Telescope Service Hardwood Tripod

[johninderby]

Telescope Service Hardwood Tripod

I was looking for another wooden tripod, and although I'd rather have another Berlebach tripod, my bank account said no. I came across the TS hardwood tripod and thought it looked pretty good and was only £123.00 delivered. It doesn't have a standard top to it, hence the remarkably low price compared to the Berlebach. I wanted it mainly for use with a small AZ mount so making up an adaptor plate for it was no problem. I had already made up an adaptor plate to allow fitting an SLT mount to a standard EQ5 tripod and it proved to be a simple matter to use this by adding three more holes.

http://stargazerslou...r-alt-az-mount/

The TS tripod has a flat top with an 80mm diameter threaded flange mounted on it. The flange was fastened on by three 5mm bolts from underneath so it was easy to remove. The adaptor plate I had made up before was 82 mm diameter so it would fit nicely in place of the flange. I used the flange to mark out the three hole positions on the adaptor and drilled and tapped them to 5mm. Then it was simply bolted in place of the flange. With the flat top of the tripod it lends itself to easy mods to fit all manner of mounts or photo tripod heads. The tripod had a carry strap permanently attached which I cut off as it was in the way.

TS rates the tripod for up to a 45Kg load which seems possible when the legs aren't extended and you could add a tray on top of the spreader to make it even more solid if needed. The tops of each leg have a small projection that fits into the top of the sliding part of the leg when fully closed which helps make it more solid. Fit, finish and build quality are quite good as you can see in the photos, although not up to the Berlebach standard, however it's still a very nice looking and solid tripod.

Initial tests show it to be very solid indeed and with the small AZ mount with a 127 MAK vibrations were damped out in about one second. What a transformation compared to the stock tripod. While this tripod may seem to be overkill for an SLT or SynScan AZ mount there's no such thing as too solid a tripod and at only 5Kg it's not too heavy.

TS Hardwood Tripod

http://translate.goo...nfo/p5563_.html

You could easily fit a Berlebach adaptor to the tripod (£34.00 delivered) to use it with an EQ5 or HEQ5 mount or a Skytee 2. It's called an M10 to 3/8 adaptor. but the flat bottom would make it easy to bolt onto the flat top of the TS tripod.

http://www.berlebach...sprache=english

Conclusion:

If you want a Berlebach wooden tripod but can't afford one and aren't afraid of some minor DIY this could be a cost effective solution.

Did I mention it looks great as well.

John

[Brian Nordstrom]

Hi I have one under my North Group 127mm Triplet APO and Ioptron IEQ45 mount and it holds these very well , a sharp rap on thye tube dampens out in about 2 seconds , and thats at 3/4 extension, looks good as well .

I had to machine up this aliminium adaptor to fit my IEQ45 to thye tripod . It works very well .

Here is a few photos I hope you enjoy .

Brian.

[vlebo]

I'm sure these wooden tripods are all made by the same manufacturer. My William optics EZTouch mount and tripod setup had exactly the same tripod albeit stained in a darker color.

[Brian Nordstrom]

Hmm ,,, still good tripods .

A head and shoulders above the crappy extruded aliminium and so called stainless steel tripods out there .

Brian.