23 August 2000. (Updated Headspot link in January 2005.)

Dick Young posted a list of sources for chin and head rests for visual psychophysics, summarizing the response to his September 1996 inquiry on CVNet. Jennifer Leong called most of those companies (finding that some were out of this business) and came up with this shorter list. Dick Young chose to buy from Richmond; we bought from Chris Kuether at U. of Houston.

And Matt Peterson and John Christie tell you how to make your own.

American Optical Scientific Instruments, 10 Optical Group, Keene, NH 03431, sold their ophthamological instruments division to Reichert (716)-686-4500, who told us to try Tek-net (below).

Applied Science Laboratories
(617) 275-4000
Chin cup or bite bar with either temple locks (2 disks which support the head at the temples) or cheek stand (2 disks at the cheeks). Fairly sturdy-looking (a thick vertical bar provides the main support for the chin cup, and a thick crossbeam supports the temple locks/cheek stand). $775 & up.

Bausch and Lomb
Dick Young noted that the old Bausch and Lomb C clamp model is "quite heavy duty, but apparently only found on used equipment." Please tell us if you know a source, used or new. denis

DBA Systems
(407) 727-0660
Marla Bartel (ext. 2703)
Darryl Curtis (407-777-6836)
They make eye-trackers. They have a fairly sturdy head rest (H-frame) but it's pricey, over $900.

Foundation for Education and Research in Vision (FERV)
University of Houston College of Optometry
505 JDArmistead
Houston, TX 77204-2020
Chris Kuether
http://www.opt.uh.edu/uhcotech/headspot.html
ckuether@uh.edu
(713) 743-2049
(713) 743-2053 fax
"HeadSpot". It's sturdy. See their picture. We bought one in 1997 and we're still happy with it in 2005. They also offer alternate versions that are extra wide or extra tall.

Lafayette Instrument
317-423-1505
800-428-7545
lic@licmef.com
Head/Chin Rest table clamp Model 14300 $211. With crossbar for resting the forehead. They don't look sturdy.

Richmond Products, Inc.
1021 S. Rogers Circle, Suite #6
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2894
407-994-2112
800-448-4538
Large catalog of ophthalmic/optometric supplies. Head & chin rest unit - table model, height adj. 8-13", wrinkle finish base, 3 lbs $122, C-clamp model $136, floor model, height adj. 34-62" charcoal, wrinkle finish base, 12 lbs, $136.95

Tek-net
800-835-6386
908-905-0152 fax
Ray Coles
A chin rest on a crossbar supported by two steel posts. They don't have a picture, just an assembly diagram. Looks flimsy (the chin rest's crossbar is only clamped at one side; the other side slides freely up and down). $250.

Veatch Ophthalmic Instruments
136 W. Orion St. #3
Tempe, AZ 85283
800-447-7511
838-4934 fax
They offer the "C" clamp style head/chin rest from Richmond for $225. It doesn't seem much sturdier than Lafayette's offerings.

Make your own chin rest, Version A

Matt Peterson, 8/21/00, MacPsych

We recently bought a couple of chinrests (I'll ask someone to get me the pricing and the url if you are interested), but we're not very impressed with their quality given their price ($150+!). The models we have clamp onto the table and have an adjustable telescoping pole for height. Unfortunately, the telescoping pole usually doesn't have enough strength to retain it's setting during the course of an experiment, which makes these chinrests fairly useless for eyetracking.

You can make your own chinrests for fairly cheap. They have enough strength to hold up the even the biggest heads, and they're more comfortable than the professional ones (IMHO). You could easily crank out 10 of these in an afternoon for less than $50.

Parts:

3 1.5 ft long piece of scrap lumber
1 box of hook eyes
2 L-shaped brackets
1 old leather belt
assorted screws
black paint (optional)

Bolt/screw/nail the pieces of scrap lumber together to form a U. This will form an upright which you'll hang the belt from. Screw several hookeyes along the inside of the uprights (1-inch apart or so). Hang the belt from the hookeyes. Voila! A sling for the head! The subject can use the different hookeyes and the different notches in the belt to find a comfortable height.

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||L_  <-bracket

Bolt/screw/nail the L-brackets to the base of the upright facing the subject. The bracket should be perpendicular to the base and lay flat against the table. The bracket is used with the C-clamps to clamp the chinrest to the table.

I made one of these in grad school, and it worked like a charm.

Hope this helps,

-Matt

Matt Peterson, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology &
The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois

John Christie, 8/23/00, MacPsych

We make ours completely differently and they are mostly scrap parts AFAIK [as far as i know]. We have a clamp that fastens onto the table with about a 5 cm hole in it. A pipe drops down through the hole as the main support, and is tightened with a screw on the front. Height is adjusted by sliding the pole up and down while the screw is loose. On top of the pole is fastened about a 20 cm wide wooden block about 7 cm deep and 7 cm thick. It is curved in the center to form a chinrest. A sturdy brass rod is attached to either end of the wooden block. It is bent so that it goes in a frame around the face. A large piece of foam runs along the top of the frame for a head rest.

With the very large pipe and tightening handle we never have these slip. The only problem is that the original design wasn't wide enough for some heads (especially with glasses). Skillful bending of the frame (like an inverted A angled back at the sides and curved out at the center) would allow IR eye monitors and other gear to be attached to the face.