Should You Make A Homemade Telescope Tripod Or Buy One

Is it better to make a homemade telescope tripod or to buy one. If you make your own telescope tripod homemade, you will have to make sure you use the right materials, such as chromed steel. Chromed steel is very durable and stable.

Instead of going to the trouble of finding chromed steel for your homemade tripod. The Celestron Nexstar 5, 8, and 8i telescopes, use an adjustable height tripod. It has tubular chromed steel legs, and a combined die cast spreader bar. On top of the tripod is an adaptor plate that has recessed areas that position the rubber feet on the scope base so that the bolt holes on the top of the tripod precisely align with the holes in the base of the scope to make assembly easier. This would be much more difficult to create homemade.

If you insist on making a homemade tripod for your telescope, make sure it is adjustable and can tilt. A good example is the Meade #884 Deluxe Field Tripod. It is strong of lightweight steel. You can view while standing or sitting, because the tripod adjusts from 25 to 43 inches, plus it tilts from 20 degrees to 90 degrees allowing exact polar alignment.