The Love for VR & being a Maker

Google cardboard and VR viewers have taken off in the educational space. One driving force might be the low price point of these viewers compared to the amazing but big money options like Oculus or HTV Vive. We have seen viewers advance from DIY project plans to Google Cardboard 1.0 up to Google Cardboard 2.0. That seemed to be the point everyone jumped on the low cost VR wagon. Viewers becoming giveaways and newer better plastic models. Watching the advancement has been a fun ride for Makers who enjoy building or modding.

I love the maker movement as I have always built and/or taken apart just about everything. I just have to know and see how it works or if I can modify it. How does this fit into this blog about Google cardboards? Hang on we're about to get to that.

First let's look at my (current) favorite low cost viewer the Mattel View-Master. The View-Master at the $20 price point is the ultimate viewer for the classroom setting. Its plastic construction not only makes it extremely durable but more importantly cleanable. Yet like most things in life one of the viewer advantages is its clamshell design to protect phone also became one of its huge flaws. That flaw is not having a way to plug in headphones therefore NO SOUND.

So now it's time to get tinkering.

Tools & Supplies:

VR View-master

Cordless Drill

1/16 Drill Bit

1/8 Drill Bit

1/4 Drill Bit

Headphone extension - found on Amazon

Lets Drill a hole!

I went slow stepping the size of bit up slowly in order remove plastic slowly to ensure I didn't crack the view-master.

Step One: I started by drilling a 1/16” pilot hole on the right side at bottom where the plastic thinned.

Step Two: I drilled the same hole with the 1/8th bit to slowly create a larger hole without cracking the plastic.

Step Three: I finished drilling with the 1/4“ bit in which it cut away all plastic to give me a good hole to run headphone extension jack through.