Re: Airequipt Stereo Theater (was: I'm kinda glad I didn't go..

[P3D <klein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 11 Jul 97 at 13:45, P3D Gregory J. Wageman wrote:

> 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?

[... stuff deleted ...]

> 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...

I'm not Dr. T. either, but I can offer some advice. I just received an 
Airequipt, including 110 V adapter, in the mail about 10 days ago and did 
some "serious" cleaning last Saturday.

As said beforehand, the viewer can be opened at the bottom by removing six 
screws. The electrical contacts must be cleaned. Remove the "lens panel" 
and turn round: the lenses are inside a cast metal housing, which is fixed 
to the plastic "lens panel" by two screws. Remove both. Then make sure to 
remove the cast metal part (a thick wire through a whole in the cast iron 
usually adjusts the inter-ocular distance - but it can be removed fairly 
easy by playing around (amazingly, it's much easier to put back in place).

What you have now, is a cast metal piece, with the lens held in place by a 
black cardboard ring. This ring can be removed with a screwdriver. The 
first lens (each optics actually consists of two plano-convex (PCX) 
lenses, with the convex sides towards the center) can be removed by 
playing around a bit. It's quite difficult to remove, as there are small 
protruding pegs (maybe there's a better word for it) obstructing the 
"straight" way out. Do not apply excessive force as the lens may break!!!.

After removing the first lens, there's another black cardboard ring, which 
holds the second lens (and served as a spacer between the two lenses). 
Then remove the second lens. I didn't check if the two lenses are 
optically the same, so do remember which lens is which.

After cleaning the lenses and putting the whole stuff back together, you 
should have a sparkling-clean view (although optically far from perfect).

The plastic housing outside was also quite dirty, so I cleaned it 
thorougly:

* Step 1: use window-cleaning stuff (usually available in manual 
pump-spray bottles) to remove dirt on the surface.

* Step 2: use "Viss" brand (I think it's known as "Jif" in other parts of 
the world) to remove dirt from small scratches etc. Be careful, as you 
might roughen the plastic surface if you apply to much pressure.

* Step 3: polish with "Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish" (available only in 
the USA).

Hope this helps,

Alexander Klein
3D-Magazin, Editor (http://www.stereoscopy.com/3d-magazin)
Webmaster: http://www.stereoscopy.com


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