Building your own binomount

(or how to see the Universe for less than 10 Alterian dollars a

day)

Who is this bloke anyway?

• Rob

• Live in Greenwich

• Lifelong interest in space and astronomy

• Management Consultant

• I am not an engineer– I finished woodwork in my 2nd year at school– I am genetically clumsy!– I own no special tools

Why did I do this?

• Needed something to do over Easter

• Either this or visit aged relatives!

• Wanted to use binoculars for some time

• Hand holding binoculars was a pain and simply didn’t work for me.

• Can’t afford stabiliser binoculars

What tools do I need?

• Drill– Power preferred but not essential

• Wood saw• Hacksaw (Junior OK but slower)• Drill bits (6mm, 10mm)• Sandpaper (is this a tool?)• File• Bench and vice are a lovely extra

What materials do I need?• Three pieces of 1m long aluminium box section (available B&Q) or• Three pieces of appropriately sized wood 2 x 0.7m, 1 x 0.6m

– Wood is not as stiff as aluminium so might need bigger• Scraps of 6mm (ish) plywood

– I used scrap wood• 6mm metal nuts, bolts and wingnuts (available Wickes/B&Q)• Something to act as a counterweight

– I used lead flashing though you could use stones in a can! Nothing clever is needed, suggestion is something approx twice the weight of the binocular mount.

• Various small wood screws (available anywhere)• ¼-20 threaded bolt (specialist item), though may not be needed.

Depends on binocular• Total cost

– If metal around £25– If wood around £10 (though could be £0)

What else do you need?

• A support, usually a tripod. – Doesn’t need to be that bulky as it is not

carrying a lot of weight– Needs to be stiff as there’s a lot of side load– Best option is with a removable centre column

• Binoculars– 10 x 50 are easy– 8 x anything would allow a very small mount– 10 x 70’s are probably the limit

How to do it 1…

• The 1st element of the binocular mount is the parallelogram.

• Simple to construct– Four sections– Can rotate

• Does not need high level of precision

How to do it 2 …

• Second element is the counterweight• The counterweight needs to balance the

binoculars plus any other metal/woodwork.• Simple maths

– If counterweight arm is same length as bino arm then counterweight is more or less the same weight as the binoculars

– If counterweight arm is half the length as bino arm then counterweight is more or less twice the weight as the binoculars

– And so on…

How to do it 3…

• We need to mount the binoculars• Most (though not all) binoculars have a ¼-20

threaded hole in the middle. – Not easy to find a bolt to fit as we have gone metric,

photo shops may have it, available on-line at Stig Stainless Steel Fasteners

– If you have it then simply make an L bar and fit the ¼-20 bolt through that

• If no threaded hole then…– Trickier but doable

How to do it 4…

• Mounting the mount on a tripod

• Could be the trickiest and most difficult.

• Best and easiest solution is a centre rod that comes out of tripod.

• Otherwise you have to make a head or attach it to a camera head

A schematic (some dimensions deliberately not shown)

Commercial and other mounts

Other mounts

Other mounts

Other mounts

Other mounts

Other mounts

Other mounts