Pocket Solar Viewer

thingiverse

In preparation for the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse, I have been designing various solar viewers starting with this one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6243278 then improving on it to make it less expensive and easier to assemble: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6306688.Since designing these, I have made larger ones using a larger monocular but most of these are not very convenient for traveling so I wondered if I could design a "pocket" sized solar viewer that performed nearly as well as my older ones and here is the result.Not only is it smaller but also less expensive and much faster to print. Plus, of the 3 printed parts, only one requires supports.This design is also based on the newer Tasco 10 x 25 monocular that is available at Amazon (search for Tasco 10 x 25 monocular) or direct from Tasco https://tasco.com/binoculars/essentials-10x25-monocular/. It will not fit the Tasco 10 x 25 monocular with the more rugged case because the diameter is larger.To allow it to collapse to pocket size, I used an inspection mirror from Harbor Freight: https://www.harborfreight.com/telescoping-mirror-7361.html. Others could be used but this was the cheapest one I found, and this design is based on it.The only other parts needed are a pair of M3 x 10 screws though #4 screws would probably work.The monocular only requires friction to hold it in place but if this is not secure enough, I added a hole for using a cable tie.The Harbor Freight inspection mirror has a pocket clip that needs to be removed and this is easily done by unscrewing the end cap. This uses a M4 thread and I designed the base to allow a M4 screw to hold the inspection mirror in place but the 2 viewers that I have made so far did not require this as there was enough friction to hold the telescoping rod in place.