3 Stage Gen 1 Night Vision
I purchased a three stage Gen 1 tube from eBay last month. Bit bigger than a standard Gen 1, but a lot better image.
One I got was made in the UK in 1983. Its just the tube so I had to provide my own objective lens and eyepeice. Objective is a 50mm Camera lens and my first attempt at an eyepeice was a 20mm telescope eyepeice (which didnt work).
Here is it connected to a AA battery pack and laid out on wooden blocks to find the focal lengths.
I ended up cutting the eyepeice of a cheap 4x32mm scope and using that to magnify the phosphor screen and it worked great. Next step was to get some PVC tuving and couplers to hold it all together for some photographs and field use.
At some point I’ll replace the PVC with some kind of machined case, but for now its working fine.
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Indeed it is!
BTW
Nice job you done there. Looks very professional.
Results better, worse, or as good as you expected?
Very pleased with mine and a v.interesting project.
Regards.
Small world !
cj7hawk,
interesting to compare your ‘join date’ to mine!
good to see you here.
I been lurking here for quite a while.
i am mainly here because I have what our American friends call a Talon.
The most ‘Tinkerable’ gun in the world?
BTW,
The 3 stage intensifier build works brilliantly! Thanks for your help with it.
Ken. (baffled)
Nice pics… Look kind of familiar 🙂 Nice to see you on this forum too 🙂
I’ve just been out trying my Gen3 in rural starlight conditions… ( The new scope I built ) … Disappointed. Not enough gain – PC is probably just too well used.
Will still work OK with a light though.
David.
Thanks for the offer walt – I kinda like the industrial look of the CF and rods (I since painted it black and it does look a bit better).
The distortion is in the tube not the lenses. Common problem with Gen 1 Device’s.
No illuminator used in any of the picture’s. The 3 tubes in a row gives it greatly improved light amplification over a single gen 1 tube.
YN, nice job. The peformance is a lot better than I would have thought. In the comparison pics, are you using an illuminator?
If you want me to machine you an alum tube with internal threads on the ends so you can just screw them in, let me know. I can also weld on a boss on the bottom so you can make a mount out of it. Or, easier to just cut the hoops off a set of alum rings (quick mount type that have finger tabs so no tools required to take it on or off) and weld the bases of the rings directly to the tube if you align it carefully. I can weld it for you if you don’t make fun of my ugly welding.
I also have a screw in lens I’m not using, good quality, C-mount. It’s for the old 8mm film cameras, I think it was near f1.2 and it didn’t display the peripheral distortion I can see in your pics. I had it on an ab night vision system that I sold. Forget the focal length, might be 25mm or 50mm. The lens you are using has great center image, but the periphery has a lot of distortion. Anyway, I’ll have to go check the focal length but you can have it if you want it.
For that price, I’d love to have a similar setup for a cheap air rifle mounted scope. No need for reticle, just use it as a viewer and mount up a laser as a target designator. Only thing, you have to wire up a varistor in series with the power supply on your laser to dim it down so it doesn’t burn an image into the tube. That way, your laser batteries also last forever and never need changing. Ask me how I know.
aloha,
walt
It looks great! I dont have the brains to put one together either.
But If I were you Id take an old shitty scope laying around and take out the wire reticle from it and see if you can work your majic to get it to fit .
Shouldnt be too difficult.
Its great for a spotter. Only issue someone might have is the size.
If I ever find a PVS-2 cheap I’ll buy it no problem and would have got one already if I had known this is how they preformed.
That was state of the art technology in my day ninja, looks great and that’s all anyone needs to nail the critters at night.
Good comparison pics’ 8)
Now I see what you mean about the difference…
I’m not smart enough to put one together.
Besides, I’m waiting for an Elcan Day/Night rifle scope to show up on the Sales forum: “WTT – Elcan Day/Night for Catfish…MUST be fresh.”
Granted, it may take a while, but it could happen!?!?!?!???
Time for my meds again…
Getting one Hoot?
I took some photo’s through My 3 stage Gen 1 and the Gen 3 I got – gen 1 does pretty good for less than $100 !
He has them for sale again….11/04/09
$75 and $30 shipping. Interestingly, you can “Make An Offer” so it can probably be picked up cheaper than listed.
Here’s the work over the last week or so. Been stopping and starting.
Everyones favourite Carbon Fiber guy came through again and provided a HUGE peice of CF for this.
That fits perfectly –
Fit so well I had to drill a hole for the electrical connections instead of running them inside the tube
I trimmed down the PVC and dyed it black –
The PVC needed some way of retaining, but I didn’t want to drill the CF more than I had or glue anything permanently so I used some plastic I got from a friend to make end pieces.
Today I finally finished it up, dyed the plastic (doesn’t take black dye very well because its high density I think). Make a battery mounting plate and a tripod mount and attached with zip ties (will replace them with black when I get a chance).
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Its a lot better than I expected and thanks !