Kodak Viewer Focus problem

[P3D Lester Konrad <lkonrad@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter Coffin writes about a Kodak Stereo Viewer:

<The focus knob isn't moving the metal slide carriage like it looks like it's 
<supposed to, but the thing is focused correctly as it sits, and feels like 
<it's spring-held into place. (It'll move, but resists the idea.)

My response:

This is my first response to the Photo-3d mailing list, so bear with me. I 
joined a few weeks ago and was content to read what others had to say, but on
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 09:16:22 -0500
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this subject, I couldn't resist a reply. 

There have been several comments like the one above regarding focusing knobs
on Kodak viewers being stuck.  I found this problem to be the case for the 
three  Kodak viewers I picked up over the years. 

I'm sure many others have found a way to fix the focusing problem. The method
I use is to remove the slide carrier, (easy job.. just a couple of screws). 
Also remove  the focusing shaft. Scrap off the old cork from the focusing rail
on the slide carrier and find some soft rubber about the same thickness as the
cork. I happened to have one of those rubber finger tips laying around, the
kind people use to skim through reams of paper without wetting their finger 
tips. They usually have a couple of breathing holes but there made of soft 
rubber and are the right thickness. Just glue a strip on the focusing rail in 
place of the cork. 

My experience has been that replacing with more cork works for a little while,
but the compression problem of the cork reoccurs and you end up with the same
problem you had to begin with. Maybe I'm just not using the right kind of cork.
The rubber finger tip material works fine for me. If someone else has a
better solution, maybe they could share it with the rest of us.

 Les


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