bino-periscope/rabbit ears variation

For my 6" bino project, I've been trying to figure out how best to fold the refractor paths. One idea that occurred to me today was to have the main tubes end-to-end, perpendicular to the facing direction of the viewer, like old fashioned military "rabbit ears" stereo range-finding binos when maximally unfolded. Large first surface mirrors would be mounted directly behind the objectives, giving a periscope effect.

Configured this way, most of the weight of the tubes could be much more distributed along the pivoting axis bar for altitude, end ep height would vary little. Admittedly this bar could be a bit unwieldy, as it would be almost twice the focal length. Anyway, I'd like comments about feasibility, or prior successes and failures of such a design if anyone has heard of them. Thanks.

Jess Tauber

Jess,

Your way would require large, very high quality flats. Maybe a compromise: fold the path halfway back, which would require 3 inch flats (or even 1/3 of the way, for 4 inch flats). You would still have some of the advantages: most of the weight being distributed along the altitude axis, and reduced EP motion. But it would give you much less total weight, much less cost, and probably better optical performance (1/20th wave 3 inch elliptical secondaries are easy to find...very difficult at 6 inches). HTH,

Tim Iafolla