Something to do on a Sunday afternoon
For some time I have contemplated building a mount for my 15x70 AOE binos, and today was the day I finally got around to building it
Most mounts seen are parralellogram types, and for the sake of keeping the binos on target for a height change, I didnt see the added complexity as worthwhile.
The mount is balanced and counterweighted for 3 axis of movement.
- Azimuth at the tripod
- Azimuth at the binocular head
- Altitude at the binocular head
I wanted to use my existing bino tripod adapter for easy fitting/removal of the binos. The centre of gravity of the binos is forward of the adapter foot plate, making an extension plate necessary.
The extension pivots at the binos c.o.g. on a piece of steel strap bent at right angles. The steel strap has a 500g lead counterweight to balance the binos for altitude. The rest of the mount is made from 25mm square aluminium tubing. The counterweight was salvaged from the cheapy eq mount seen in the pic, which now serves as an alt-az mount