Method of making an end piece of an eyeglass frame

Abstract

A method of making an end piece of an eyeglass frame includes the steps of: closing first and second mold cores to define therebetween a mold cavity having a shape corresponding to that of the end piece, the mold cavity having an injection hole communicating with an external environment; injecting metal clay through the injection hole into the mold cavity at a high pressure to form an end piece blank; separating the first and second mold cores to expose the mold cavity and then ejecting the end piece blank from the mold cavity by a blank ejector module; and subjecting the end piece blank to a sintering process.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of making an end piece of an eyeglass frame, the end piece including an end piece main body having a continuous smooth and undulating outer surface and an inner surface opposite to the outer surface, a pivot seat extending outwardly from the end piece main body and configured to be pivoted to a temple of the eyeglass frame, and a connecting portion extending outwardly from the end piece main body opposite to the pivot seat and configured to be connected to a lens or lens holder of the eyeglass frame, said method comprising the steps of:
 closing a first mold core and a second mold core of a molding apparatus to define therebetween a mold cavity having a shape corresponding to that of the end piece, the mold cavity having an injection hole communicating with an external environment, and a junction line that is formed when the first and second mold cores are closed and that corresponds to the inner surface of the end piece main body;   injecting metal clay formed from a mixture of metal powder and polymer binder through the injection hole into the mold cavity at a high pressure to form an end piece blank, the end piece blank including a blank end piece main body having a continuous smooth and undulating blank outer surface and a blank inner surface opposite to the blank outer surface, a blank pivot seat extending outwardly from the blank end piece main body, a blank connecting portion extending outwardly from the end piece main body opposite to the blank pivot seat, and a blank connecting protruding line located on the blank inner surface;   separating the first and second mold cores to expose the mold cavity and then ejecting the end piece blank from the mold cavity by a blank ejector module, the blank ejector module including two spaced-apart ejector pins to respectively contact the blank connecting portion and the blank pivot seat for ejecting the end piece blank from the first or second mold core; and   subjecting the end piece blank to a sintering process.   
     
     
         2 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the injection hole is located at a position corresponding to the blank connecting portion. 
     
     
         3 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the connecting portion has an engaging portion for connection with the lens, and the blank connecting portion has a blank engaging portion extending from the blank inner surface in a direction away from the blank outer surface. 
     
     
         4 . The method as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the injection hole is located at a position corresponding to the blank engaging portion. 
     
     
         5 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising the step of subjecting the end piece blank to a surface treatment process after the sintering process. 
     
     
         6 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the blank end piece main body further has two blank side surfaces each of which interconnects one end of the blank outer surface and a corresponding end of the blank inner surface, the blank pivot seat including two blank pivot portions having outer surfaces extending integrally and respectively from the blank side surfaces of the blank end piece main body, the blank pivot portions being spaced apart from each other in a top-bottom direction and respectively formed with through holes, one of the ejector pins of the blank ejector module contacting the outer surface of one of the blank pivot portions.