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Bino Scope Project


philjay

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Looking like a nice kit of kit now Phil.

Have you had a chance for first light ?

Any problems merging......??

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33 minutes ago, Bino-viewer said:

Looking like a nice kit of kit now Phil.

Have you had a chance for first light ?

Any problems merging......??

Collimation of each scope individually and for binocular vision is going to have to wait Im afraid. I assembled it today and made sure it all went together and importantly each scope focused with no vignetting due to tube shortening.

I want to take my time and get the final adjustment right so its saved for another day.

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Thanks folks. With something like this you have to consider several different factors, doing one thing affects about 2 others. I was just glad to be able to get each tube focusing with the prisms. Plus  I was conscious of balance in azimuth. That is the main reason I assembled it. Once I had the eyepieces and prisms in it all balanced, so I can leave the az lock alone and it stays put.

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2 hours ago, philjay said:

I meant Alt not Az, doh

Didn't think you'd have the azimuth that far of level that it needed balancing. ?

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It lives! Mwa ha ha ha!

Spent a couple of hours collimating and getting used to it this morning. I have full binocular viewing now across all magnifications.

 

I had to strip one IPD prism assembly as collimation was way off, found one prism slightly off, fixed that to get matching collimation.

 

I set the rig up on the mount, slotted in 12mm reticule eyepiece in each tube and aligned each on an apple on a tree about 80 yards away. Then put the vixens in and..   urgh, didnt work. So aligned using the vixens, adjusting each tube until I got a single binocular image. And all went well.

Did a few minor mods to make adjustment of one tube easier, will sort the other some time. I will have to beef up the eyepiece and prism locking as well as there is a bit of play there which affects collimation.

There is a lot of refinement to do still but they are useable and so far Im very pleased.

Hooe to have a first light soon.

 

Edited by philjay
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A couple more from todays play.

Still a few things to do on it,

Sorting a pan and tilt handle

Beefier webs for the L bracket

Beefier locking for the prisms and eyepiece

Tooless adjusters for elevation adjustment on tube 1.

Carry handle

Paint bracket

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garage3.jpg?raw=1

 

 

 

 

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Loads of respect and qudos for building that Phil. So much extra work, head scratching and clever design required to make that bino scope work properly. And it really looks a professional job. The above could be pics on TS Optics website next to a price tag of 3000 euros or more. ?

 

Looking forward to your first light report.

 

I'm sure you won't, but if you ever want to sell it, please send me a PM first. It is a superb build. ??

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10 hours ago, Bino-viewer said:

Are you using 3x prisms on each side, or a combination of prisms and mirrors ?

The IPD rhomboids are 2 celestron prisms then on the back end of each is a mirror diagonal to flip the image to correct view for terrestrial viewing and 90 degree viewing.

 

9 hours ago, Tweedledee said:

Loads of respect and qudos for building that Phil. So much extra work, head scratching and clever design required to make that bino scope work properly. And it really looks a professional job. The above could be pics on TS Optics website next to a price tag of 3000 euros or more. ?

 

Looking forward to your first light report.

 

I'm sure you won't, but if you ever want to sell it, please send me a PM first. It is a superb build. ??

Ta Pete, 3000 euros then mate?

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Thanks.

I was just wondering (with using 2 prisms) if there may be an issue with spherochromatism

creeping in with you using dual prisms ?

I'm not saying there will be, but its something i am aware of myself with using binoviewers.

It can be corrected of course.

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Adding more glass for the light path to go through will always run the risk of more CA.

Only testing and comparing with a standard set up will tell. The IPD prisms could be swapped for mirror diagonals but that would increase the light path, resulting in having to chop more off the tube, losing the 2nd baffle and causing vignetting and therefore losing effective apeture.

A little extra CA is preferrable to all that mallarky

Edited by philjay
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I managed a very brief and rushed 1st light on the bins last night. The moon was high and almost full, the sky was misty thus all but the brightest stars were washed out, not the best conditions for testing. Got home from an early Christmas meal with some business friends and chucked everything outside quickly to have a look at the moon, I was dog tired so this was going to be quick.

After a quick collimation on the moon I managed to get binocular vision at 24mm (24x) on the vixens and hey, the moon was really 3d. Set off even more by a background star just off the limb.

I upped the mag to 8mm on the vixens (75x) and collimation shifted, (must sort the clamps out) Recollimated in seconds and was rewarded with an even nicer 3d effect particulary on the craters on the terminator. The moon looked like a globe instead of a disc.

Keeping at 75x I shifted to Albireo then Polaris, ( doubles are the main target I will be using this on). Even more 3d effect, particularly on Polaris, fascinating.

I tried for a couple of dsos but they were wsshed out by the moon and conditions.

A very brief test on astro targets but enough to show it works and Im on the right track.

Now for some tweaking.

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They are doin my head in at the moment, trying to get the IPD prisms to match collimation. One of them has been awkward in not seating a prism squarely, I think its dremel time again. If the prisms are not matched you end up adjusting the ota collimation to compensate which is what was happening last night, you still get bino vision but for only part of the fov.

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Sorted the mismatch ?
  In order to centre the 2 prism bodies when glueing to form the IPD rhomboids I made a stepped ring which keeps them centered. Unfortunately in one assembly the ring intruded past the seat for the prism therefore tilting it very slightly but this was enough to put it out of collimation. I thought I had sorted it previously but apparently not enough.

A few minutes with the dremel saw a nice flat seat.

Ive just checked collimation on both tubes with the prisms in and both are bang on now. This should help the view through the scope to be more binocular and so the only collimation required will be the tubes.

 

Edited by philjay
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Just retested everything today after prism realignment and its much better. Sorting the prism and eyepiece clamps out now and its more stable little to no image shift now. Got my panning handle sourced as well, fitting that next.

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