Swarovski Universal tripod adapter review (3 Viewers)

[Kevin Conville]

Thanks PlanetMaker,
I'm humbled

 

[Troubador]

Kevin Post 13
Terrific piece of work!

Lee

 

[Pileatus]

Good review dmcharg. I agree with your assessment and I will go further to say Swaro's mount is poorly designed and much overpriced.

There's a few of these platform type mounts, which are generally better than the pedestal types, but still leave much to be desired.

Probably the best commercially available one, IMO, is the Berlebach though it also is flawed. I used their design however as a jumping off point to make one that satisfied my requirements.

My design ditches the single heavy strap in favor of a captive shock cord arrangement. This adds redundancy for safety and even if loose "captures" the bin rendering it secure.

The shock cord also tensions each barrel separately eliminating the downward pressure at the hinge assuring the IPD isn't affected.

The peaked design of the platform, with neoprene pads, and 4 point tensioning eliminates any possibility of movement or failure.

Another add I did was to make a relief for the bridge of the nose. This makes using smaller bins much friendlier..

Last it has an Arca type plate attached to the bottom for universal fit on any Arca type screw clamp.

Also you're not locked into that funky Manfrotto plate/receptacle system that Swaro lazily utilizes. An Arca type clamp can be easily bolted to your tripod head using a spacer. I did this with a piece of polyethylene cutting board. If you have a Swaro scope, an Arca plate w/lip for anti-rotation can be easily attached to the foot of the scope. This gets you away from Manfrotto's system that wasn't very good 20 years ago.

Nice setup.
One question...
It looks like the cord is tied off and then looped up then over and down through a hole on to the next set of holes until the cord lock is reached.
Is there only one cord lock per cord and, if so, does it take up the slack on the first tube when tightened. It look like there's a lot of friction involved.
Thanks!

 

[Kevin Conville]

Nice setup.
One question...
It looks like the cord is tied off and then looped up then over and down through a hole on to the next set of holes until the cord lock is reached.
Is there only one cord lock per cord and, if so, does it take up the slack on the first tube when tightened. It look like there's a lot of friction involved.
Thanks!

You're right that there is too much friction to pull the shock cord from just the cord lock side. I must tighten the knotted side first by pulling from the bottom, then pulling the slack out from the top on the cord lock side.

I don't mind this extra moment to fasten as the friction of the looped shock cord gives me extra peace of mind. But your point is well taken and if one were to be putting them on and taking them off frequently then a cord lock on both sides would be a convenience.

While on the subject of design choices, next time I would use 1/8" shock cord instead of 3/16". The heavier cord is overkill as this platform requires very little tension to be rock solid. The 3/16" cord makes it a slightly tighter fit to slip the objective barrels through with my IPD because of their close proximity.

 

[Kevin Conville]

Kevin Post 13
Terrific piece of work!

Lee

Thanks Lee

 

[Theo98]

...So in summary, i guess you can tell i am not overly pleased with this product and its pretty evident that this product is a bit of an after thought by Swarovski to overcome the problem of how to attach binoculars to a tripod that don't have a secure screw/fixture you can use to attach to the binoculars...

DMC,

I appreciate your great review, detailing and confirming issues that I actually imagined during my research for an effective platform holding system. As you stated, I didn't believe the strap adjustment would be an effective fit for different sized optics...overall, seemed to be a poor design. :-C

Ted

 

[Theo98]

...My design ditches the single heavy strap in favor of a captive shock cord arrangement. This adds redundancy for safety and even if loose "captures" the bin rendering it secure.
The shock cord also tensions each barrel separately eliminating the downward pressure at the hinge assuring the IPD isn't affected.
The peaked design of the platform, with neoprene pads, and 4 point tensioning eliminates any possibility of movement or failure.
Another add I did was to make a relief for the bridge of the nose. This makes using smaller bins much friendlier..
Last it has an Arca type plate attached to the bottom for universal fit on any Arca type screw clamp...

Kevin,

Very Nice design and build! Imagine it easily supports different sized binos in a well secured and solid, minimal movement support platform...love it!! :king:

If you don't have a patent on it yet, mind if I try and duplicate? If you do, where do I send the royalty payment to?? :-O :t:

Ted

 

[Kevin Conville]

Kevin,

Very Nice design and build! Imagine it easily supports different sized binos in a well secured and solid, minimal movement support platform...love it!! :king:

If you don't have a patent on it yet, mind if I try and duplicate? If you do, where do I send the royalty payment to?? :-O :t:

Ted

Please, go crazy! If you want, you can PM me w/ your address and I'll send you a couple of 4"x 4"x 1/16" adhesive backed neoprene pads. I've got extras.

Have fun!

 

[Kevin Conville]

While on the subject of design choices, next time I would use 1/8" shock cord instead of 3/16". The heavier cord is overkill as this platform requires very little tension to be rock solid. The 3/16" cord makes it a slightly tighter fit to slip the objective barrels through with my IPD because of their close proximity.

Update: I swapped out the 3/16" for 1/8" the other day and found it didn't hold the 40oz bins without some wiggle, which I didn't like. With the heavier cord I can throw the tripod over my shoulder for carrying and the bins stay rock steady.

If the clearance between the two objective barrels is tight for 3/16" cord, I would consider a design that uses thin straps for the initial, say, 2 or 3" at the center of the platform. These then would attach to the shock cord and use a cord lock on both sides of the platform for adjustment.

 

[Hauksen]

Hi Kevin,

My design ditches the single heavy strap in favor of a captive shock cord arrangement. This adds redundancy for safety and even if loose "captures" the bin rendering it secure.

Looks great!

I went ahead and re-created your design for 3D printing:



It doesn't have any provision for actually mounting the platform to a tripod yet. For the sake of simplicity/universality, I thought I'd give it a central bore for a 1/4" tripod screw that it would mount to any standard quick release plate.

I don't know how you feel about sharing your design for free, but if you are fine with that, I'd offer to complete the 3D model with the measurements from your prototype and upload it to thingiverse.com, full credits given. If not, never mind, building that model was a rewarding exercise in itself

Here's a collection of birdwatching-related designs on thingiverse.com:

https://www.thingiverse.com/Bikecyclist/collections/bird-watching/

Your adapter could be uploaded there and presented in a similar manner, if you'd like to see it added.

Regards,

Henning

 

[Kevin Conville]

Hi Kevin,



Looks great!

I went ahead and re-created your design for 3D printing:

View attachment 662185

It doesn't have any provision for actually mounting the platform to a tripod yet. For the sake of simplicity/universality, I thought I'd give it a central bore for a 1/4" tripod screw that it would mount to any standard quick release plate.

I don't know how you feel about sharing your design for free, but if you are fine with that, I'd offer to complete the 3D model with the measurements from your prototype and upload it to thingiverse.com, full credits given. If not, never mind, building that model was a rewarding exercise in itself

Here's a collection of birdwatching-related designs on thingiverse.com:

https://www.thingiverse.com/Bikecyclist/collections/bird-watching/

Your adapter could be uploaded there and presented in a similar manner, if you'd like to see it added.

Regards,

Henning

Do with it as you will Henning. As far a credit goes, don't worry about it. I'm not there to help with design and I don't know what the end product will look like. I also borrowed from Berlebach to begin with.

Keep in mind that my design was primarily for my Leica 12x50 BNs down to my 8x32 BNs. A more "universal" design may have to be slightly wider and longer.
Toward that end, I would also incorporate a series of holes so the shock cord could be relocated to accomodate different bins.

Also, at the risk of being obvious, this design won't work easily with double bridge binoculars unless made much longer with (again) a continuous series of holes that would allow the shock cord to loop the objective barrels in front of that hinge.

I've added some pics to help you with scale.

Cheers

 

[PlanetMaker]

Do with it as you will Henning. As far a credit goes, don't worry about it. I'm not there to help with design and I don't know what the end product will look like. I also borrowed from Berlebach to begin with.

Keep in mind that my design was primarily for my Leica 12x50 BNs down to my 8x32 BNs. A more "universal" design may have to be slightly wider and longer.
Toward that end, I would also incorporate a series of holes so the shock cord could be relocated to accomodate different bins.

Also, at the risk of being obvious, this design won't work easily with double bridge binoculars unless made much longer with (again) a continuous series of holes that would allow the shock cord to loop the objective barrels in front of that hinge.

I've added some pics to help you with scale.

Cheers

Very nice, how much to send me one?

 

[Kevin Conville]

Very nice, how much to send me one?

I did, for a moment, think about fabricating a dozen or so of these for sale here on BF. But that faded quickly. There's no money to be made here, but I would help anyone along the way if they wanted to make one. B

 

[PlanetMaker]

I did, for a moment, think about fabricating a dozen or so of these for sale here on BF. But that faded quickly. There's no money to be made here, but I would help anyone along the way if they wanted to make one. B

What set up did you use to cut the slope in the board for the binos?

 

[Kevin Conville]

What set up did you use to cut the slope in the board for the binos?

I cut the angle on a table saw. I set the angle so the cut would go just past the center of the laminated board, using the fence as a control. When I reversed, and cut the other side, it formed a symmetrical cut. Watch your fingers!!! :eek!:

 

[Hauksen]

Hi Kevin,

Keep in mind that my design was primarily for my Leica 12x50 BNs down to my 8x32 BNs. A more "universal" design may have to be slightly wider and longer.

One advantage of 3D printing is that it allows each print to be customized. I'm using OpenSCAD for the object, so the overall size, but also the location and diameter of the cord holes etc. can be adjusted to allow mounting significantly different binoculars.

Toward that end, I would also incorporate a series of holes so the shock cord could be relocated to accomodate different bins.

Like 6 x 4 holes instead of the 2 x 4 you have now? Or would you also add holes to allow for variance in barrel diameter?

I've added some pics to help you with scale.

Thanks a lot, that's very helpful! I've adjusted my object to match your dimensions and am currently printing it ... 2 hours in, 30% done

Regards,

Henning

 

[Theo98]

Thanks a lot, that's very helpful! I've adjusted my object to match your dimensions and am currently printing it ... 2 hours in, 30% done

Regards,

Henning

Very interesting Henning, please post pics of your completed printed item! :t:

Ted

 

[Hauksen]

Hi Ted,

Very interesting Henning, please post pics of your completed printed item! :t:

Here they are ... 5 hours, 50 minutes of printing:



I haven't bought shock cords or cord locks yet, so the binoculars are just laid on top of the adapter for the photograph.

Looks like I need to change the cord runs to be recessed so they don't interfere with the mounting plate.

Not really a problem with the prototype since I'm also going to print a custom mounting plate, but the possiblity of interference clearly had escaped my notice.

The weight of the adapter is 112 g. It's a single-loop 0.4 mm outer shell with 10% infill.

Regards,

Henning

 

[Hauksen]

Hi again,

Looks like I need to change the cord runs to be recessed so they don't interfere with the mounting plate.

Not really a problem with the prototype since I'm also going to print a custom mounting plate, but the possiblity of interference clearly had escaped my notice.

Here's the underside with the newly printed mounting plate (an existing design from Thingiverse):




Regards,

Henning

 

[Theo98]

Henning,

This is really cool, thanks for sharing! I made perfect laser copies of these, but their 2-D status just does not function right, at least not on paper? :h?: 3

Some additional thoughts: With my narrow 60 IPD, I'm considering only two longer cords between the outside holes to secure various sized binoculars, thus eliminating any adjustment interference due to tight barrel spacing, mounting plate attachments and various power alignments. This won't secure the optics as well as individual barrel wraps, but I'll compensate with stronger 3\16" to 1\4" shock cords! :t:

Ted