Binoscope Project

[Klitwo]

Binoscopes (binocular telescopes) are evolving rapidly nowadays....new designs, new mounts, new ideas and new concepts since I made my 40 year old dual 6-inch f/15 clock-driven Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain bino.  A "Bowling Ball Binocular Telescope" design was bound to appear on the binoscope scene sooner or later.  Well now it has appeared in a recently published book called "Building Binoscopes"....on a simple pipe mount no less.  Soon it will be time to make more room on those star party observing fields...here comes the Bowling Ball Binos on the pipe mount express..... ?

Klitwo

 

Edited January 31, 2019 by Klitwo

[Peter Drew]

An interesting variation. I'm struggling to see what obvious advantages it offers over some Dobsonian designs.  ?

[Klitwo]

Yeah...life's a "struggle" sometimes.  Even so, I'm expanding on Sir Isaac Newton's original ball mount concept "x2" with a pair of 6" to 10" Newtonian telescopes attached to a simple bowling ball on a humble pipe mount that allows you to align and move them in any direction with ease across the entire night sky.  ?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewtonsTelescopeReplica.jpg

Klitwo

P.S.  One can also be pretty creative in making an Alt-azimuth pipe mount with a rich field refractor on board....>

https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/articles/a-novel-alt-az-mount-for-a-rich-field-telescope-r3036

Edited January 3, 2019 by Klitwo

[Klitwo]

On ‎21‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 02:23, philj said:

Inspired by Peter Drews post on his ED80 bins I picked his brain (thanks Peter) at Kelling and had a go myself.

 

Ive had observational bins in the past and never really was a fan of the mags available plus if I wanted decent glass I would have to pay quite alot, so when I saw Peters thread I thought I would have a go.

 

So 2 SW ED80s dual speed later and some ali plate, bar, screws and broken hacksaw blades, blunted lathe and milling tools later I present my Mk1 version mounted on my Berlebach and Giro11.

 

Just sorted collimation today and its all working. Ive got a few bits of tidying up to do like beef up the prism and eyepiece clamping arrangement, make OTA 1 collimation tool less (needs allen keys at the moment), sort a pan and tilt handle and a carry handle out.

 

Its fitted with 2 off 8-24mm Vixen LV zoom eyepieces and these are working nicely having tried the rig out on some apple trees about 80 yards away. Collimation wanders a little when zooming due to some play in the eyepiece and prism clamp arrangements but thats next on my agenda to fix.

Not had chance for first light on astro yet but on terrestrial it performs nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice Job you did there.....

I went the cheap route...used a pair of swapmeet Nikon 1-1/4" prismatic microscope eyepiece holders for my humble homemade Nexstar 4SE powered (electronics/software - 40K object database and hardware - gears) GOTO dual 102mm f/6 Celestron binoscope mounted on a Lumicon Universal adjustable height pier/tripod.....The dual eyepiece holders swing independantly on thier own axis for individual IPD settings. Very easy to adjust.  The views thru the 102mm binos are quite splendid.  They were the cover story in the July/Aug. 2011 Astronomy Technology Today magazine and the Warren Estes Memorial Award winner at the 2011 RTMC Expo.

 

P.S.  Speaking of "Zoom" eyepieces"....I use a pair of 7-21x "zoom" small lever action eyepieces I cannablized from a pair of 7x40mm 1979 Bushnell binocs for my 1980 dual 6-inch f/15 Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain bino project....They worked splendidly.  It sure beats changing eyepieces in the dark.  See last three attached images below.  I use a mechanical "Pitch & Tilt" action knob (underneath the black box) for the dual "zoom" eyepiece IPD adjustable setting.  The aluminum focusing knob is visible in the photo image.  It's a fantastic observing experience to "zoom" into the bottom of those lunars craters using both eyes at over 300x.  The dual 6-inch f/15 Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain binos won the "Engineering Merit Award" at the 1981 RTMC and also appeared as a 3 page story in the Nov. 1982 issue of Sky & Telescope.

Klitwo

Edited January 2, 2019 by Klitwo

[philj]

Fascinating stuff Klitwo the box IPD arrangement is something Im mulling over at the moment.

[Peter Drew]

I've used the "box" IPD arrangement on several 6" refracting and larger reflecting binoscopes, it does offer a rigid platform. The 6" F8 model in the photos incorporated two opposing racks driven by one pinion such that IPD varied by turning knurled knob.  You do need to refocus though after adjustment.   ? 

[Klitwo]

2 hours ago, philj said:

Fascinating stuff Klitwo the box IPD arrangement is something Im mulling over at the moment.

I especially like the "small twist of the knob" mechanical action that creates the dual eyepiece "Pitch and Tilt" IPD adjustment on the Avalon Instruments (Italy) splendid 107mm Binoscope.  It has some mechanical characteristics that are similiar to the one I created for my homemade 1980 6-inch f/15 Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain binocular telescope....See the following Avalon Instruments website link.....>

http://www.avalon-instruments.com/products/binoscope 

Klitwo

Edited January 4, 2019 by Klitwo

[PeterW]

THought i recognised that dual cassegrain bin picture from the  back of Harrington’s TOuring the Universe through Binculars. I’m about out to take delivery of a pair of commercial 70mm bins... easier to transport than some of the large creations here and avoids having to stretch ones DIY skills, though I bet the views through these big bins is worth the effort!

PeterW

[Klitwo]

55 minutes ago, PeterW said:

THought i recognised that dual cassegrain bin picture from the  back of Harrington’s TOuring the Universe through Binculars. I’m about out to take delivery of a pair of commercial 70mm bins... easier to transport than some of the large creations here and avoids having to stretch ones DIY skills, though I bet the views through these big bins is worth the effort!

PeterW

Yeah...The dual 6-inch f/15 Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain binos have been since 1980......RTMC in 1981...S&T in Nov. 1982 and Harrington's 1990 book,,,,and a few others.

Klitwo 

[Klitwo]

For those interested....these are some "big" binos....>

Even before I completed my dual 6-inch f/15 Dall-Kirkham clock driven Cassegrain binos in 1980.....these big dual 1.2M Cassegrain binos were in operation at the AMOS Observatory (10,023ft. elev.) on top of Haleakala on Maui in Hawaii.  Little did I know in 1980 after completing my own ATM bino project that a short time later starting in the early 80s I would be operating and help maintaining them for AVCO Everett Research Laboratory and the U.S. Air Force at the AMOS Observatory on Haleakala on Maui myself.  (wikipedia.org Public Domain images)....>

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/AEOS_MSSS_GEODSS.jpg

The 1.2M Binos are housed in the large white lower left observatory dome in the bottom AMOS Observatory image. Most of my assigned astronomical duties and engineering projects were in the two large white AMOS Observatory domes (upper middle large white AMOS Observatory dome housed a 1.6M telescope) in the bottom image.  The large silver metallic observatory dome houses a 3.67-meter telescope, known as the Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS), owned by the Department of Defense, is the United States' largest optical telescope designed for tracking satellites. (wikipedia.org Public Domain images.

Klitwo

 

Edited January 31, 2019 by Klitwo

[Coco]

If you have deep pocket's.. Someone obviously thinks that there is a market for home made Binoscopes.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001274481958.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.13432e0eAsIvzT

or these

http://binotechno.com/product_en.html#EZM

http://www.kasai-trading.jp/ezp-en.html

 

Binoscope projec

Binoscope project

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Edited January 14, 2022 by Coco