All engineers cannot be human. Some of them must have movable eye stalks, or at least they think we do, in order to see some of the displays they have built into musical keyboards and other devices.
For example, on my Alesis micron synthesizer, the LCD display lies flat, and is impossible to see by any normal human without actually standing and leaning over the instrument. I am not really complaining, because I love the instrument, and I appreciate the fact that Alesis made it very affordable.
So, in order to correct the matter, I decided to design a box of mirrors to erect the image of the LCD display so that an average human being could see the display while sitting in a standard piano playing posture. My micron actually sits back a bit on my table, and that makes it even harder to see the display.
I made this design as simple as possible, and even made a few compromises so as to allow the pieces to be cut from one piece of plastic with no waste at all (unless you screw up!) At the same time, I tried to make it look cool - something that people would see and want to touch (on second thought, maybe that isn't such a good idea while playing before a bunch of kids!)
Here is the first, rough prototype I made so that I could get the mirror angles right. I hacked and trimmed this beauty until I ended up with the final design. You can adapt this simple periscope-like design to fit almost any application.
Print out these plans as close to actual size as possible. The main rectangle should be close to 7.6 inches by 3.0 inches.
On the plans, and in this photo, you will see the type of plastic sheet I used for the box. I also picked up some plastic glue that sets in about 10 seconds. Get slower or faster setting glue to suit your speed. I found that the glue bottle with a built in applicator brush worked great for this project. I also used a small carpet knife, a ruler, a pair of pliers, an adjustable wrench (really! just read it and see) something to sand with in case the edges come out a little rough, and a red sharpie marker.
This is the 7.6 inch by 12.6 inch mirrored styrene plastic sheet I purchased. If your plans printed out at the correct size, then make a score line with a utility knife or exacto knife 3 inches from the end. If your plans are larger or smaller, you will need to cut out a rectangle from your plastic sheet that is the same size as the large rectangle on your plans.
Note: If your sheet has a protective coating, leave it on until the glueing and assembly phase.
After repeatedly scoring along the line, say 3 or 4 times, place it on a table with the score line at the edge of the table and snap off the 3 inch piece.
Don't worry too much if your scores/cuts are a little wavy. The box will still work as long as there are a few glue points here and there, it just may not be as sturdy.
Next, glue piece F onto E over top of I and J, keeping F centered lengthwise and flush everywhere else. You need to end up with the triangular assembly shown here, with a 1/16 inch notch at each end. You should read ahead before doing this step to see how the pieces will fit together.