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Homemade Binoviewer

Started by JamesMiller, 11/21/2004 10:11PM
Posted 11/21/2004 10:11PM Opening Post
I have the opportunity to get my hands on a Nikon stereo
microscope head for essentially free, and I'd like to try
converting it to a binoviewer for my scope.

However, I've not been able to turn up anything on the net
about this. Does anyone here know of any resources online,
or have any advice or instructions? I know it can't be as
simple as putting a nosepiece on it, and adding 1.25"
eyepiece holders.

Any help is appreiated.

(P.S., I know that this will probably not turn out to be
as good as what I can get commercially, but it sounds like
a neat project I'd like to try)

"Don't drop the banana!"
"Why not?"
"Good source of potassium!"
Posted 11/21/2004 10:33PM #1
Belive it or not it is almost that simple.The problem comes when you try to recollimate the binocular head after removing the .956 eyepiece holders and replacing them with the 1.25in holders. The other problem that rears its ugly head is unwanted reflections in the field of view when you
use them for astonomical applications. This is where experience in properly baffling them to eliminate the unwanted reflections comes in. Every binohead is a little different internally and requires a slightly diferent approach to solve the problems.You can probably make a functional pair of binos but it will take some trial and
error work to do it. At least one other poster to this forum has built his own based on a Nikon head. Maybe he will see you Question and respond. Good Luck and Clear Skies, Scotty