Broken Binoculars

[Hypernova]

Not too pleased with myself now, I have managed to accidentally break off one of my eyepieces on my pair of Celestron 15x70s where they attach to the central pivot point. It must've been rough handling whilst in my holdall in the back of the car on the way to my camping holiday, when I got them out the eyepiece just came free!!!

However it happened I am now without a functioning pair of binoculars.

They were only cheap, as they were bought in FLOs promotion in late August last year, but I don't whether to attempt a repair with a spot of two-part adhesive or to cut my losses and bin them or sell them to someone looking for spares or for a project. Any ideas on what to do with them would be appreciated

[John]

Any chance of a photo of the damage Tom ?.

Araldite (glue) is strong stuff and can fix most things and often with more strength than before they were broken. I've heard that they use it to hold Hercules aircraft panels in place when the rivets pop out !.

[nicnac]

i did something similar to this an age past with my first large binocular, i could never get them to focus correctly again, they ended up getting recycled.

hope you have better luck with yours

[Moonshane]

you could maybe make it into a finder?

[LeoLion]

You have now got yourself a 15 x 70 monocular scope and a 70 mm ready housed objective for a 'big' finder scope ( That is if the epoxy repair does'nt do the business )

[nicnac]

silver lining

[Hypernova]

I have uploaded a picture of the damage for you to see. Have a look and give me your opinions.

[nicnac]

good news, thats not what i did

[Peter Drew]

Hello Tom. A tricky repair as there is not really enough surface area to make a reliable bond with an adhesive. If you could send me the two broken components I think I could make a part sleeve to join them together again.

[Hypernova]

Many options to take, just wondering how to create a 70mm travelscope from one side and to make a finder from the other

I guess I'd need to find some way to attach a diagonal to each side and a way to mount them, a way to focus, a synta finder shoe for one and maybe a tripod bracket for the other.

[Ad Astra]

It looks from the photo that the aluminum frame that holds the eyepiece is broken in the center - is that right?

If so, this sort of casting is almost impossible to fix. You can try with a steel-filled, 2-part epoxy if you like. The best brand here in the States is called JB Weld Dunno if you have it there, but probably something similar.

Seriously? I would consider making this a monocular to give away to someone (maybe a kid who wants to try it on the moon???) and get a new one.

Don't just bin them, the lenses and prisms are good for something - if nothing else, the local science teacher may want them for classroom use!

Dan