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

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

Alexander Klein wrote:

>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. [...]

>The plastic housing outside was also quite dirty, so I cleaned it 
>thorougly: [...]

Alexander provided an excellent description for cleaning all of the
externally-accessible parts of an Airequipt Stereo Theater.  But what
about cleaning the interior?

If you've ever wondered how to get the plastic skin off the Airequipt,
I believe I've found the "secrets".

0.) Remove the six screws that hold the battery compartment cover and
bottom cover in place.

1.) You must drill out the two small rivets holding the red plastic
handle onto the end of the slide-change arm.  (The third rivet in the
center of the finger grip only holds the plastic together and need
NOT be removed, unless you wish to replace it for cosmetic reasons.)
Once the handle is removed, the housing will clear the changer arm
when the arm is pushed all the way in.

2.) The red plastic knob on the RIGHT side of the focus shaft is
press-fit onto the shaft and can be removed by holding the left-hand
knob and pulling while also twisting back and forth slightly on the
right-hand knob.  (Remove the lens assembly first, of course).  Once
the knob is off, the entire shaft can be pulled through the left-hand
hole.  The focus shaft passes through a plastic sleeve that rests
against a spring to provide some friction; grab this before pulling
the shaft out, or it will drop into the inside of the mechanism.

3.) There is a small lip on the plastic shell that fits below the
plate on which the slide tray rests.  Gently prying with a flat
screwdriver at the sides of the tray opening between the case and 
the casting will allow the cover to clear this plate.  Then just
lift the cover straight up.

The interior mechanism is fastened together with four metal posts
and eight screws.  Removing four screws from the side without the
release lever will allow you to lift off the endplate.  Take careful
note as to how the mechanism fits together before doing this!  When
re-assembling, you'll have to place all of the parts into position
in the endplate that has the release lever and pawl, and then lower
the other endplate into place while carefully lining everying up to
meet its corresponding slot in the casting.

I used "Aluminum Jelly" to remove the oxide coating from the shiny
metal interior parts except for the big plate on which the tray
rests, which is ferrous (I used Naval Jelly on that).  I also
stripped the paint from the bottom cover and ground off the rust
blisters with a Dremel polishing wheel, then repainted with Rustoleum
gloss black spraypaint.  I repainted the yellowed reflector with
flat white paint.

The only remaining problem is the front-silvered mirror.  The mirror
is approximately 40x106mm.  I'd love to find a source for a replacement
mirror.  I suppose an Edmund Scientific mirror could be cut to size,
but I don't have any glass-cutting skills.

	-Greg W.


------------------------------