My stab at a parallelogram mount

[GazK]

I bought an AZ4 mount a few months ago for my mak, and over the summer I decided to make a parallelogram mount to sit on the tripod and carry my 15x70s. Here is the result:

Here it is in the stowed position:

And in action:

and a shonky video clip:

It works really well, very smooth and quick to damp. Only trouble is its about 9" short of being able to stand under at the zenith, so I'm going to redesign the end section to place the local alt pivot above the upper paralellogram arm. It'll also give be an opportunity to rework the local Az pivot with less flop by using a longer pivot axis bolt.

Does anyone know where I could get a drilled C-section piece of steel about 30mm width, 4"-6" length and about 2" reach, like this?

steel c bracket

[swamp thing]

Nice one Gaz.

Now I can see how one is made, I will build my own.

Thanks for sharing

Regards Steve

[Polar Bear]

That is a great looking mount, thanks for sharing. I am about to embark on one and this has given me more ideas.

Paul

[pete_l]

That's a nice piece of work! Properly rounded edges, decent fixings so that (hopefully) it goes together easily in the dark. And what looks like nylon washers to smooth the motion between the arms. I cheated and cut circles of plastic off a milk carton for mine

So far as seeing at the zenith is concerned, how about an add-on 45° mirror after the object lenses of the binoculars? Save on neck-ache by viewing horizontally.

[JamesM]

Great job and very well executed. It would seem that many people recently on the forum are starting to make these for themselves which is very inspiring. Must have a go myself if I am to stay with the pack.

Great effort and many thanks for posting pics

James