sit too high, severely restricting the view down and I saw that many faced the same problem.



Second, open glasses with good ventilation from the bottom and back, not fitting tightly to the face, but with a soft shutter in the forehead and protection on the sides. Alas, designed to be worn on the bridge of the nose, and not on top of the half mask. It’s still more interesting here, I haven’t seen any light glasses that could be worn over a half mask, but I periodically feel the need for such a solution. Something light and not bulky when it is necessary to protect not only the respiratory system, but also the eyes. For example, grinding plastic with a dremel or going to the store. Since I already have a half mask, and a mask mode was introduced in my city, I use it to go outside.



I suppose many who have solved the problem of selecting glasses for wearing with a half mask are faced with the fact that this is not easy. Often, closed glasses sit higher than we would like, and open glasses are designed to be worn on the bridge of the nose, and it is much narrower than a half mask in the same area. Given that manufacturers recommend such a fit, there is no room for glasses on the bridge of the nose.



As an example, open glasses on a half mask 3M 7500 size M



Closed glasses from the Panorama series from ROSOMZ on a half mask jetasafety 6500 size S are not in sight. Such a high landing of closed glasses greatly limits the view down under the legs.



Both open and closed on the half mask sit tall, leaving a noticeable hole in the area where the nose bridge passes into the forehead. The lower edge of the glasses is too high, as a result, the glasses cover the forehead more, which is not very healthy, since the forehead can sweat quite a lot, and this leads to fogging of the visor. And if the wind is outside, then the nose will also noticeably blow. If the wind is cold, then the combination of a face steamed under a mask and a cold wind into the bridge of the nose is not a pleasant feeling.

Having personally encountered all these problems, I began to look for a solution and was extremely surprised to find that it was essentially not on the market. I could not find either open or closed glasses that were designed to be worn over a half mask, had a wide and deep neckline, designed to rely on it, not on the bridge of the nose, and provided good visibility under my feet.

Unfortunately, the market does not offer what I need, and the acquisition of what I would like to modify is difficult. So you need to make the necessary glasses yourself, by modifying what is available.

At hand there were 3 modifications of closed glasses from ROSOMZ Panorama series ZNG-1 model, with articles 22111, 22130, 22147. All Panorama ZNG-1 glasses have a frame of the same design, but it differs in different modifications in material and color. Important clarification. Unfortunately, despite the fact that these glasses are called leakproof, like many other glasses with a similar name, they do not provide real tightness, which for example is provided by glasses and masks for swimming. This is prevented by the design of the shutter glasses. Below is a photograph of the work of antifog on glasses with the article number 22147. The only ones that have a perfectly working antifog coating. I used them at least seven times, antifog continues to work fine. I did not touch the inside of the lens and did not process it with anything. It can be seen that the frame and skin are covered with large drops of sweat,the visor retains transparency, drops do not form on it.



General view of the ZNG-1 glasses with the article number 22111. In the future, we will talk about them.



Even on the farm there was a pair of open glasses from Maksidoma for a price of less than 100 rubles. They partially allowed me to check the possibility of modification, but they did not completely satisfy me.



I was satisfied with the available closed glasses as an object for modification and I didn’t look for a replacement, but I wanted more from the open ones, and ROSOMZ found something that looked suitable and easily acquired.



I began to study the possibility of the simplest alteration of easily accessible to purchase and my available points. I needed a deep fit glasses on the half mask without gaps and a shutter for open glasses. The task was complicated by the fact that it was necessary to ensure the compatibility of glasses with two different models of half masks, two different sizes. The half masks that I have are quite different in shape in the region of the bridge of the nose, where the glasses sit on it. I have 3M 7500 and jetasafety 6500. Each of the masks in sizes S and M. Alas, I do not have masks of size L, so I can not experiment with them. But, as we will see later, the fact that I did not have half masks in size L is not critical. In 3M, the half-mask above the bridge of the nose has a more “sharp” shape, while in jeta it is more rounded - volume. In the photo this may not be so clearly visible,but further I will show this difference more clearly.


It's time to get Dremel and "saw." The first option, the simplest and cheapest solution - glasses from Maksidoma. We grind plastic, for this I used a nozzle emery shaft. After processing four points, the skin wear is minimal, it is almost nonexistent.



To get rid of the nasal stop faster and easier, I decided not to grind off the entire volume of plastic, but grind off only the lens.



Next was multiple fitting and fitting. I highly recommend not to rush, to grind the lens a little bit, not more than 1 mm at a time, especially at the beginning, when you make the first glasses and more often try on the resulting result on the half mask and on the template, about it a little lower. It is important to try on exactly the half-mask put on, since the slings pulling the half-mask to the face slightly deform it.

I recommend making a template according to the shape of the visor so that in the process of grinding the lenses apply it to them to control the symmetry of grinding. To make it in the simplest way, you will need a couple more hands. I hope someone who agrees for a minute to hold a sheet of thin paper pressed to the glasses visor while you circle its outline with a pencil. You can do without an assistant if you are smart enough. Or use tape or clothespins. But be careful not to damage the visor.



It is important that the paper is well stretched, straightened and not shifted in the process, it is easier to work with thin paper. Instead of a pencil, you can use coal, I think even crayons will do.



Before each fitting, I washed my glasses under running water and wiped them dry. When you have reached the shape you need, wash it, wipe the glasses and process the edge with sandpaper, sandpaper, I used the 1500 number. After that, wash and wipe again.

Now modify the half mask. To eliminate the gaps into which air penetrates, especially with a strong headwind, I used a widespread and cheap sealant with a D-shaped profile on an adhesive base 10 mm wide. It easily glues to the half mask and easily peels off from it without leaving any residue. Further, when I mention the gasket, it will be specifically about him.

The final result in the picture below, now a more detailed description of the process.

We measure the visor with a ruler, we need its even part. We apply a sealant and check that its height is enough to exclude pressure on the forehead of the plastic part of the glasses. Degrease the visor. Glue the D-shaped seal directly on the inner surface of the visor, as in the image below. We try on a half mask with glasses, remember or mark where the glasses sit on the half mask. We measure the mask with a ruler or a soft tailor's centimeter, approximately along the line of the glasses, I have it about one centimeter from the edge, and cut off another piece of sealant for it. Degrease the half mask. We cut the sealant along the center with scissors and glue it on the half mask. Theoretically, the sealant can also be glued to the visor, for example using a glue gun. I have not tested this possibility, but I admit that such a solution can be no less convenient.

My seal is glued so that these glasses, of this particular model, sit behind it directly on the half mask, closer to the face, and lie in this position on the forehead. In the event that I put the glasses in the slot, I will have a little more ventilation and the glasses will not fit on my forehead, but their fixation will nevertheless be excellent. For example, on a hot summer day, you can leave the house walking along the street, putting glasses in the sealant slot so that they don’t lie on your forehead and definitely do not fog up, and before you go into a store or transport, you can change the glasses' fit for better protection. Since a mask mode has been introduced in my city, this situation is quite relevant for me, and using closed glasses in the summer in the heat is not always convenient and justified. They are bulky, the slopes are easy to fog, and sometimes provide, perhaps, even an excessive level of protection.This is a small non-critical option, and if you do not need it, you can stick the seal slightly closer to put the glasses in it. Putting glasses in the slot gives a number of advantages. They are tightly clamped and hold better, because of this it is not scary to lean forward, the glasses will not fall, the sealant protrudes slightly in front of the glasses, which looks more harmonious.



If the length of the sealant glued to the half mask is such that it extends with the ends under the lines, this will be slightly more reliable, since the lines will press the ends of the seal, preventing them from peeling off. But this is not critical, and I now have a half mask on which the ends of the seal do not go under the slings, nevertheless, it keeps excellent. But I recommend still to lead the ends under the slings.

You can try to achieve the perfect following of the glasses, the contour of the half mask, but with intense deep breathing, it will move to the beat of it. Put on a half mask without a glued seal, put on glasses, and breathe deeply in front of the mirror, pay attention to the place where the glasses fit to the half mask. So you can evaluate how this effect is expressed in your half mask with your breath. On my masks, the left and right parts of the envelope of the bridge of the nose move, expanding as you exhale and narrowing when you inhale. Jeta has a much stronger effect than 3M. Such strong, regular deformations naturally contribute to the fact that the seal will peel off over time on the jeta half mask. But if your breathing is calmer and more superficial, then the half mask will not bend so much, and the seal will hold as well as on the 3M half mask.



In addition, the mask in this place has a complex profile, and even a slight displacement of the glasses forward or backward from the point of perfect fit creates micro-slots into which the headwind can blow out, which, personally, is at least unpleasant for me. Also, the use of a sealant allows you to slightly maintain the profile, which makes it easier to fit the glasses under the half mask and saves time. I use a sealant on my half masks. If you don’t need a seal, or for example it will interfere with wearing closed glasses, you can remove it at any time, without effort and without a trace.

I must warn that the glued seal is likely to interfere with the fit of closed glasses, please consider this nuance in advance. Perhaps in your case, with your glasses, this will not happen, I have such an effect. Despite the fact that the seal can be peeled off and removed, think about how you plan to use a half mask and with what glasses. But, you can modify the closed glasses by cutting off part of the shutter on them. It can also contribute to a deeper fit. Uncut cropped goggles on size S half masks were extremely uncomfortable, it was almost impossible to use such a bunch. After circumcision, the situation has improved markedly. The photo below shows that the glasses do not completely fit on the mask, this is due to the fact that on a jeta in the amount of S, the glasses rest against the slings. If you lightly push the glasses on top,they will sit on the mask without a gap. In masks of both manufacturers in size M, this problem is less pronounced.



On a 3M half mask in size S, I made small foamiran inserts inside the glasses to cover the cracks, as the cut was made for the jeta half mask.



From this angle, you can see how the glasses put pressure on the slings, bending them. Due to the fact that the jeta half mask has a different shape, there are no gaps and there is no need to block them, despite the fact that the half mask is in size S



There is no gap on the bridge of the nose, the landing has become perfect, but because the lines still press on glasses, when worn, a small gap is formed, as on the half mask from 3M in the photo above, so I recommend using a sealant to eliminate it.



Another perspective, the glasses are sitting pretty deep, the review is down, under the legs it got better.



On a jeta in the amount of M, the nose is sitting tight. Then the slings no longer push the half mask up.



There are no gaps in the nose bridge with a mask in size M. There are two small gaps in the area where under the half mask there are nose wings. It is seen that a green shadow falls on the white seal, in this place you can not cut off the eyeglass shutter to zero, then there will be no gaps. Since these glasses acted as a test sample, they are cut off so that they are worn on all of my half masks, of all sizes, but cracks form on some half masks. If you cut to one specific half mask, the gaps can be completely eliminated.



Here is the shape of my cutouts. For 3M half masks, the cutout should be smaller. Its borders can be drawn along the edge of the foamiran. For jeta half masks, the cutout can be done as cut off from me. In any case, if you decide on this modification, I would recommend conducting it on a cheap model of glasses, and try to cut it very carefully, cutting off a couple of millimeters and checking the fit after each cut. After modification, it blows less into the glasses, and they sit lower and denser.



I suppose that small pieces of foam rubber would be better able to cope with the task of overlapping these slots of complex shape, but in this case it is certainly better to cut to a specific model, so as not to fight with the slots later. For these glasses, versatility is not so simple.



The first version of the modification of open glasses was a success. He confirmed: landing glasses directly on the half mask is possible, as well as a deeper landing than the one that most glasses demonstrate.

It's time to take on the shutter. To do this, I took glasses from ROSOMZ from the Vision series and made a cutout for the largest mask available. In my case, this is a jeta 6500 in size M. This is the largest cutout, on all other glasses the cutout will be slightly smaller.



For obturator I used foamiran 1 mm thick. This material can easily wipe with 96% ethanol for disinfection. A thickness of 1 mm provides the required level of ductility, you can also use material with a thickness of 0.8 mm, I made one shutter out of it, it works great. I would not recommend a thicker material, as in some places there are sharp bends, and as a result we will get not only increased pressure on the forehead, but also an increased load on the adhesive tape. In fact, I did not see the need for a thicker or thinner material, foamiran 1 mm thick in my opinion is best suited to solve the problem. I glued the shutter on a double-sided tape 5 mm wide, you can take the tape a little narrower, but I do not recommend it wider, I half-open my existing tape in half.We start with a shutter which essentially turns open glasses into closed ones, while maintaining the ease of open ones. We glue the adhesive tape to the vertical protective surface, having previously measured the length of the flat part (I have adhesive tape 130 mm long) and degreasing the surface. Ethanol was used to wipe the area where the adhesive tape will be pasted.



The cutout is made under the jeta 6500 half mask, but if you use a gasket, even with such a cutout, the glasses will sit very well on the 3M 7500 half mask, which will be seen later.



At the bottom, we also degrease and glue 2 pieces of adhesive tape, cutting off one corner of each as shown in the photo. We press the shutter to the edge of the visor so that there are no gaps, and glue it. I did not stick the shutter on the tape on the sides, although this is possible for this model, since the tape will be visible in these places, and I did not have any need for amplification in this place, the shutter is so perfectly held and fits snugly to the glasses in this area.



This is perhaps the best example of the wide compatibility of a half mask seal. Glasses bored for jeta 6500 in size M on a half mask 3M 7500 and even in size S. By the way, the photo shows that if the glasses were bored less, they would rest on the slings and would not sit so deep. So if you want to put your glasses as deep as possible on a 3M 7500 in size S, you still have to grind something to make slings. In size M, everything is somewhat simpler, the half mask is larger, the nose is farther (higher) from the lines, and even with a deep landing, the glasses barely touch them. I did not make the cut-out for the bridge of the nose too deep, as there is a restriction for looking from above due to the obturator, and there is too little plastic in the center, which will require even more careful handling of the glasses in order to avoid breakage in this refined place.



The junction is large.



A small gap forms under the sling, in case of urgent need it can be covered with a piece of foam, glued to the sling on a double-sided tape. I did not have a goal to create airtight glasses and I did not begin to fight it.



So the obturator looks on its side, you can play with the form.



The same glasses with the same obturator, but on a miniature girl with a half mask in size S. It can be seen that the obturator reaches the ear, but does not rest against it, despite the smaller size of the head, it can be used without cutting, which makes glasses with such universal shutter, can be worn by any family member. Perhaps in your family the situation will be different and a slight fit will be required.



The fit to the head is perfect. At the same time, the shutter is soft and leaves no residue. The main idea that I pursued when patterning this obturator was to make a lightweight analogue of closed glasses, with maximum protection in front from above and behind. The small slots below did not bother me.



On a jeta of size M, the glasses sit without gaps on the bridge of the nose. Below, it was possible to make a more complex shape of the cutout for the slings, then the visor would fit snugly to the half mask.



So glasses with a cutout for jeta 6500 in size M sit on jeta in size S. Glasses rest on slings, if you press on them from above they gently lie on the half mask. For the jeta 6500 in size S, I recommend making the cutout deeper to avoid the situation where you need to grind the visor from below due to the fact that it began to rely on slings. However, even with such a cutout, the sealant glued to this half mask will remove the gap, and allowed the jeta 6500 in size S to be worn with these glasses. Which brings us to the fact that glasses bored for a jeta 6500 in size M can be worn with a jeta 6500 in size S and 3M 7500 in size S if a sealant is glued on the half mask of size S.



Landing the same glasses on the jeta 6500 in size M with a gasket. It can be seen that at the bottom it was possible to remove a little less plastic, and the nose bridge to make not such a small radius but a little more.



Then I decided to make the option of a lighter shutter with better ventilation.



There is less protection, but for use in the heat. The field of vision at the edges is expanded, due to which ventilation holes appeared there. There is no fit from below, but on top the protection is kept in full, and at the back, the protection has slightly deteriorated but has not completely disappeared.



These glasses are without a seal, the cutout is made under the jeta half mask in size M. As you can see, there are no gaps, such a landing can be achieved, but with a seal, I still consider it more reliable.



To lighten, to lighten so I thought, and made an option for completely “safe” places, one might say from dust. Of course, it is possible to reduce the sidewalls even more, but I did not like how the shutter starts to behave along the edges, so I settled on this option as the lightest. You can experiment with the shape of the sidewalls by slightly changing it, but maintaining close values ​​in length and height.



I decided to try to try to put these glasses on the 3M 7500 without a gasket.



I didn’t bore some glasses, but to make a light shutter for them, at the same time to play with the shape of the side, making it more elegant and less noticeable.



With a respirator Julia - 319 the nose of the glasses was well compatible.



I have one more glasses in my household that I didn’t modify, but which also cost less than 100 rubles at Maksidoma, and if desired, can be modified as well as the very first glasses that I wasted about and wrote about in this article. They have a number of advantages over the first points from the review, they are better protected on the sides, have adjustable arms and a little narrower. So if you need the simplest and cheapest glasses, I would recommend them.



But if you have the opportunity to take points from ROSOMZ, then take the time and money, they are worth it. Please note that ROSOMZ in the Vision series has glasses with both adjustable arms and non-adjustable ones. Also in this series there are glasses with various visor coatings and with different shapes and colors of the arms. Below are a few examples.

Glasses with unregulated arms.



Glasses with adjustable arms of a "complex" shape.



Glasses with adjustable arms of a "simple" form.



The entire series of glasses Vision has a mechanism that allows you to slightly adjust the tilt of the visor relative to the arms. This adjustment has two positions. Position one: the arches are “pressed”



Position two: the arches “move away” from the visor forming a gap, moving the glasses away from the forehead and slightly tilting them towards the ground. The change of position occurs by turning the arms, as when folding, and at the same time pulling or pushing movement.



The adjustment is not so great, but it may be important for someone. This option is not striking and I paid special attention to it, as I discovered it only a couple of days after the purchase, when I began to carefully examine the glasses when installing the shutter.



I believe that some readers will pay attention to the fact that in the photographs the half mask is adjacent to the beard. In order to anticipate completely fair comments that a beard with a half mask cannot be worn, I will show how I do it and don’t do it at the same time. I checked where the shutter goes and now I am shaving this area with a small margin.

Photo of a beard if you are interested in how it looks live

If you decide to do, an obturator, for the ROSOMZ glasses of the Vision model, so that it would be a little easier for me than at the beginning, I will attach a template file that you can rely on.

If you draw the template yourself, here are a couple of the numbers that I got when measuring the template. I can’t say that my measurements were super accurate, but this accuracy was more than enough to make a template from soft material.

For Vision Series glasses, the bend of the visor comes with a radius of about 250 mm, I took a chord of 140 mm and used this very size in the manufacture of my obturators as the outer radius. The inner radius of the shutter adjacent to my head is 85 mm, the width of the shutter in the center is 25 mm. The distance from the temple to the temple inside the neckline, after which I began to turn from the temples, to form a lateral protection of 102 mm. The depth of cut under the head is about 30 mm for light shutters and 90 mm for the most massive.

Depending on your individual characteristics, it may be better for you to use a shutter with a different inner radius or a different width, here you can play a little bit in size, customizing them for yourself. I used kitchen utensils to select the radius and draw patterns, pan covers, salad bowls, etc. To maintain symmetry in the lateral parts, I did the following. Having achieved the form I needed for one of the sidewalls, I gently bent the shutter without creases in the center, so that my reference points would coincide. As reference points, I used four points, two on the outside and two on the inside of the shutter. In the dimensioned drawing below, these are the ends of the blue lines. I also recommend trimming the sides very carefully for a little bit to achieve the best result. In order not to transfer foamiran to experiments,Initially, you can pick up a form using paper. The sides, for the shutter turning open glasses into closed ones, in their front part will have the form as in the photo below. These are the largest sidewalls that I used when patterning the shutter.



Since the head is usually not a ball, with the above dimensions, I had to reduce the inner radius when approaching the temples in order to avoid the formation of gaps between the head and the obturator. I used a radius of 25 mm to bring the inner edge of the shutter to the temples. Please ignore the signs after the dot or round the values, an accuracy of 1 mm is enough.



If your half masks are the same as mine, you can appreciate the cutout shape from the photographs of my templates. Here is a comparison of the patterns taken from my three points. The widest and most versatile cutout, then the cutout is pretty close to the contour of the jeta 6500 half mask in size M, and the last cutout corresponds to 3M 7500 in size M. The internal angles are about 79, 55 and 49 degrees, respectively. The radius of the rounding on the bridge of the nose was about 11 mm for 3M to 15 mm for jeta. The cutout for landing on the half mask in size S without a seal will be slightly different. I repeat that not only the size and model of the half mask will affect the shape of the cutout, but also the location of the glasses, which will depend on the shape of the head, face, degree of tightening of the lines and the resulting half-mask deformation.So I highly recommend grinding the lens to constantly try on glasses on a half-mask put on.



The depth of the cut I got from 38 to 47 mm. I would not do more than 50 mm, since a noticeable limitation of the field of view from above begins and too little plastic remains in the center. It is not possible to make less than 30 mm on the Vision glasses, since it is precisely such a cut that goes to them initially.



The image below is clickable, under the link JPG 140 x 57 mm with a resolution of 300 dpi which can be printed on A4 sheet. You need to print with the setting - the original size, scale is 100%. You can also use
this pdf file for printing,
it contains the same template. You need to print pdf on a scale of 100%



In conclusion, I want to note that for several weeks I have been using the modifications described in the material and have not encountered any problems. However, I assume that in case of active use, after some time the obturator may require replacement. In this connection, most likely you will have to remove adhesive tape from the glasses, since over time the glue may lose its original properties and re-gluing the seal, it will become impossible for the same adhesive tape. Although my experiments over the course of a couple of days while I was working on the shutters showed that the adhesive tape quite firmly holds the shutter glued 3-4 times, and foamiran without any problems withstands the process of peeling and re-gluing without severe deformations or any other dramatic consequences. The sealant glued to the half mask can be considered a consumable,in case you often disinfect or clean the half mask. It can be glued again every time, since it doesn’t need much at all, it costs a penny and is sold everywhere. But the removed seal can also be glued again using double-sided tape.

I want to express my gratitude Deearsther for patience and assistance in working on a project, as well as respected steanlabfor valuable advice, motivation and support.

I will be very glad to hear your comments on this material, maybe I missed something or did not take it into account, and your sharp eye and bright mind noticed it. Thank you for reading to the end. I hope this material will be useful to you.