Below is a tripod I'm assembling, to support a pair of 20x90mm Oberwerk binoculars, with the help of a few friends,  Lee Younglood, Nate Perkins
and John Hartman.  Thank you for your expertise fellows and the use of your shops. These images are intended to be 3D sets.  If you set back about 3'
and focus on the right image, cross your eyes a little, then reduce the distance to the images, they two should converge into one 3D image.
                                                                                                            Tripod Finished 4/18/2K9
                                                                    This tripod will .

  Here are most of the parts for the tripod itself, except the counterblance group.  On the left are three oak legs ripped down the middle, the brace with three
stabilinzer arms is to the right, below is the collar that holds the brace in place,  top platform & centerpipe, rotator cylinder are to the right, the legs are
screwed to the 7" thick circle with the three tabs. The adjustable mount to which the binoculars will attach .  And of course the aluminum tubing that will
make up the arms of the parallelogram itself. I have changed my mind about using two 45 rpm records to provide smooth rotating surface, the surfaces
of the discs are very smooth and hard and with a little paraffin, should provide low friction surfaces for easy rotating.

As of April 07, 2009, this is as far as I've got. now I can work on the top part that carry, aims and translates the bincoulars, the arms will be
constructed of 1" square aluminum tubing, the counterweight will be a 7.5 weightlifting weight.

On the cosmetic side of this construction, all edges and surfaces were sanded smooth to the touch (no splinters here) and old varnish removed.
The final exterior will be a light walnut color, think I'll keep the arms their metal color.

3D View: This is the 'squareing' jig.  Dreamt up to make sure that the pivotblock and the parallelogram arms are square to each other. They may not be exact, but pretty darn close.  The 1" aluminum tubing is level & evenly spaced.  It should be possible to make out the centered bubble in the middle of the level.  The T-square made sure that the pivot block was perpendicular to the arms. And I measured the angle of the  pivot block itself, to make sure it was exactly square (90*).

• Contruct the binocular attachment block (1/4"- 20) and attach it to the end plate.  Done
• Cut off the bottom tube, just left of pivot  Done
• Stabilize the middle disc, so the top disc can rotate smoothly. Simply lubricated the surfaces with candle wax, works fine.
• Set up an extension on the top arm so a counterweight can be attached    Done

                                                                                Finish Tripod in Action at RAC

       Still have to:

• Make the counterweight adjustable, as to distance from pivot.    Thanks for the stand-in T.J. !!
• I plan to attach some red LED's to the end of the counterweight and the legs so folks will not stumble into it at night. Just a potenimeter, a
• LED, and a 9-volt battery with velco on one side.    K.I.S.S. !!
• Powered by a small 12V sealed motorcycle battery suspended from the center pipe, so as to also serve as a stablizing weight. Not necessary!!

Final configuration and a better view. These images are of a higher resolution than they look.