Armour Etch
The last time I got glasses, I let the salesman talk me into the UV/Anti-Glare coating, which I'd never had before. After time, the coating began to develop tiny, really fine scratches, which kept building and building. They got so bad, I was going to get new glasses -- until a friend recommended Armour Etch, a glass etching cream you can get at art/craft stores like Michael's or Dick Blick. The way it removed the coating, leaving me with a perfectly unscratched lens, was phenomenal!! I do experience a little more glare without the coating, but I can live with that -- having the scratches was driving me nuts! Instead of having to spend $100+ on new lenses, I got away with spending a little over $10!
A word of caution: this acid (hydrofluoric) solution is for glass etching, so you CANNOT use Armour Etch on glass lenses; otherwise, you will literally etch and ruin your lenses. You must be certain you have plastic lenses. It should be safe on most polycarbonate lenses (it left mine completely unscathed). However, I'd only try this when you have nothing to lose. Always do a small test first, too. After applying the cream to a tiny spot, I went ahead and did the whole lens, coating each side for 1-2 minutes, rinsing and then repeating. While I wore standard latex gloves and did this in a well-vented area, Armour Etch is designed for crafters, so it doesn't require a fume hood or anything. Afterwards, I rinsed the glasses for a few minutes under hot tap water, applied soap and water, and finally used a lens cloth. I was taking a big risk since I'd never done glass etching before and I wasn't certain it would work. But it did, and I got a "like new" pair of glasses for just a few bucks!
-- David Gulbransen
Armour Etch
$10
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Armour Products
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Favorite (15)
Freddie
The eyeglass place can remove the coating for you and will do so at no charge if they are under warranty and you complain about the scratches.
jarre
Even if the glasses is plastic lens?
Reply with adding extra wow to my email
thanks
ipodrulz
Will this work on the iPhone!?
Rob
I bet ya this would work great for DVDs & CRRom & Games
Iansy
Wow. I had a go at this, a little skeptically, with a pair of high-index glasses with a beat-up teflon antiglare coating. It worked very close to perfectly. Amazing.
Abbie
Wouldn't this change your prescription?
Juli
This made mine even worse. It removed the anti glare but left the lenses more scratchy and foggy than when I started. I rinsed and repeated 4 times. I guess I over cleaned them! If you try this maybe stop at 2 applications.
Damage
I want to say this works, though the polishing bit required a bit of effort. The coating on my lens was a bit more tougher to remove. It required copious amounts of Armour Etch as well and this made me nervous. I will live with extra glare for a clean lens.
BoatFloat
Folks here's the deal with HF acid, it's 100% safe in plastic, in fact it can only be stored in plastic bottles. As far as I know there are three things it won't eat.
Plastic
Platinum
Diamonds/sapphire crystal.
To remove the coating perfectly, I would remove the lens from the frame, and put it in a tupperware container, cover it in the etching solution and let sit. to the peson who got light scratches, either you had glass lenses, or there was an additional abbrasive in the form of etching stuff you used. Make sure it ONLY contains HF, do not rub it with the compound on there, rinse it first.
If it hasn't removed the coating, find a solution with a higher concentration of HF, go high enough and it will eat the coating:)
I have worked with HF up to around 52% and it is still perfectly fine with plastics at that concentration, despite the fact that a small exposure(around the size of a couple of quarters) can easily ruin your life. It is very dangerous because you do not feel the exposure at the time, it will become painful within the next 8-10 hours depending on the concentration and the amount you were exposed to.
a 52% concentration will eat straight to the bone, and everything it touched will literally fall out of your body in the next day or so. Even limited exposure to low concentration is serious and bad for your organs, inside your body the fluorides released will combine with the calcium in your body and remove it, wear nitrile gloves when playing with it(5$ for a 100 count box) put baking soda inside your gloves, if there is any leak you will feel the fizzing and it will help to neutralize it. This is standard operating procedure at a very large plant dealing with HF baths for parts.
Also, when rinsing, catch the rinse water in a plastic container, put in your gloves(don't touch the outside when removing them!) and add a bit of baking soda, you want it to be neutral before it goes down the drain to limit the damage it can cause.
GerN
To remove coatings on lenses, try ethylene glycol, or antifreeze. Much safer than HF acid, and shouldn't hurt glass.
jo
Bought one. Work on my scratched glasses, revive as new. Only one thing, the deeper scratch, remain there. I suppose anything cut through the plastic will not work other than scratch on the coating.
eileen
worked great and sears said it was my fault . TOLD ME THEY WERE SCRATCHES IN THE LENSES CAUSED BY ME NOT KNOWING HOW TO WASH MY GLASSES. EVEN I COULD SEE THE SCRATCHED COATING AND GOOK AND I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL MR. SEARS !!!!!!
Hobby Etcher
"Also, when rinsing, catch the rinse water in a plastic container, put in your gloves(don't touch the outside when removing them!) and add a bit of baking soda, you want it to be neutral before it goes down the drain to limit the damage it can cause."
The first time I etched glass with this stuff, I made the mistake of diluting the waste with 4 gallons of water (big mistake... etch+water = HF) and added baking soda into a 5 gallon bucket. Long story short, I knocked the box of baking soda which I was so carefully taking small doses out of into the bucket. Thanks, Murphy's Law. Anyway, the reaction gushed into the air and rained down tiny droplets on me as I hunched over onto the ground trying not to breathe. Even at this high dilution, I still felt it nearly a week later (not at first which is scary).
And if you read this and are like this guy is just a clumsy moron... I am. But, you should still be very careful if you decide to use an extreme toxin like this.
Bone Etch
As for the above comment about baking soda, use marble chips to neutralize fluorine compounds. Calcium carbonate would also work. Use controlled amounts. Don't ever keep reagent containers near reactions, that's a Chemistry Lab 1 safety topic.
Another comment. People trying this were negligent enough to ruin their glasses. If you were negligent enough to ruin your glasses, do you think you are responsible enough to use poison acid to fix them? I don't. Buy new lenses.
Jay
I must provide a dissenting opinion on this one. I used Armour Etch on my scratched lenses, and while it removed the UV glare coating like a charm, about a week later small cloudy spots began to appear on my lenses. It looks like I went out into the rain and let the drops dry on my glasses. I've tried to re-Armour Etch them, but the spots are still there. At this point, I'm not sure what I can do.
Armour Etch your lenses at your peril.
Nanny
I can't believe how well the Armour Etch worked! We had to pay $12.99 for a 3 ounce bottle at Michael's. IT REALLY IS TRUE! It worked great! Saved us from buying a new set of glasses.