Binocular stand6/11/2023 ![]() And because the motions of the mount have so many degrees of freedom, you’ll find that you can comfortably view a huge swath of sky from one position. Once you’ve swept up your target, lock the ball head, and enjoy the view - the binoculars will seem to float in front of your eyes. ![]() Loosen the ball head and aim the binoculars freehand - as if they weren’t mounted at all. ![]() To use the bino mount, leave the tripod head lightly clamped - once you’ve adjusted the counterweight, the binoculars won’t move on their own. ) So, if you’d rather spend $25 than the time it takes to make the part described above, you actually can put together my mount with off-the-shelf-parts. Instead of making a tripod-mounting bracket, he bought a Interfit tripod clamp. The mount’s penny-ante counterweight (left) and (right) two important purchased items: a tripod ball head and right-angle binocular adapter.Īfter my original article describing this mount appeared in Sky&Telescope, Richard Frederick wrote to say that he’d found a way to make the mount without having to actually build anything. Paul Oppenheim wrote in with a helpful tip, suggesting, “thread the nuts on first! After you’ve cut the legs, gently back the nuts off the legs, and you will have repaired any thread damage the hacksawing might have caused.”įinally, slip a short length of tubing onto the U-bolt to prevent it from marring the finish of your monopod. You’ll also probably find that the threaded sections of the U-bolt will have to be shortened with a hacksaw so that they didn’t protrude beyond the surface of the plywood. You’ll also have to enlarge these holes on the underside so that the U-bolt nuts are recessed. Make these a bit bigger than needed to avoid having the bolt’s threads bind on the wood block. Screw in the insert until it’s flush with the underside of the block. Turning to the second plywood part, mark the center and drill the hole to accommodate the threaded insert. Next, cut that piece in half and set aside. In the center of one piece, drill a hole that corresponds to the diameter of the monopod section to be cradled. I recommend using the first segment that telescopes out of the monopod’s body, which measures ¾ inches with my Slik.īegin construction by cutting a your length of plywood in half so that you have two 2½-inch square pieces - one will be used for the mounting block, the other will form a cradle for the monopod. The size of the U-bolt will depend on the diameter of the monopod section you’re going to clamp in the bracket. You’ll need to round up a 2½-inch by 5-inch length of ¾-inch plywood, a ¼-20 threaded insert (a T-nut will also work with a minor modification), a short length of flexible plastic tubing (automotive vacuum hose works well), and a U-bolt. Shown here are the various pieces of the tripod mounting bracket before assembly. Only a handful of hardware store parts are needed and none of the dimensions are especially critical. As ATM projects go, it doesn’t get much easier than this. The final component of my bino-mount assembly is the part you make: the bracket that mates the monopod to the tripod head. Avoid the flimsy plastic ones that often come with budget binoculars. You’ll also need a right-angle binocular-to-tripod adapter. ![]() A nice feature of this unit is that a single knob locks all motions. Mine is a Stroboframe FLM compact ball head, which typically retails in the $25 range. The ball head doesn’t need to be an expensive, heavy duty model unless your binoculars are particularly weighty. I used an inexpensive monopod made by Slik and similar ones can be had for around $20. You’ll need a standard camera tripod with a pan/tilt head (the sturdier, the better), a ball head, and a monopod. The main components of my bino mount can be obtained at your local camera store, but if you’re a photographer, it’s likely you already own many of them. The mount shown here has none of those shortcomings and is ideally suited to observers like me who prefers to view the sky while seated or reclining in a deck chair. I’ve used (and built) many binocular mounts, but most of them have been either expensive, bulky, or, to some extent, awkward to use. Indeed, a good number of the objects I’ve observed over the years need steady views to be to be seen at all. I’ve written many times about the virtues of mounted binoculars.
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