Meade Tripod Adapter
I have a Meade adjustable field tripod from an LX scope and thought that it looks a lot stiffer and would be a nice addition to the Atlas mounting. I created an adapter plate to marry the two.
Here's the plate during construction. I used .750" AL plate and machined it on the rotary table. I decided to do the whole process on the rotary table so I would not have to deal with re-centering and alignment issues when switching from the mill to the lathe. Six 5/16 SS Allen cap screws hold the plate to the tripod head. The alignment pin was removed from the old Atlas tripod, though I have since made a replacement so both tripods are usable.
Here's the mount head sitting on the tripod with the adapter in place. Earla is steadying it because the center bolt is not installed. The center bolt from the atlas mount was .375" too short. If it was the right length it could have been used with no changes needed.
Here's a close up of the mounting on the Meade tripod.
Plate details.....
Center bolt details........
