When I could no longer tilt my head back far enough to see through my progressive-lensed glasses to focus, I purchased a Wista with built-in diopter. My nice old Toyo went into safe storage with other less-used LF accessories. I re-discovered it the other day and did some experimenting. I found that I could focus with it if I could hold it 8 - 10 millimeters above the ground glass. I lost the necessary light seal and resultant contrast, but was delighted that I had discovered a simple solution to be able to use it again. I just needed to find the right size rubber washers and use them as spacers/light seals for my good old Toyo loupe.
I went to the Lowe's (American hardware chain) plumbing section and found that two 1 1/2" slip joint washers fit the diameter of the loupe, did not cut off my viewing area and gave me a perfect 9mm elevation off the ground glass. The Lowe's description and item #: Slip joint washer, two numbers on the bag: #85522K and #31382. They only carry it in the plumbing section of the warehouse store. $1.99 each.
I first roughened the rubber mating surfaces with fine sandpaper then cleaned the surfaces with alcohol. I glued the two together with a $3 tube of flexible adhesive. It took 2 hours for them to dry, then I used the same alcohol and glue to attach the washers to my Toyo.
After another two hours of drying I checked out the strength of the bond. It was good but still vulnerable. So I used some of that great sticky tape from a 35mm Kodak bulk film canister and gently but firmly taped them to the body of the Toyo. To further protect and strengthen the Kodak tape, I applied blue painters' tape and finished that off with Scotch tape to seal down the seam of the blue tape. I now feel that it can take a bump without falling off into oblivion in a Northwest forest.
I can use it to focus well even in dim light now. I wish all my DIY photo projects worked out as well as this one did!
John near Seattle
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