P3D Re: PHOTO-3D digest 2778

[Rob <lilindn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

MacGuyvering a Radex viewer to make it lighted

    Or is that RudeGoldberging?  :-)

> Has anyone here played around with a Radex to make it lighted? I know it doesn't improve the optics, but still - I'd like to be able to carry
> around a cheap, lighted viewer with me to various places; always find
> myself apologizing, with the Radex, well, if we were outdoors - or, if
> you get close to that lightbulb, it looks a whole hell of a lot better,
> etc.
>
..
   A few years ago, I produced a lighted Radex viewer by removing most
of the rear diffuser section (saving the "outline" of the diffuser so it
could still serve as a slide carrier) and gluing it to a plastic
electronic project box with the same area cut out and flush with the
back of the viewer.  Inside the viewer is a #1487 bulb, a bright 14v
screwbase bulb from the old radio days which for some reason is still
widely available, a 12v out transformer, bridge rectifier and capacitor
(the capacitor charges to peak and provides about 14v for the bulb). 
Finally, a reflector made from a paper plate arches behind the bulb.
   Performance, IMHO, was actually quite good.  I prefer it to the
Life-Like because it is brighter and suffers less from chromatic
distortions (no free lunch, the lenses in the Radex do this by being of
a longer focal length and thus providing a smaller, more un-ortho view
of your slide).
   No match at all for a halogenized Red-Button, but convenient for some
uses, such as when I'm mounting slides, or showing them to other people
(who are not used to pressing a button - was very useful when showing
slides to someone who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease and simply
could not hold a viewer nor press a button) 
    Feel free to E-mail me if you have any more questions about
illuminating your Radex


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