Finder Illuminator

[Christopher Davenport]

The weather has been getting me down lately, so, i decided to try my hand at some modding.

This is my first mod undertaken on my kit. I only attempted this because I have a spare finder (30mm) and because not being able to see the cross hairs was driving me mental. So the idea was to insert a LED into the finder but not blind myself in the process.

First I got myself a tiny LED torch. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290980298083?var=590160541313&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Drilled a hole in the finder plastic between the lens and the cross hair.

(Choose carefully as I almost took out my cross-hair.)

Paint the LED with wife's dark red nail paint, insert into hole and let dry.

Melt plastic a plastic clip and mold melten plastic to hold torch in place.

Then do a last dab of nail polish over the torch to make sure it is sufficiently cover. 

(Careful for the cross-hairs as I got a bit of polish on the arms.)

Anyway here is the finished product. What do you guys think?

[sbooder]

Welcome to the world of modding.  Nice job.

[Rhys Hardwick]

I've been wondering about doing this myself. Nice job, and great photos. I've heard about doing it with a button cell and a LED. Will give it a go now!

[RyanNehring]

Nice work!

[Christopher Davenport]

Thanks all, used this the other night before the moon came out and it was great to be able to see, just for a split second where the cross hair actually is.

It makes things my alignment routine so much easier as it is a bit of a cross between a telrad red dot and a normal finder.

[SniffTheGlove]

I drilled two holes (5mm) equally spaced (180deg) into the rear body of a SW 9x50 Finder, then wired these up to a small battery and pot/switch so I can dim or increase the the LED brightness

[dtokez]

nice idea, simple mod