Miser Panorama- Finally

[P3D <BD3D@xxxxxxxxxx>]

As some of you know through private correspondence, my beloved 11-year old
daughter Diana, subject of innumerable stereo slides since and including
birth, has been undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer since last
November.  This has involved two surgeries and numerous hospital visits and
stays, but it looks like all the worst is behind us now.  The treatment was
quite effective, and she's gonna be fine.  Thank You, Lord!

Now I have a bit more time and interest to catch up on correspondence.  (I
also have quite a few more grey hairs than I did in August, but that's
okay)  I still have to report on the Kodak Survey and My Kodak Back from
Australia (K'dak, mate), but since mentioning the Miser Panorama last month
I've had more requests for this one so it was done first. Comments are
welcomed.



THE MISER PANORAMA

An article by Ray Smullyan in the December 1994 ISU journal "Stereoscopy"
discussed various ways of building optically superior stereo slide viewers,
and in the section devoted to improving View-Master viewers he suggested
replacing the existing lenses with better ones but keeping the original
lenses as "they are quite decent for Realist-format slides."  Well, if they
are quite decent when removed, I thought, why not leave them in place and
design a slide holder for Realist-format?  This turned out to pretty easy,
and I ended up making a half-dozen or so hand viewers in various styles
over the next few months. Granted, the quality isn't quite on par with the
best of the 50's viewers, and there is no interocular or focusing
adjustment but now I don't have to hold my breath every time I pass a
viewer to my younger (or older) friends and relatives. The field of view is
large enough for 2x2 pairs, and the optics are not too bad for plastic.
The image is certainly superior to the embarrassing Kodaslide I and shows
less keystoning than my Guild Viewer.

Using the same basic design I later devised and built my "Miser Panorama"
prototype. This is a turret-type multiple viewer for Kodak, oops Realist
format slides. :-)  It has eight viewers (room for sixteen) arrayed about a
large "lampshade". The name is an obvious bow to the famous Kaiser
Panoramas of the last century. These magnificent stereo viewers were like
large pieces of furniture, with seated "viewing stations" for over twenty
people around their circumference. My intent was to create as similar a
unit as possible without spending very much money.  No money, if possible.

The prototype is made almost entirely of View-Masters and heavy-duty
corrugated cardboard, like that from a refrigerator box. I used a high-
solids carpenter's glue to fill the irregularities of the cardboard.

A 30" (76 cm) diameter circular disc forms the top of the unit. Cemented in
the center of this disc is the wire hoop from a discarded lampshade.  (Not
the type that clips to a bulb, but rather the type that slips over a
threaded post and is held in place by a capscrew).

For the side panels of this unit, I glued two 6" (150mm) wide strips of
cardboard end to end to form one strip about 96" (2.4m) long. These have
the corrugations running perpendicular to the length. Using a straightedge,
I creased this strip vertically every 6", forming sixteen square "panels".
Into the center of every other panel I cut an opening a bit wider than a
Realist slide and about 2 1/2" (75mm) high, being careful not to make the
opening wider than the viewer body. Cementing the two ends of this strip
together formed a hexadecagonal (?) band which was then centered on the
overturned disc and glued evenly into place, with reinforcing L-shaped tabs
cemented here and there.  Next came a coat of white ceiling paint inside
and out. I covered the rough upper and lower edges of the cardboard by
gluing 1/2" border material around them. This stuff is available at any
sewing/fabric shop.  I found a roll with a looped jute pattern suitable for
a lampshade for a couple of bucks.

Next I had to collect some View-Master viewers (Not the highly-touted and
equally expensive Model D, just the typical K-Mart plastic jobs).  Since my
intent was to keep costs to an absolute minimum, I tried to pick them all
up up at garage sales, where they can usually be found for 25 cents, but by
the time I started the project, it was November, and the Garage Sale season
was over for that year.  I had to splurge and buy six brand new ones for
$2.99 each! One thing to note: the blue viewers extinguish light much
better than the more common red ones, which are considerably more
translucent, giving a reddish cast to everything inside.

Disassembling the View-Masters is a snap, or more correctly an un-snap, as
that is how they're assembled, with press-fit pins in all four corners.  I
carefully pried the two halves apart, then set aside the back half, along
with the advance assembly and spring. These parts were not be needed for
this project, but may be useful for something else down the line. I snapped
off the pins and carefully trimmed the slight ridge of plastic from around
the perimeter of the View-Master.  I then drilled a 3/16" (~4 mm) hole
through each viewer, centered just below the embossed logo.

For slide supports, I used 4" (100 mm) pieces of yardstick (meter stick)
available free at most hardware stores.  This provides a nice straight,
squared edge to rest the slide on. I drilled 3/16" holes through the center
of each of these pieces, 3/8" (10 mm) in from one edge.  The View-Master
goes on the outside of the cardboard panel, the slide stage on the inside
and a bolt through all three snugs everything tightly together.  Before
putting the washer and nut on the inside I slipped a large paper clip over
the bolt.  The paper clip was somewhat reconfigured to apply pressure to a
slide, keeping it tight against the viewer body.

Even though I used a soft-white bulb in the lamp, I still needed a diffuser
to properly scatter the light.  This material is available commercially,
but I used the translucent plastic envelopes some bundled CD-ROMs had come
in, which provided a good combination of light transmission and diffusion
for my purposes (and again, I had them laying around, so they were free).
Granularity was not a problem; I just moved the diffuser further from the
viewer and therefore further out of focus.  Since I had about a 15" radius
to work with, there was plenty of room for this movement.  The diffusers
ended up about 2" (50 mm) from the slides.

Final adjustments are made with slides in place, centering the images with
the lenses and correcting for any rotational errors then tightening the
nuts all around.

When complete, the Miser Panorama fits over a standard table or floor lamp,
in place of the original lampshade. One merely spins the whole assembly to
rotate through the views.  If the M.P. is placed on a pole lamp with access
from all sides, a person at each station is not crowded. A three-way bulb
could be a benefit.

The end result is a somewhat ugly lampshade, but also one of the the more
cost-effective multiple viewers on the planet. Even with the six View-
Masters that I paid retail for, my total expenses for the prototype were
under $30. It certainly gets attention at parties.

My next version will have all sixteen faces occupied, and probably will be
made with a frosted plastic top to allow ambient viewing. I hope to use CD
jewel cases, which have just the right size, price and structural
characteristics for the side panels of the unit. They are nice and regular,
with square surfaces and edges perfect for cementing. I could spray the
insides with any color paint for the outside color, as long as the last
coat is white for the inside.

The thing that is holding me back is how to cut the plastic without melting
or otherwise distorting the edge. I'm a bit stumped on that one.
Everything I've tried has cracked, melted or warped the plastic. Any ideas?


Best regards,
Bill Davis





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