APO televid 77 tripod mount (1 Viewer)

[dwatsonbirder]

I have an old (slightly battered) televid with a problem. The screw on the tripod mount has completely worn away. At present I've resolved this by gluing a manfrotto plate to the foot, but I'm nervous as this is far from ideal and I'm always slightly concerned that the scope and the qrp will become liberated and I will be out of a large scope. Does anybody have a more permanent solution other than welding the two together? I had toyed with the idea of having the old hole re-threaded to a larger size and then having an adaptor made so that it can take a normal screw from the plate, but I have no idea where to send it or who to ask. I could take it to a hardware shop but I don't like the idea of the scope going into a vice and then being attacked with a drill!
Any suggestions welcome, I don't mind if I have to send it away for a while as I only really use it in winter when looking at gulls, so I can get rid of it at the end of march and use my ED50 whilst its in for repair.

Also on another note, when I rotate the scope there is a slightly odd noise coming from the focus wheel that sounds a bit like dropping a marble a few mm onto a piece of metal - the focus is still precise but unsure if it'd be worth sending it somewhere for some TLC? There are some very minor scratches on the objective (not wear/coating loss!) but I don't find these to affect the view in a detrimental way. Must say I still think these old tanks are one of the best scopes around!

Thanks in advance

 

[Stewart J.]

Could you post a photo of the foot and tripod mount, I ask as some of the older models have a 3/8 BSW threaded hole with a 1/4 BSW insert fitted to suit tripod screw. If yours is is then a new insert may rectify the problem.

 

[dwatsonbirder]

Hi Stewart, thanks for the reply, I will try to post some tomorrow, though I know it was one of the older with the larger 3/8 requiring the insert, the trouble is that the 3/8 thread has also worn out. What would the next thread size up from that?
Cheers

 

[etudiant]

I have an old (slightly battered) televid with a problem. The screw on the tripod mount has completely worn away. At present I've resolved this by gluing a manfrotto plate to the foot, but I'm nervous as this is far from ideal and I'm always slightly concerned that the scope and the qrp will become liberated and I will be out of a large scope. Does anybody have a more permanent solution other than welding the two together? I had toyed with the idea of having the old hole re-threaded to a larger size and then having an adaptor made so that it can take a normal screw from the plate, but I have no idea where to send it or who to ask. I could take it to a hardware shop but I don't like the idea of the scope going into a vice and then being attacked with a drill!
Any suggestions welcome, I don't mind if I have to send it away for a while as I only really use it in winter when looking at gulls, so I can get rid of it at the end of march and use my ED50 whilst its in for repair.

Also on another note, when I rotate the scope there is a slightly odd noise coming from the focus wheel that sounds a bit like dropping a marble a few mm onto a piece of metal - the focus is still precise but unsure if it'd be worth sending it somewhere for some TLC? There are some very minor scratches on the objective (not wear/coating loss!) but I don't find these to affect the view in a detrimental way. Must say I still think these old tanks are one of the best scopes around!

Thanks in advance

Would this not be a wonderful test case for evaluating Leica service?
There are conflicting reports on it, some very happy, others not so much. Here you have one straightforward problem and a somewhat less obvious one.
With luck, they might even repair it for free and we would have a useful data point.

 

[garymh]

Hi,

Some Leica Televid 77's has a 3/8 BSW hole on the tripod mount which accepted an adaptor to take it down to 1/4 BSW.

Other examples had the 1/4 BSW hold on the tripod mount.

If the threads on the 1/4 BSW versions get worn the only solution is to get the mount drilled and tapped to 3/8 BSW and then fit the 3/8 to 1/4 adaptor.

Gary.

 

[dwatsonbirder]

Thanks for the replied, I've just purchased another large scope as my primary big scope so I've decided to move the Televid on, if nobody is interested I'll happily hang onto it as a spare scope. Issue with the threading is that it is already the larger thread size so would need one size up as it were, I may get this looked at professionally in the next month or so - anybody have experience with Focus Optics for repairs? I've bought optics from them in the past and have found service to be exceptional.

 

[gw4aurora]

Will a helicoil kit do it?

 

[Swissboy]

.........so would need one size up as it were, I may get this looked at professionally in the next month or so - .................

Leica would be able to replace the whole "foot", but I doubt they would do it for free. Many years ago, my scope crashed on the rock the tripod was standing on. A wind gust had toppled the installation up at Masada in Israel. The attachment broke off from the scope, and that probably saved the scope from any optical damage. Just some minor damage to the sun shade. So I sent the scope to Leica in Switzerland and they fixed a new ring with the foot/base on it, they even engraved the original scope number. Well, I had to pay for it, but it was definitely worth it.
I presume the scope needs to be taken apart to get the ring on. That means it has to be nitrogen purged again afterwards. So I would think an independent repair shop would not be able to do this kind of repair. However, they may be able to permanently fix an appropriately threaded plate to the base. That would certainly be a decent and much cheaper solution.