Color-Relief lens replacement

[P3D Elliott Swanson <elliott@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Another in the continuing Dr. Dremel series...

A few years ago there was a flood of cabaret cards photographed in clubs
along Place Pigalle in Paris-- I ended up with a dozen, but there were
more in the series (each card has 8 stereo images in the 16mm format). In
order to view them you need a rare French 50s or early 60s vintage viewer
for card mounted stereo transparencies called Color-Relief. I finally
located a viewer, sans lenses. These viewers have a very short focal
length-- 38mm at a guesstimate-- e.g. very tough to find replacements at a
decent price. Over the years I'd picked up a couple of Haneel Tri-vision
viewers, styled like the goofy Tri-vision cameras. The viewers are usually
under $5 at camera shows, and the nifty thing about them is that they have
focusing lenses in aluminum housings (inset in a plastic case). The optics
seem to be glass, and do a decent enough job. To install the Haneel lenses
in the Color-Relief, use a Dremel tool and carefully slice away the Haneel
plastic and free the lenses and housings. You might also want to salvage
the metal mask at the back. Throw the plastic parts away. With a new 7/8
inch flat dowelling bit (you want it very sharp) and a drill press,
carefully rebore the Color-Relief lens opening (you need to split the case
to have a flat surface-- it's held together with 4 screws). You're working
with brittle bakelite plastic, so go slow. Use the Dremel inside to clean
up any rough areas.  Grind off the aluminum locking tabs on the Haneel
lens housing, and they will press fit into the bored out Color-Relief
viewer. Use a few drops of epoxy if necessary or it makes you feel better.
Clean up the dust and reassemble. Works great! 

So if you spot these old Haneel views cheap, you might want to scarf 'em 
up. They would probably be useful for lenses needed to repair other small 
viewers.

No warranties expressed or implied, for informational purposes only. Do 
at your own risk.

--Elliott


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