HEQ5 lower leg brace
As I mentioned in my HEQ5 page one of the modifications I wanted for
my HEQ5 mount/tripod was a lower leg brace. These help with stability by giving the spreader-bar
something to push against and using a longer 'lever' to steady things. Without one your triangle
is from the leg hinge to the spreader bar... with a lower brace it's from the spreader bar to the lower brace.
Anyway, I leave the math to you.
The HEQ5 doesn't come with one, and while it would be simple to cobble together something that would work (three
wire grounding clamps and some steel cable come to mind) I'd rather have something that at least looked
good.
With that in mind I discussed the matter with Dave Rubenhagen,
pattern-maker and machinist extraordinaire who pooh-poohed
my ideas with hose clamps and suggested a better way. As always, he was right (I hate people that are always right!).
Originally, I had hoped to NOT take Dave away from projects that he needed to do. My plan would have meant
that all I would presume on him for was the use of his drill-press and band-saw. As it worked out Dave put a
lot of hours into this that he could have spent on other things. My thanks go out to him. Perhaps I can repay him in the
future.
What we came up with was this:
- A 'Y' shaped centre piece, 120 degrees between legs, cut from 3/8" aluminum plate.
- A split ring with an 'ear' on it. One for each leg with machine screws to secure it (Dave's idea)
- 3/8" aluminum C-channel for struts
- 3/8" cycle chain master links to hold it all together. This is a whole lot simpler in the long
run. 3/8" links are pretty darned strong and they add one more degree of flexibility to the whole
thing. When tightened, the struts are taught.
The actual fabrication of the parts (once I'd stopped messing things up) took about four hours spread over a
few days. The thing works like a charm and the HEQ5 gains a quite a bit of stability because of it.
Diagrams
Final Product
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