Wood Tripod Legs

I've been looking around at getting some wood legs for my CG-5. The two places I've look are hands on optics and Al's Custom Telescope Accessories. There's a big price difference between the two so I was wondering if there was that much of an advantage (or any) to getting Al's legs? I'd also be interested in plans for wood legs if anybody has made them. Thanks in advance.

Rick Riley

I purchased the wood tripod legs from Hands on Optics and installed them on an LXD55 mount and they made a significant difference in dampening vibration. They are made of mahogany and stained. Not the prettiest setup but effective. If you buy theirs make sure you get the tray to stiffen the setup. Should be no extra charge.

Mike

Rick,

The wooden legs are great for stopping the shakes. They only have one minor drawback: When the leg stiffener/accessory tray is fully tightened in place it will press against the legs thus prohibiting leg adjustment unless you loosen the stiffener. This takes a little time and may be a bit tricky if you have a 20 pound scope still mounted on top. You may actually have to detach the stiffener before leg adjustment which will leave your scope & mount wobbling on top. I have had to remove my C9.25 to do this safely.

This will not be a problem if you generally keep the legs in one position. I have to change mine occasionally for the sake of "little folk" at school star parties. I'm not sure if this is a problem with all wooden tripods or just a few.

It's a shame scope manufacturers even bother with the aluminum tripods with heavier scopes but I guess there are a lot of things dictated by the marketing departments that should never happen. It would be great if all the scope companies were run by Al Nagler types!

Thanks for the replys. I'm currently mounting my TV-102 on my CG-5 and it's around 10 lbs. The shakes aren't that bad but I figured they'd be better with wooden legs. I think I'm going to try my hand at building a set of legs and if that doesn't work I'll probably buy a set of Hands on Optics legs. If anyone else has some pictures or plans of wooden legs they would still be greatly appreciated.

Rick Riley