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Philip Levine
super member
Reged: 03/22/07
Posts: 156
Loc: near Boston, MA
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I'm sure this has been done before, but here is my rendition of mounting a red dot finder on a set of University Optics binoculars. I used 1 long Weaver mount, and 2 shorter ones, and two Weaver top-mount rings. The rings are mounted on the bino center post, "upside down" with the Weaver mount on top.
The inner diameter of the top-mount rings were too large so I purchased a small section of thick rubber heat tubing at Home Depot and added it as a spacer. It all fits snug.
Of course, tonight it's total cloud cover, so I haven't had a chance to use it in the field as yet.
Phil
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Zhumell 10" Dob (modified with degree circle and Wixey inclinometer)
26mm 2" GSO eyepiece
9mm 1.25" GSO eyepiece
13mm Nagler T6
Crayford focuser
DewBuster w/homemade heater strips
Nikon 10x50 EX binoculars
University Optics 11x80 binoculars
Fujinon 16x70 FMT SX
Surveyor Tripod w Universal Astronomics Parallelogram
member International Dark-Sky Association
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Solar B
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/28/07
Posts: 916
Loc: By Edinburgh , Scotland
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Thats one groovey looking RDF you,ve got there,im looking to
do the same on mine.
Brian
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" Gentlemen only ever use Refractors "
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Wes James
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/12/06
Posts: 3459
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Similar homemade (courtesy of my friend Gary Fuchs) setup on my Garrett 20x110's...
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Wes
Atlantic Beach, FL
Some bino’s from Miyauchi 5x32 Binon's up through Garrett 20x110 Signature's,
Some telescopes from a Stellarvue 80mm NHNG up through a couple of 8” reflectors…
And a wonderful 4.25" Delmarva Shiefspiegler!
Some good friends, made here on C/N.
Oh- several cats and a wonderful wife!
Anyone want a cat???? :-O
"When your work speaks for itself- Don't Interrupt" -Gamble Rogers
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Philip Levine
super member
Reged: 03/22/07
Posts: 156
Loc: near Boston, MA
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Here's another photo close-up, the Weaver rails and top rings are all off the shelf items I bought at Bass Pro Shops, this hardware is for mounting of scopes on rifles, but I found another use for mounting a red dot finder on my bino.
Phil
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_________________________________________________
Zhumell 10" Dob (modified with degree circle and Wixey inclinometer)
26mm 2" GSO eyepiece
9mm 1.25" GSO eyepiece
13mm Nagler T6
Crayford focuser
DewBuster w/homemade heater strips
Nikon 10x50 EX binoculars
University Optics 11x80 binoculars
Fujinon 16x70 FMT SX
Surveyor Tripod w Universal Astronomics Parallelogram
member International Dark-Sky Association
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Philip Levine
super member
Reged: 03/22/07
Posts: 156
Loc: near Boston, MA
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last photo of Weaver rail and top rings. red dot finder not really needed for these 11x80 binos, but as I obtain higher magnification binos with smaller fov, at least now I know this mount will work.
Phil
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_________________________________________________
Zhumell 10" Dob (modified with degree circle and Wixey inclinometer)
26mm 2" GSO eyepiece
9mm 1.25" GSO eyepiece
13mm Nagler T6
Crayford focuser
DewBuster w/homemade heater strips
Nikon 10x50 EX binoculars
University Optics 11x80 binoculars
Fujinon 16x70 FMT SX
Surveyor Tripod w Universal Astronomics Parallelogram
member International Dark-Sky Association
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Gordon Rayner
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 03/24/07
Posts: 967
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Are those Weaver mounts, especially the rings, mating the diameter of the hinge? Are they working as a V-block(not likely with the rings)? Perhaps you have machined adapter rings to interface the Weaver ring ID to the hinge OD?
If the RDF line of sight can be set parallel to the hinge axis, one then has a hinge reference for true collimation, that being mutual parallelism of the hinge and the line of sight of each barrel.
I attempted this with some RDF. Some of the lower cost Chinese large aperture RDF have considerable shift of the line of sight at the outer part of the aperture. This can be inspected handheld, before purchase. The RDF was mounted to the 1/4 - 20 threaded hole at the front of the hinge, via a 90 deg. angle bracket and a Weaver mount with some added holes.
The hinge reference was indirect: A thick plane-parallel window was fixed in a position which made it perpendicular to the line of sight of a an industrial alignment telescope(whose 30x magnification made this setup too sensitive), via autocollimation off one face of the window, or simply by placing the front rim of the alignment telescope against the window . I was many miles from my shop, in a different country, and did not have an optical bench or heavy , dedicated collimator with me. The front of the binocular was rested against the window, assuming that the plane of the front of the binocular was perpendicular to the hinge axis. ( That assumption is implicit in the FUJI PHOTO OPTICAL UBMM projection collimation device for binoculars).
The subjects were Fuji 7 x 50. I used a JTII handheld rhomboid comparator to compare the hinge axis , as defined by the LOS of the RDF, to the line of sight of each binocular half, and to compare the two halves.
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Philip Levine
super member
Reged: 03/22/07
Posts: 156
Loc: near Boston, MA
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Hi Gordon,
These parts were off-the-shelf items, no machining needed. The inner diameter of the top mount rings was too large for the bino hinge, so what I did was add a short length of thick rubber heater hose (slit length-wise so it would slide in) between the bino hinge and the rings, so the rings are "mating the diameter of the hinge". The rings have top and bottom screws which when tightened close the ring diameter down on the rubber hose and it all snugs up nicely. The Weaver rails are slotted, as are the top rings, so it appears things are lined up and "true" with the bino hinge.
See attached photo.
Phil
Edited by Philip Levine (10/16/09 10:12 PM)
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