Better platform

[jet486]

Hello everybody, I was setting up to observed the occultation of the moon and saturn last night using my Orion Giant View 20x80 binoc's on a Velbon tripod. Unfortunately after many attempts to establish a stable mount I missed out on seeing the acutual occultation. Because these bino'c are heavy (5-6 Kilos) and wishing still to use them, can anybody suggest a better way of fixing them to a more stable platform? Cheers

[louie_the_fly]

Orion have an L Bracket here http://www.telescope.com/Binoculars/...5/p/102658.uts (http://www.telescope.com/Binoculars/Binocular-Accessories/Orion-Large-Binocular-Tripod-L-Adapter/pc/-1/c/5/sc/75/p/102658.uts)

Then you can mount the binos to a sturdy camera mount, or some other type of mount. Maybe you could put a post in the ground and make a bracket out of an exhaust clamp and a bit of scrap metal. Do you have a removable Hills Hoist clothes line? You might be able to use the sleeve and slip a ~2" pipe in there. VOILÀ, you're into it. :astron:

[jet486]

Thanks stewart, but the bracket you refer to will not support the larger 20x80 binoc's as there is no screw fitting at the front of the binoc's. I just come across a extra heavy duty tripod at the Orion web site. I'll try to see if Bintel has this item. Again thanks.

[raymo]

It's very unusual for binos as large as 80mm to not have a mounting
screw female thread at the front of the hinge. Some have a little push
or screw on cap over the front of the hinge which hides the thread.
raymo

[jet486]

Thanks Raymo for your reply. I've taken a photo of the fitting in question but I'm not sure how to paste the image to this reply. But the small cover in front screws off but looking at the image on the Orion web site the bracket has a bolt pretruding out and this will not screw into anything.Cheers

[julianh72]

The Orion 20x80s usually have the tripod mount built in. Do yours look like this:
http://www.telescope.com/Orion-20x80-Astronomy-Binoculars/p/99638.uts

Any binoculars which don't have that central bar should take a standard tripod mount in the front pivot.

[jet486]

Thanks Julian, yes they are and as you can see that the small disk between the lenses screws off but there is no way of securing to a tripod as mention before.Cheers

[julianh72]

I'm confused - if your binoculars look like the link I posted, the metal fitting on the central bar is the mounting point - slide it backwards or forwards for balance, and it should have a standard camera thread on the bottom to go straight onto a tripod.

[jet486]

Hi julian, everything you have said is correct and yes I have fitted it to a camera tripod but I find that the binoc's are too heavy for this type of mount and as I mention before Bintel do have a device that supports these binoc's but at a price. So I was wondering if there another way of supporting them. Cheers