[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Well I have nearly finished my holiday workworking project. As the pics show it is a mount for my 70x15 binos. Plans came from the Sept and Oct editions of Sky at night. Thanks to Keni from Brisbane for sending me the PDF plans, as a digital subscriber, you don't get them as they are on the cover disc!

Anyway the entire thing is built from 42x19 hardwood except for the discs that are from 12mm marine ply. I think the entire build consist of 44 wooden parts so it was a minor miracle that it all fitted together. A good aspect is that the binos can move in both alt and az without the main mount moving at all, photos include a close up of the swivel joint. The only thing to be completed is attaching a simple clamp to the disc on the end to hold the binos and the counterweight on the other end. The idea with the counterweight is to use a 2L bottle held in place with cable ties, that way the weight is easy to adjust for different binos. The rotating parts have old CDs acting as a bearing which appear to work OK.
Entire build has been finished in a colourless furniture wax, which was a lot of fun applying, but looks really nice and feels good to handle.
Once I have tested it I will replace nuts on the rotating areas with lock nuts and it will be ready to go!!

Malcolm