I recommend using a bolt no longer or shorter than what's needed to feed about 3/8" into the shaft. This is an important note: If your bolt is longer than an inch, it might mess with the focusing screw, which could result in damage to your binocs if you really try to jam it in, but most likely will only make it difficult to focus, thus defeating the point. You can attach a mount here, and provided that your bolt is not so long that it messes with the focusing screw (anything less than one inch works on all the 50mm objective lens-sized binocs I've tried my adapter on), you're in business. However, I've yet to encounter a pair of porro prism binocs that are not mountable, other than one pair that used that space for a built in camera.īasically, the focusing knob sits in a hollow threaded shaft that is tapped at 1/4-20. While some binocular brands advertise that they are tripod mountable, some swear up and down that they are not. We'll get to why in a minute.Ī Flat Washer with a hole big enough for the bolt to pass through and small enough for the head not to go through. And 2) that it is less than an inch long. This is the standard mounting size for binoculars and cameras and many other gizmos that attach to tripods. No matter what kind of bolt/screw or nut you use the two important things are that 1) it is 1/4-20. You could use any kind of nut, but the wingnut proved the easiest to use. But a hex bolt, or just about any bolt except maybe a carriage bolt, works.Ī 1/4-20 wingnut. Originally, I used a 2" hex with the same threading with nuts as spacers, but eventually I broke down and bought the 5-cent thumb screw from Menard's because it was easier to use than a hex bolt. Thumb Screw just refers to the type of head. 20 is how many threads the bolt has per inch, and 1/2" is the length of the bolt from the beginning to the end of the thread. It should also either be bendable (we'll get to that) or already set at a square angle.Ī 1/4-20 x 1/2" Thumb Screw. The important bit to note is that you need something at least about 3" long with at least two holes on either end large enough to fit the bolts but not so large that the bolts go through it. But even if you do, it's better than $30 I guess.Ī flat metal bar from goodness knows what project. Don't go on a big trip and spend $5 just to have the exact set-up I found. Let's get down to how to make these, with one caveat: you probably already have the stuff around your house to make these. By using the tripod to stabilize the image, we were able to share the eclipse in full-detail! For nary a dime, I used scraps to make a simple, and functional tripod mount for my binocs, and as the picture shows, they'll work for most porro prism binoculars (the ones that are shaped like the pair in the photo).Įven better, I was able to share the experience of moon gazing with my partner who wears glasses and normally can't see through binoculars. So after scratching my head a bit, I dove into my spare parts drawer and made some for free. But oh, the hand-fatigue and shake associated with handholding those 50 or 70mm lenses! So when the recent full lunar eclipse was headed our way, I scrambled to find a tripod mount for my Celestron 20x 50mm binoculars.Ī search of the local hobby store proved fruitless and a trip to everyone's favorite internet store turned up models for $30, $50, and even $70! That wasn't going to work.
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