Leupold Alumina covers on non leupold scopes

[willisp.72]

I can shoot some some pics if you want but my solution to use an alumina objective cover on my swfa 6x was to cut down the sun shade that came with the scope to use for an adapter, ream the id until the alumina was a slip fit, then epoxy the alumina in. That scope has been set up that way for years with no issues.

 

[Gobber]

willisp.72 - That sounds like a really good solution for the front cover if the Alumina does not thread directly on. Luckily the front Alumina cover is a direct thread onto the NF NX8 and works very well.



Still playing with the first attempt at making an adapter ring. It fits nice and snug around the OD of the NX8's eyepiece. I used a thick adhesive plastic strip that shims the adapter ring in place quite well. You can see the corners of the strips peeking out of the gap. Below is just a mock up with the flip cap shimmed in place using a bit of tape holding it in place.



The part that I am still noodling is the very narrow threaded ring that the Alumina has that is made to screw into a properly threaded aluminum eyepiece. My first attempt at creating a threaded surface between the CF adapter ring and the Alumina flip cap seemed to progress well until I realized I hadn't set the threaded ring deep enough into the adapter. It has to be deep enough in order to cinch down the flip cap body. I was short about 1.5mm. Good thing was I got decent feel for the curing time of the PC-7 epoxy putty. Takes about 4.5hrs at 90deg for the putty to firm up enough to hold it's set but still be pliable enough to allow the 4 Alumina threaded rings to be backed out. So it's basically a day long evolution to prep the surfaces and set the two pieces together. I will give it another shot in a day or two when I have enough guaranteed uninterrupted time to monitor the process. It would be a bad day to get distracted, miss the "Window of Pliability" and end up with a mechanical lock on an $80 flip cap. Now granted, I may end up going that route anyway if this epoxy putty threading experiment doesn't work, but I want that to be my call.

Hopefully not too much detail on how the sausage is made, but turning into a neat little project.

More to follow...