First, nothing I have is level outdoors so I have to dig around for shims under a plywood piece for the IMU Calibration. Got a bit annoying, as did turning the thing around for the two-axis compass alignment.
Decided I needed something portable for the field. A 16" bamboo turntable from "Bed, Bath & Beyond" housewares department seemed appropriate as it had little metal for the lazy susan part for the spinner. Added a bubble level, and some dowels and a 2-1/2" x 1/2" piece of red oak from Home Depot, and three 1/4"-20 2" long Nylon machine screws from bolt house or hobby shop.
You get the idea in the photo below. The three nylon bolts are screwed down for leveling along with the bubble level. Then they can be backed off as the leveling feet to allow the turntable to spin. The turntable now takes care of the horizontal compass part, and putting in the oak piece with the dowels supports the legs for the vertical compass spin.
Fwiw, I tapped the wooden turntable with a 1/4"-20 tap for the nylon bolts to cut down on any metal (Like T-nuts). Then I put a few drops on the tapped wooden threads with CA thing glue to harden the threaded portion, allowed to dry for a couple of hours, and then re-tapped the holes for the nylon screws to clean up the threads. Glued the bubble level from Home Depot down with the CA glue too.
Works pretty well, if I do say so myself.
Mack-
Decided I needed something portable for the field. A 16" bamboo turntable from "Bed, Bath & Beyond" housewares department seemed appropriate as it had little metal for the lazy susan part for the spinner. Added a bubble level, and some dowels and a 2-1/2" x 1/2" piece of red oak from Home Depot, and three 1/4"-20 2" long Nylon machine screws from bolt house or hobby shop.
You get the idea in the photo below. The three nylon bolts are screwed down for leveling along with the bubble level. Then they can be backed off as the leveling feet to allow the turntable to spin. The turntable now takes care of the horizontal compass part, and putting in the oak piece with the dowels supports the legs for the vertical compass spin.
Fwiw, I tapped the wooden turntable with a 1/4"-20 tap for the nylon bolts to cut down on any metal (Like T-nuts). Then I put a few drops on the tapped wooden threads with CA thing glue to harden the threaded portion, allowed to dry for a couple of hours, and then re-tapped the holes for the nylon screws to clean up the threads. Glued the bubble level from Home Depot down with the CA glue too.
Works pretty well, if I do say so myself.
Mack-