Skywatcher Tripod to AZ Camera Mount Modification

[Mandy D]

I recently bought a Skywatcher tripod with 50mm stainless steel legs secondhand in here with the intention of mounting my iOptron RC6 on it with a D800 dangling off the back end. I decided on a Benro HD3A 3 way tripod head as the mount, because it has an advertised payload of 12 kg (not 10 kg as stated by some suppliers), which I bought from Park Cameras. It should also work with this AZ mount from FLO:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ioptron-mount-accessories/ioptron-alt-azimuth-adjustable-base.html

The only problem was that the tripod has an M12 male thread to go into the mount and the tripod head has a female 3/8" UNC thread, so they were never going to co-operate with each other. Now, I could quite easily have drilled the head and re-tapped at M12, but that would have made the mount incompatible with other camera tripods, which I didn't want.

The solution I decided on was to machine a custom spacer from a piece of 4" diameter aluminium bar. It was drilled and tapped M12 in one side to match the tripod and 3/8" UNC on the other side to match the tripod head with a cut-down bolt fitted to screw the head onto. This will eventually be replaced with a grub screw which will be bonded into the spacer with threadlock compound, but for now the bolt will do.

The whole set up is very rigid and now all I need is clear skies to test it with the RC6. Hopefully this will be a much better solution than my existing camera tripod!

The first two photos show the top and bottom, respectively, of the adapter. Photo 3 shows it fitted to the tripod. Photos 4 and 5 show the whole arrangement and the final two photos show close-ups of the adapter in use.

 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Mandy D