Kaleidoscope

Made of cherry and birch, the Kaleidoscope features crank-operated chain-driven object case rotation. It has battery-powered internal lighting. The mirror system is “polyangular”, controlled by the knob on the top. It can be adjusted to produce 3-,4-,5-, or 6-pointed images. The right-angle bevel gearset was the hard part!

Twelve turns of the crank rotates the object chamber once, so you can fine-tune the view.

There are two interchangeable object chambers - one dry, and one liquid-filled. With the liquid chamber (glycerin), the image constantly changes as some stuff floats and some sinks.

It does no justice, but I tried to photograph some images through the eyepiece (which magnifies 2X, thanks to a lens from an old pair of reading glasses).

This project started out as an experiment to see if I could build a wooden “bicycle chain”.
The tedium of cutting out all those little pieces - all the same - nearly killed me.
The spring-loaded tensioner wheel allows smooth rotation in either direction.

I’ve built kaleidoscopes all my life, but I’d never thought of this.
Inspired by the wonderful works of JR Beall, after I made that chain, this followed.