3D Printed Prescription Lens Holder for Oculus (cheap)

[BecauseScience]

This thing works great! Image quality is better than glasses and contacts.

vs contacts - bigger sweet spot and massively reduced halo
vs glasses - more comfortable, larger sweet spot, less halo

I don't remember if I ordered the fancy anti-reflection lens coating or not. I'll follow up after I look at my order. It might be a factor in halo reduction.

Glasses and vision vary a lot from person to person so YMMV.

This thing completely covers the native Oculus lenses, an added benefit. No more sweat smudges to clean off the the precious HMD lenses.

How it works:

1. Make a print of the holder.
2. Buy a specific pair of $10 glasses from China.
3. Transplant lenses from glasses to holder.
4. Clip holder onto Oculus facial interface.

The hardest part is waiting for the glasses to arrive.

My prints were rough as hell on the back of the top support beam. It's critical that both front and back of that beam are smooth or the facial interface doesn't fit in the HMD right. I had to clean mine up with a rotary tool until it mated well to the facial interface. I'm no 3D printing guru but I don't see an orientation you can print on to avoid manual finishing work on that beam. Took me five minutes with a rotary tool.

There are two little fins on the bottom of each lens holder. The fins should sit on either side of the lip that runs around the inside of the facial interface. One fin should touch the foam. The facial interface won't fit into the HMD properly if you don't get this right and you can potentially scratch your Oculus lenses from contact with the prescription lenses.


NOT MY DESIGN!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1602460

 

[RogueTadhg]

hah. I just got my WidmoVR order in yesterday as well. I was going to wait until I spent more time with out glasses in the VR world before I made a forum post about it

 

[aliaskary77]

i was looking at this 3d print as well. going to opticians tomorrow to get updated prescription.
my glasses dont fit inside. my hard/soft contact lens piggy back setup get dry real quick and starts getting hazy, plus halo/god rays are pretty bad.

 

[BecauseScience]

Looks like I got 1.57 Mid-Index lenses without coatings. 1.57 lenses are free with the frames. I remember my plan now... Get the cheapest as a proof of concept and upgrade if it works.

I think the glasses place does lenses-only orders too but I don't see how to do it from the website.

Higher index lenses:
$20 for 1.61 High-Index
$35 for 1.67 High-Index
$75 for 1.74 High-Index

1.61 is the recommended index for my prescription but the Oculus looks great with the 1.57 freebies.

Coatings:
$5 for anti-reflective
$9 for anti-reflective + water resistant
$15 for anti-reflective + oil and fingerprint resistant

Lenses get thinner with higher index so I might pick up a pair of higher index lenses to increase the spacing between the Oculus lens and the prescription lens. There's about 1mm of distance right now. It'd be nice to have additional room for greater safety margin.

Given how good the free lenses look I don't think upgrades are needed for image quality.

Great deal for about $20 all-in.

 

[RogueTadhg]

The only thing I didn't like when I was about to pull the trigger for the 3D printed solutions is the distance between the eyes. Not everyone has the same distance.

 

[aliaskary77]

BecauseScience, if you still have the frame from Zenni, can you compare the spacing of the frame boundary to the spacing of the 3d printed holder please? if they are the same, specifying the correct PD on zenni should put the optical center correctly. if they vary a lot, then it may be an issue.
the options would then be to either get a holder with the same spacing, or add/subtract from the PD for the difference in spacing between that frame and the holder (probably wont be correct though)

 

[BecauseScience]

The only thing I didn't like when I was about to pull the trigger for the 3D printed solutions is the distance between the eyes. Not everyone has the same distance.

IPD differences aren't handled by frames. They're handled by lenses. You specify your IPD when ordering the glasses from China. They make the lenses to suit your IPD. Calculations about the frame dimensions feed into this calculation. Since the 3D printed frame is spaced the same as the glasses you take the lenses from, everything works out perfectly for your IPD.

Look at the page for the glasses. They handle IPDs from 49 to 72. That's pretty much the entire IPD range.

http://www.zennioptical.com/550021-metal-alloy-full-rim-frame-with-spring-hinges.html

BecauseScience, if you still have the frame from Zenni, can you compare the spacing of the frame boundary to the spacing of the 3d printed holder please? if they are the same, specifying the correct PD on zenni should put the optical center correctly. if they vary a lot, then it may be an issue.
the options would then be to either get a holder with the same spacing, or add/subtract from the PD for the difference in spacing between that frame and the holder (probably wont be correct though)

That's the first thing I did when I opened the package. The print lens position matches the frame lens position exactly. The design file is spot on in that respect. Of course, you need a quality print for the real world object to match.

 

[pontiac4life]

hah. I just got my WidmoVR order in yesterday as well. I was going to wait until I spent more time with out glasses in the VR world before I made a forum post about it

Hey RogueTadhg, Can you tell me if the prescription lenses are extremely close to resting on the Oculus lenses or far apart?

 

[aliaskary77]

That's the first thing I did when I opened the package. The print lens position matches the frame lens position exactly. The design file is spot on in that respect. Of course, you need a quality print for the real world object to match.

Perfect then! Will get it ordered tomorrow.

 

[faxel]

I did this as well. On the remixes they have a version for the vr cover interface as well.