Wooden Tripod Mods

[AdeKing]

One of my lockdown projects has been making some mods to a couple of wooden tripods that I've had for quite a while to see if I could improve their performance when in use.  Today one of the tripods is finished, minus a bit of varnish to seal the top of the legs, and the other is finished all bar fitting the spread stopper.

The first tripod is an old TAL wooden tripod that I've had for a couple of years but have never really used.  From what I gather the TAL tripod has done the rounds of SGL users and came to me via @Lockie and @Saganite.

The second is an old wooden Bogen Zone VI tripod intended for large format cameras that I picked locally on Gumtree for £25 or , which was  a bargain.

The problem that I had with both tripods was that they had a tendency to rotate and flex too much and so didn't do a very good job of damping vibrations, which is something that wood is generally very good at, so I decided that rather than shell out on a second Berlebach that I'd try to save some hard earned case and improve the wooden tripods that I already had.

Bogen Zone VI

The Bogen Zone VI is a lovely looking tripod and stands quite tall but the head that it was fitted with was in no way suitable for astro use, as the black top plate was relatively thin plywood.  The first mod was to fit an EQ5 type tripod top.  This was easy enough to swap out, but increased the distance between the sides of the legs which caused the central extending part of the leg to pop out of its tracks., so I needed to break out the Dremel to remove some of the wood to accommodate the additional width of the EQ5 yokes. 

I purposely removed a bit more wood than was needed to tighten the legs up a bit, this does mean that the top clamp needs to be loosened as well as the bottom clamps in order to adjust the length of the legs but it has the added benefit of adding a lot of stiffness as everything is clamped really tight. 

The next mod was to shorten the coach bolts attaching the legs to the top plate so that I could fit some clamping levers, so out with the Dremel again, but an easy job.

The final mod needed was to fit a spread stopper to make it easier to set the tripod up, as wrestling with three independent and unrestrained legs was not my idea of fun.  I had an old aluminium tripod from a Skywatcher AZ Goto which was destined for the tip as it really wasn't any good for much else so I scavenged the spread stopper and fitted it to the wooden tripod which has improved it no end.

Here is a shot of the much improved finished article.

TAL Wooden Tripod

I haven't got any photos of the TAL as I received it, so thanks to @Lockie for letting me use some of his photos.

The TAL tripod had already been modified with an EQ5 top plate when it came to me, but it had the opposite problem to the Bogen and the EQ5 top plate was obviously narrower than the original and so the gaps had been padded out with a stack of small washers, but because the washers were small diameter it had the same problem as the Bogen and rotated and flexed lots where the legs joined to top plate.

First mod was to replace the unsightly bolts and coupling nuts with proper coach bolts and clamping levers.  I also got some large diameter M8 x 40mm diameter repair washers to replace the small diameter washer stack and hopefully reduce some of the tendency to twist.

This worked brilliantly, but then I was gifted a Vixen GP Tripod top plate by @Alan White to match the Vixen GP that will sit on top of it, but unlike the EQ5 top plate, all of the holes for attaching the tripod legs were threaded, which ruled out using coach bolts so I got some normal M8 bolts, but there was a bit of a problem, as the clamping lever was tightened, the bolt unscrewed out from the opposite side.

After a bit of a think, I added an M8 nut inside the part of the Vixen top plate between the legs and tightened it up, job done and problem solved.    

 

I'm not sure on the large washers on the outside of the legs, so they'll probably be removed at a later date.

All that is left to do now is to fit a Berlebach spread stopper, but I need to wait for the small corner braces to arrive that I'll use to connect the spread stopper to the tripod legs.

A shot of the nearly finished article.

The mods made have vastly improved the rigidity of the tripods and have ultimately saved me from spending out on a Berlebach Uni 28.

I'll update the thread when I've finished it off by fitting the spread stopper.

Thanks for reading and I hope that this proves of help to someone. 

[John]

They both look great and work excellently too I'll bet

I love wooden tripods. Really finishes off a scope setup well and they are really effective too

[wormix]

Look great - I got a Vixen Polaris earlier this year which came with a short tripod for Newtonians. Was going to build a taller tripod, but maybe I should scour the ads for something I can repurpose instead. 
 

 

[Stu]

Excellent job Ade, they look the business! 👍👍

[Saganite]

Nice work Ade.   I don't remember selling it to you. I do however remember meeting you and handing over a beautiful 4" Celestron ED, but then I would !!

Edited June 28, 2020 by Saganite

[AdeKing]

9 hours ago, John said:

They both look great and work excellently too I'll bet

I love wooden tripods. Really finishes off a scope setup well and they are really effective too

Thanks John, wooden tripods do look the business, even my wife thinks they're pretty which is a huge compliment.

The TAL is now very stable, especially when the spikes are pushed into the grass, it's not as stable as the Uni18 but it gives it a run for its money.

1 hour ago, wormix said:

Look great - I got a Vixen Polaris earlier this year which came with a short tripod for Newtonians. Was going to build a taller tripod, but maybe I should scour the ads for something I can repurpose instead. 

I love my Vixen GP, the wooden tripods do come up quite often for reasonable prices so it's worth keeping an eye open here and on ABS.

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Excellent job Ade, they look the business! 👍👍

Thanks Stu, I've really enjoyed working on these and am relieved that I didn't manage to butcher the wooden legs of the lovely Bogen tripod too much with the Dremel, I'm not happy with the top of the first leg I did one leg, but the other two are neat and tidy.

1 hour ago, Saganite said:

Nice work Ade.   I don't remember selling it to you. I do however remember meeting you and handing over a beautiful 4" Celestron ED, but then I would !!

You've got me doubting myself Steve, it came with an AZ4 that wasn't stable enough to cope withy your f/15 frac.  That lovely 4" ED is still in my collection and is a lifelong scope as far as I'm concerned.

[Saganite]

 

Hi Ade,

My  f15  was only ever on an EQ6 and steel tripod.  I did have a selection of different Alt/Az mounts on the TAL before I sold it, and  I did find that the AZ4 was insufficient to steady a 4" f11 scope that I had , but I think that was not the fault of the tripod.....

[AdeKing]

Oh my, I've just done a bit more research on the Bogen tripod and have found out that it's apparently made from Mountain Ash but the bigger surprise was that one sold on eBay in its original form for £250!!!!! In May this year 😮😮

 

Apparently its still highly thought of in Large Format photography circles.

If I'd known it was worth that much I probably wouldn't have thinned down the top of the legs to fit the EQ5 top plate, Gulp!

Anyway, here it is in action with my Solarquest and LS60DS up top, it's stable enough for this setup and the AZ GTi with a 4" ST102.

I probably wouldn't load it up with the Vixen GP and longer OTA as I don't think it would be stiff enough and would vibrate, whereas I know the TAL will cope with that quite happily, but never say never.

[AdeKing]

1 minute ago, Saganite said:

 

Hi Ade,

My  f15  was only ever on an EQ6 and steel tripod.  I did have a selection of different Alt/Az mounts on the TAL before I sold it, and  I did find that the AZ4 was insufficient to steady a 4" f11 scope that I had , but I think that was not the fault of the tripod.....

Ah, that's right, I remember now, thanks for the correction. 

I was hoping to use it for a 4" f/11 and you warned me that you didn't think the AZ4 would be up to it as you weren't happy with that setup yourself, but I had it anyway and used it for a 150p Newt instead.

[Alan White]

Ade, I am so glad the gifted GP top section has worked for you,
the matching green will look so much better, no OCD will now be offended.

It was my pleasure paying forward the part, I hope it brings you many years use.

Edited June 28, 2020 by Alan White
typos of course

[AdeKing]

3 hours ago, Alan White said:

Ade, I am so glad the gifted GP top section has worked for you,
the matching green will look so much better, no OCD will now be offended.

It was my pleasure paying forward the part, I hope it brings you many years use.

Thanks Alan, I'm hoping to fit the GP to it soon, but at the moment it's too much effort to get it off the top of the pillar mount.

When the GPD2 comes into my possession the GP will be permanently mounted on it as a mobile setup.

Thanks again,

Ade