One additional 'tweak' to my design is to dangle a set of weights straight down from the platform (the top of the tri-pod). Actually, my design is a quad-pod; four legs instead of three. I was fiddling around with it in my workshop and somehow the legs started wobbling and things got a little weird; that's when I decided to hang some extra weight. When I used the setup this past weekend, I never had the problem in field that I expereinced in my shop. My original concept was to have the legs much wider than they are; I did a little trig to create 30 degree angles, and as it turns out, they are much steeper than that, yet the stability is maintained.... Joe Borgione -------------------
--- Jim Stitley <sitf2000@yahoo.com> wrote:
hhhmmm, I would have expected that the longer arms (crutches) would require a wider spread of the legs to prevent tipping over.
Unless the leg spread is very slight, tipping isn't a problem if the unit is balanced (or it's very windy!)
If the parallelogram arms are longer, are you saying the legs can be closer together?
Not wanting to Speak for Jo, but her point is one of ergonomics, not design stability. If the arms are short, you must stand closer to the tripod, thus making it more likely that you'll stumble over one, becoming more of a problem the higher the bino is aimed, or the taller the individual.
Even super-long arms can be positioned close to the tripod (in planform) if raised near their upper limit.
C.
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