Modo Snap Hinge Primary Function: Ikadiro y'Amadarubindi by Modo Design Team

Modo Snap Hinge Primary Function: Ikadiro y'Amadarubindi by Modo Design Team is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 Igihembo cya A' Design Award cya Ifeza in Igishushanyo cy'Amasaro Competition Category.

IfezaAmasaro· 2022

Modo Snap Hinge Primary Function: Ikadiro y'Amadarubindi

by Modo Design Team

Client: MODO Eyewear

Igihembo cya A' Design Award cya Ifeza Winner in Amasaro Category

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The Design

About Modo Snap Hinge Primary Function: Ikadiro y'Amadarubindi

Book Text: Modo Snap Hinge ni ikadiro y'amadarubindi yubatswe hakoreshejwe sisitemu y'urutsinga rutagira ivisi. Uru rutsinga rwunga imbere y'ikadiro n'amaguru y'amadarubindi hakoreshejwe igitutu gusa, nta visi cyangwa iyongera ku mashanyarazi. Ibice bitatu gusa ni byo bikoreshwa: ikuguru rya beta-titanium rifite ishusho y'uruho, agasilinderi gato ka stainless steel gafite imitwe ibiri ihindagurika mu buryo bwa koni, n'imbere yakozwe muri polymer yashyizweho hakoreshejwe uburyo bwo guteranya ifite icyobo gito cy'imbere. Aka gasilinderi gafatirwa imbere kandi gatuma hari uguhindukira gutuje kubera igikorwa cy'ubushyuhe. Uburyo bw'imikoreshereze buhishwa mu gice cy'iherezo, bituma ikadiro iguma yoroshye kandi isukuye.

The Recognition

About the Igihembo cya A' Design Award cya Ifeza

Modo Snap Hinge Primary Function: Ikadiro y'Amadarubindi ni uwegukanye Igihembo cya A' Design Award cya Ifeza, ishimwe ridasanzwe ry'agaciro gakomeye ritangwa ku bishushanyo byo ku rwego rwo hejuru, byiza kandi bikora ku mutima. Abegukanye Ifeza ni ibihangano by'ubuhanga bukomeye kandi bifite guhanga kwinshi, bigaragaza ubuhanga bwimbitse, impano n'ubushishozi bw'ababihanze. Modo Snap Hinge Primary Function: Ikadiro y'Amadarubindi biteganyijwe ko izaba igihangano cy'icyitegererezo, gifite ubunyamwuga bukomeye n'udushya twimbitse. Iki gishushanyo cyegukanye Ifeza ni igihangano kizwi kandi gishimwa, gifasha kugura imbibi z'ubuhanzi, ubumenyi, ubushushanyo n'ikoranabuhanga. Modo Snap Hinge Primary Function: Ikadiro y'Amadarubindi ni igihangano benshi bifuza, gikangura ibyifuzo, gitanga amarangamutima meza kandi gitera igitangaza.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Part of MODO eyewear collection uses an innovative "Snap Hinge" system that surpasses current common hinge constructions, which are made up of several components. The snap hinge’s main function is to easily join the front of a pair of glasses to their temples through a very simple method – click, by pressure – without the use of screws or welding, and instead by a reliable connection and smooth friction operation.
Dimensions & Packaging: Width 140 mm x Depth 150 mm x Height 45 mm

Weight: 13 g

Specifications of the product:
1. Injected front with snap fastening seat obtained internally with undercut shape;
2. Stainless steel bi-conical and anti-rotation cylinder;
3. Laser cut and spring bent beta-titanium temples;
4. Injected temple-tip
Tags: Simplicity, reliability, sustainability, clean design, hidden mechanism.
Production Technology: The innovation of the snap hinge is its few components:
1. A Beta-titanium temple with a specifically designed hook shape
2. A small metal cylinder that is inserted into the temple hook and acts as the temple’s rotation mechanism. The cylinder heads have a particular bi-conical surface that allows the ‘snap’ attachment to the frame front, for a very resilient one-time-only attachment and unlimited lifespan.
3. An ultra-performing polymer frame front made by a specialised injection molding technique that allows the creation of an internal ‘undercut’ cavity, which serves as the house for the metal cylinder.
Design Challenge: The seeming simplicity of the final result hides a constructive difficulty that we had to overcome with an advanced molding process. The most difficult part was to make the cavity / house of the cylinder inside the plastic polymer front, since it is to be made with a particular undercut that generally in injected front pieces it is not possible.
Research: Eyewear frames generally feature hinges with several disadvantages related to the complexity of production and assembly / disassembly, as well as the actual durability of the coupling between the temple and the spectacle front piece.

In particular, hinges provided with a screw pin and corresponding coupling elements, which can be fixed to the temples and front-piece require long and complex production steps. The use of screw pins and / or screw connections will eventually lead to loosening and wear in the long run, which will reduce the service life of the hinge and of the frame. With regards to the hinges that do not use a screw coupling, they are rather complex. Therefore, a large number of components and their mutual couplings are required, and with their particular shapes they necessitate high production costs.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple screw-less hinge capable of ensuring a robust and reliable coupling between the temples and the front piece of the spectacles in order to simplify the mounting steps.

Advantageously, the spectacle frame of the present invention makes it possible to:

- reduce production costs compared to the existing frames;
- has an high level of reliability due to the reduced number of its components;
- simplify the assembly steps;

In terms of design, this innovation allows the hinge to be completely hidden inside the injected front, creating a minimal and clean and eco-sustainable hidden design as the components and processes used are truly reduced.

However, the extreme reduction of components required a high degree of engineering and precision, both in the realisation of the mold for the production of the front with seat obtained, of the steel cylinder, and a perfect calibration of the temple-hook in bent beta titanium. Industrialising the perfect assembly to have a lasting friction were the final steps of this project.
Inspiration: The inspiration comes from other connection systems present in nature or in mechanical and handcrafted pieces, with the difference that in this case the various materials and their natural elasticity have been exploited in a way that reduces the number of moving parts and pieces and contributes to the longevity of the product.
Project Duration: The project started in 2020 and launched into Spring-Summer 2022.
Operation Flow: The assembly process is extremely simple and reduced to only two operations:
1. Insertion of the metal cylinder into the Beta-titanium temple hook
2. Pressure insertion of the cylinder + temple assembly into the injected polymer front’s housing.

This new construction is stable and resilient, and the bi-conical surface processing of the cylinder heads prevents the metal cylinder from rotating inside the front piece. The temple hook surrounds the cylinder and rotates around the cylindrical surface. This particular combination of metallic materials allows fluid motion and frictional rotation, thanks to the particular self-lubricating operation of the two different materials.

In terms of perception and design, the hinge mechanism is completely hidden inside the end-piece of the frame front. Depending on the transparency of the chosen polymer, it is possible to decide to show the mechanism with transparent shades or to hide it completely with opaque colors.

Extreme simplicity, great reliability, maximum production economy, sustainability: for a clean design.
Patents: European Paten Application:

EP21209782.8
Team Members: MODO Design Team
Image Credits: MODO Eyewear