Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
After disassembling Bino Cube I used some it's parts to build Bino Pod II. I used part of the base and the 6 larger cart wheel bearings (instead of 8 like on Bino Pod I) I've made a few minor changes in this version that makes it easier to setup and position the binos. First is the use of sockets on the sides of the support rack to insert the mount into instead of trying to hold the mount in place and use clamping knobs. The second is longer swingarms which give more leverage in moving the binos to and away from me. I can put more tension on the swingarm bolts and teflon bearings and still have easy swingarm motion without the binos slipping.
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
|
Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 19246
Loc: Brooker, FL
|
|
Looks GREAT! But: Still.....no.....drink.....holder..... 
--------------------
N11GPS Fastar//TOA-130S//MK66 Std//AT6RC//Vintage C5//Megrez II 80mm APO//SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II//Sirius EQ-G
Too Many Astro-Cameras//Mallincam Color Hyper Plus
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Casey and Nelson
Lot 19 Deerlick Astronomy Village (Canis Major)
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
|
and it should be a drink holder that can cool OR heat a beverage 
I apologize for the jokes, but seriously, your bino chair looks great and I'm sure it is fun!
|
Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
Okay guys, I will install a drink holder this week. I promise.  I finished painting the support rack and chair retainers this afternoon. I adjusted the spring tension also and the Obie 20x90s move smoothly from horizon to zenith on it.
BTW there's a bino chair in the Astromart Astro Binocular Forum that someone built, it's motorized and holds 25x100 binos. Very light weight looking considering what it does. Very impressive.
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
|
Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
At least one of the two BPs has one.
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
|
rouseyfire
sage
Reged: 11/09/04
Posts: 277
Loc: loveland,colorado
|
|
Looks like a seatbelt across the chair! For long nights with too many bottles of whatever? 
--------------------
glenn
|
Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
Heh heh! It's actually the reclining strap. But with a few beers in me I guess it would be like trying to climb out of a straitjacket.
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
|
Excellent holder!
|
KennyJ
The British Flash
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 20139
Loc: Lancashire UK
|
|
I'm particularly interested in whether or not the chair is comfortable enough to sleep in given circumstances of too many clouds above or bottles consumed ? :-)
Kenny
--------------------
Milton Wilcox R.I.P
|
Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
Sleep is impossible as long as my faithful black Lab and observing partner Cinder (looking for rats) is out with me. Her need for frequent attention keeps me awake. But seriously the chair is comfortable enough to fall asleep in, especially with the headrest. Most of the time if I take a brew out with me, it hardly gets touched. I get so engrossed scanning the skies that I forget it's there.
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
|
Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 19246
Loc: Brooker, FL
|
|
You've given me an inspiration for a new device - an Energetic Retriever Holder (Maggie's pretty laid-back, but Casey shows me how good he could be at licking eyepieces clean every few minutes....) 
--------------------
N11GPS Fastar//TOA-130S//MK66 Std//AT6RC//Vintage C5//Megrez II 80mm APO//SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II//Sirius EQ-G
Too Many Astro-Cameras//Mallincam Color Hyper Plus
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Casey and Nelson
Lot 19 Deerlick Astronomy Village (Canis Major)
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
|
Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
Cinder hasn't done any EP licking yet, but ran into one of my Dobs one night when Bosco was chasing her which freaked her out for a little while. One reason why dogs and star parties don't mix.
I did some more experimenting with the springs last night. I picked up some lighter tensioned ones yesterday afternoon that had the same length. I used one of each type (instead of two heavier ones) on either side of the mount and attached to the support rack. The altitude travel is as smooth as can be and the Obie 20x90s stay right where I put them. Before with the two heavy springs, the mount would ride up some requiring I hold it down manually for horizon viewing.
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
Edited by Craig Simmons (03/23/05 08:46 AM)
|
Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 19246
Loc: Brooker, FL
|
|
It looks like you're making more progress - that's certainly a novel design.
Maggie and Casey are star-party veterans, and they've learned to avoid the scopes and charm the scopers (during the day). At night, they've learned to stay clear of the scopes, period (although it took a couple of stern lectures to make that point). They do their wallowing/mud-wrestling things close to the motorhome.
--------------------
N11GPS Fastar//TOA-130S//MK66 Std//AT6RC//Vintage C5//Megrez II 80mm APO//SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II//Sirius EQ-G
Too Many Astro-Cameras//Mallincam Color Hyper Plus
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Casey and Nelson
Lot 19 Deerlick Astronomy Village (Canis Major)
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
|
Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
Lecturing dogs. Reminds me of the Far Side cartoon of what dogs hear.
http://www.getacard.com/product_page.php?PRID=3061&CGID=21032
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
|
Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 19246
Loc: Brooker, FL
|
|
One of my favorites; my ex-wife had address labels that had two dogs introducing themselves. The first says, "My name's 'NO, NO, BAD DOG'! What's yours?"
Once mine got the hang of avoiding scopes (and not sneaking sips of coffee), they've been fine.
--------------------
N11GPS Fastar//TOA-130S//MK66 Std//AT6RC//Vintage C5//Megrez II 80mm APO//SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II//Sirius EQ-G
Too Many Astro-Cameras//Mallincam Color Hyper Plus
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Casey and Nelson
Lot 19 Deerlick Astronomy Village (Canis Major)
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
|
Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
More changes this past weekend. I relocated the pivot holes about 5" further forward on the mount. This puts the swingarms at a better angle for controlling them, positioning the binos and still allows plenty of room to push them forward and up out of the way when exiting the chair. I also replaced the plywood feet at the corners of the base with pressure treated wood. I also added paint to the groundboards on both Bino Pods. No.2 got black and No.1 got red, since I didn't have enough black left.
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
Edited by Craig Simmons (04/04/05 08:08 AM)
|
Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
A forgotten update. I replaced the clamping knobs that hold the rack to the baseboard with 3/8"-16 bolts. I decided it's just as easy to carry the rack and the baseboard as one unit instead of two. Also when I altered the rack to use sockets and short supports, I used teflon bearings compressed between the rack and short supports with bolts and lock nuts for smoother motion.
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
|
Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
Yesterday I spent most of the day in the basement building a new mount for Bino Pod II. Tonight I finished the final mechanical touches. This one replaces the swingarms with drawer slides to position the binos. I use stops (small furniture feet) and two spring loaded levers in the center that lodges against the stops on the sides when released. This keeps the binos and mount securely held with no slipping. I built similar heavy duty mount for two binos a while back but hadn't gotten around to making a downsized one for a single pair. I used pine and birch plywood to make the new mount. While my goal was to have the binos be able to slide and stay put anywhere on the mount, I found it works very good with the preset stops. The reason I did away with the swing arms was that during temperature changes the wood and teflon bearings in the swingarms would loosen up making it necessary to tighten them periodically.
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
|
Craig Simmons
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/10/03
Posts: 1502
Loc: Falls Church, VA
|
|
Here's a closeup of the sliding mount.
--------------------
Craig Simmons
Oberwerk 8x56, 20x90
Nikon Action IV 10x50
Barska 15x70
Galileo 20x60
Stellarvue 15x63, 20x85
Orion XT10 pre-Classic
Antares 10
Stellarvue AT1010
|
KennyJ
The British Flash
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 20139
Loc: Lancashire UK
|
|
Thanks Craig,
You deserve a "Special Cloudy Nights Award" for your contributions to this forum.
Kenny
--------------------
Milton Wilcox R.I.P
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
[Re: