Re: I'm kinda glad I didn't go..

[P3D Gregory J. Wageman <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Eric Drysdale wrote:

>Immediately upon return to NYC, I hit the flea market early to find an
>Arequipt Stereo Theater for a song.  This viewer is great in concept, but
>needs some serious work.  I improved the brightness by adding a reflector
>to the bottom of the nose piece, but the electrics are still flickery and
>unreliable, depending on contact with the body during the clankity
>slide-changing procedure.  I'd like to bypass that  mechanism and just make
>a switch to turn the light on...  And  the lenses leave a bit to be
>desired... anything to do about this, Dr. T?

I ain't Dr.T., but I just bought one of these myself.  You'll find if if
you remove the bottom plate (four screws in the feet plus the two that
hold the battery compartment cover on) there is a brass strip attached
to the end of the slide-change arm that must make contact at two points,
between one battery terminal and an insulated contact.  If you can figure
out a way to mount it, a normally-open, lever-action microswitch that's
actuated by the changer arm near the end of its travel would be far more
reliable.  Just connect it between those two points.

The lenses aren't achromats, but they at least are glass and are fairly
large in diameter (larger than Red Buttons, anyway).  They appear to be
retained by spring-steel split rings.  Achromats would be a good deal
thicker, so you'd need to find substitute retainers, but replacement
should be possible.  I haven't measured the focal length, either...

Congratulations on your marriage, BTW.

	-Greg W.


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