My husband made me parallelogram mount for my "Frankenbinos"!!

As a surprise for Christmas my husband made me parallelogram mount for my 15 x 70 binoculars, AKA by "Frankenbinos". Loads of people asked me what benefit this kind of mount brings, so I have finally got around to making a video to show you. Hope you enjoy :-)
PS: Yes my cat is fine despite trying to destroy my Frankenbinos last week!
My husband Mark wrote a blog explaining how he made the mount, and you can read that here:
markmcintyreastro.co.uk/paral...
Mark Radice made an excellent instructional video about how he made his version, and you can watch that video here:
• Homemade parallelogram...
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Website: www.marymcintyreastronomy.co.uk
marymcintyreastronomy
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[@kenfrank2730]

You have a great husband. I think you should keep him.

[@Spiceyspiney]

I absolutely intend to :)

[@Marmots4reFun]

Nice!

[@grapplinggorilla7968]

Very nice job! Clear skies.

[@hdl4259]

Thanks for this video, it is a famous idea. I am looking since many years for such a mount. Have a good time with it and always clear skys.

[@Spiceyspiney]

So glad you found it helpful :)

[@edfort5704]

I think an upgrade idea would be to make an L-mount at the edge of the P-mount, where currently you have the tripod head installed, so that the binos can be mounted from the side instead of on top of mount they are connected to. Side mounts are so much better than top mounts because, if properly designed to allow positional adjustment of the instrument, they can be perfectly balanced on the mount and do not need the user to fiddle with knobs and clamping the way tripod heads with top mounting require.

[@Spiceyspiney]

Yes, we definitely need to mod this to have the L mount at some point. Mark just used bits we had in the garage when he made this

[@user-lt9py2pu6u]

Always thought that the commercially available models were too expensive. I can't see that they would do the job any better than your set up. I think you've just decided what my next project will be. Thanks.

[@Spiceyspiney]

I love mine so much. Good luck making yours - it's definitely worth the effort to save your neck!

[@philipjennings3490]

Great video. Looks like a perfect solution!

[@Spiceyspiney]

Thanks Philip. It really is a much better way to mount my binoculars and I'm really looking forward to creating more sketches through them :)

[@scot6089]

Thanks. Im just getting started with binoculars and astronomy. I could visualize problems with a tripod but I havent gotten my birthday present yet, so i havent been able to figure them out for real. Ive been reading so much information over and over but have never been certain what i need. Your video has been so helpful with understanding the issues and also providing a great solution. Thanks for creating this video. Soon. Soon

[@Spiceyspiney]

Hi Scot, I'm so happy that you found the video helpful. I can't imagine using my binoculars mounted on anything but this P-mount now - it's so much more comfortable and easier to use

[@michelle_resinrebel]

Hi Mary bonus points to your husband 😍 great video thanks for sharing ❤️ xx

[@Spiceyspiney]

So glad you enjoyed it; thanks for watching :)

[@Petertronic]

Really nice piece of equipment, the demo makes the advantages very clear.

[@Spiceyspiney]

Thanks Peter. I am so in love with this mount (in case you hadn't picked up on that from the video... lol!)

[@Petertronic]

@@Spiceyspiney Mark could make them to order! 💰

[@birminghammotorhomeman]

you would love kielder kielder campsite is a dark sky spot its up road from the kielder observetory

[@Spiceyspiney]

I have always wanted to visit Kielder Observatory, The star camps always look amazing too :)

[@user-ox6pn5wo8r]

I like the design and may be a future project. Let me suggest you purchase a zero-gravity chair. It would eliminate any neck discomfort and allow you to view directly above your head.

[@Spiceyspiney]

I do actually have a zero G chair and I use it when I use my 8 x 42 binoculars, but my bigger binos are still too heavy even in that chair. I also like to create eyepiece sketches through the bigger binos, and that's not something I can do reclined, so the P-mount is something I wanted primarily for sketching rather than observing

[@rodneyjohnson4794]

now, THAT is a good husband! no, a GREAT husband! if a woman doesn't find you handsome, she should at least find you handy. well done, mister! for the missus' 'keep looking up!' (jack horkheimer).

[@Spiceyspiney]

I'm so lucky that my husband is both handsome and handy! :D

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

Might copy that...I have the tripod, and the big heavy bino... great design :)

[@Spiceyspiney]

It's so worth making one. It's genuinely a game changer - I know that's a term that is over-used these days but it's absolutely true in this case!

[@TheStevecas9860]

Hi Mary I didn't realise Mark was your Husband. I just found this video as I was researching Pallalelograms and am currently making one. Hey next time you and Mark Come to Pembrokeshire I would love to meet you?

[@Spiceyspiney]

Hi Steve, I didn't know you knew Mark :D Good luck making your P-mount. I absolutely love mine, but recently am so snowed under with work that I haven't had much time to use it.

[@TheStevecas9860]

@@Spiceyspiney Hey he,s a bit of a dark horse lol would love to see you Both next time in the Shire?

[@kevanhubbard9673]

I have a Russian pair with made in the USSR on them which I bought when I was a teenager in about 1985 and they are 20x60 but you can't hold them still.The only way without a mount is if you lie flat on soft ground and look straight up to stuff around the canopy.

[@Spiceyspiney]

I bet the view through them is great though?! You can also rest heavy binoculars on an upside down sweep brush to help keep them a bit more stable and that gives you a bit more flexibility than having to lie down flat. Have you seen those amazing binocular chairs? You can actually make parallelogram mounts that clip onto the back of a garden recliner and over your head so it gives you a similar viewing experience. I'd love one of those as well!

[@jack_3.5mm]

Ask your husband if he can make one for me I'm more than happy to purchase one 😊

[@rodneyjohnson4794]

i'm second on the list!

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

Nice Bino's aka the hernia model ;)

[@Spiceyspiney]

😆

[@user-mx1eu5vg3o]

Mary, I'm wondering if you have experimented with aperture stops on your binoculars to tighten up the image? That's a fantastic mount that your husband has made.

[@Spiceyspiney]

I haven't played with aperture stops at all. I still haven't had the chance to use my P-mount as much as I would have liked but my work schedule has been so busy recently that I have almost no time to do astronomy for my own fun. I'm so busy writing articles, book chapters, talks, etc., and of course doing the actual talks, so I've had no time on clear nights to do much. Now it's getting dark earlier i hope to get out a bit more and do some sketching through these binos

[@DSOImager]

Cats, natures @rseholes! Mine knocked a refractor of the table a few years ago, lol. Awesome mount!

[@Spiceyspiney]

Oh no!!! Did the refractor survive???

[@DSOImager]

@@Spiceyspiney Amazingly it did! From a table to a tile floor. The perpetrator was Mr. Thor.

[@Spiceyspiney]

@@DSOImager wow - you were so lucky! I honestly cannot believe my Frankenbinos are ok, but they live to see yet another day. They have quite the history! I don't know if it was Slinky or Coco who knocked mine onto the stone patio slabs, because it was dark and I just saw a black cat run away from the scene. They're hard to tell apart from the back in a well lit room so no chance at night. From the front they have very different face shapes plus Coco has one eye completely flooded with melanin pigment so it looks like one eye is green and one is brown. With 5 cats it really was my own stupid fault for a) standing them upright when I put them down, and b) for putting them anywhere near to the edge of the table. Lesson learned!

[@DSOImager]

@@Spiceyspiney Those binos look awesome, glad they survived! So funny.. I always get a good chuckle when I see them running from the scene of the crime! We also have 5 cats, three of them are grey tabbys.. so in the dark it's hard to know who is who. You are right.. my wife was very quick to place the blame on me for placement of the scope.. which I accept hehe.

[@ccaepc2]

Great design AND it saved me a lot of money considering how much parallelograms sell for. A question: It looks like build has a 3rd screw at the bottom of the long post that I don't think is referenced in your husband's build instructions. What is that for? Thanks again.

[@Spiceyspiney]

I'm so glad it was helpful to see this :) The screw at the very bottom of the long piece is there so I can tighten up the overall rotating movement of the mount. Mark drilled a hole up the centre of the long piece of wood and I think he used a piece of threaded bar for the wood to slide down onto. The hole is slightly too big so the rotating motion is a little bit too free, so having that screw there lets me tighten it up a bit and stop it from flying away at the slightest touch!

[@ccaepc2]

Thanks for the quick response and for replying to inquiries regarding your video long after it was posted.@@Spiceyspiney

[@paulmurphy2583]

Hi Mary, Im thinking about making one of these and found you while searching for homemade versions. Im curious as to why parallel bars are used rather than a single balanced bar, I see it does allow the user to lock the device from the observing position in the way you showed, rather than trying to reach the central pivot point, which might move everything anyway. But if there are other reasons please let me know. I notice the eyeshield thing on the frankenbinos, I will now be looking for something like that too. BTW, I live under the same airport flight path as you, so Im not far away. Good work by your husband.

[@Spiceyspiney]

Hi Paul, the parallel bars design gives you way more range of movement, but also in theory you can change the height of the binoculars and they will still be pointing at the same object. This allows different people of different heights to look at the same object really quickly. It also gives you more stability, which is more of a issue when you're using larger binoculars. You can get simple mounts that are single bar designs, but you don't have the same functionality with them

[@paulmurphy2583]

@@Spiceyspiney Ok, Ive made my version one build with some minor differences, Ive drilled vertical holes for the counterweight(s), made an L bar for the binos, and as my spare tripod is for an equatorial mount, I had to work round the bit that sticks up at the side for polar alignment, sorted that on a lathe though there is room for improvement. Im very pleased with it though I do intend to rebuild with some nicer wood after some use, but cant stargaze with it yet till these cloudy nights clear. Thanks for putting the video up.

[@mguerramd]

Could you access it from a chaise lounge laying on your back?

[@Spiceyspiney]

Yes you can, but if you want to look in a different part of the sky you need to get up and move the chair around first

[@francisfrancis4219]

Is there a video about your Frankenbinos?

[@Spiceyspiney]

There isn't because I didn't make them myself. All I know is that Steve Tonkin collects old donated pairs of broken binoculars and uses parts to put together new, working pairs. So I don't actually know what they were made from. I do know there is now a lot more superglue holding them together thanks to my cat!

[@lowellbowers8328]

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