Cardboard Telescope Tripod (Head)

This year's, 2017, Life Way VBS is "Galactic Starveyors." Since telescopes are featured in the decor I knew we would need to make tripods. So I began imagining and experimenting.

cardboard tripod head

A tripod works because with only three legs it is stable.  Ever see a four legged object with one leg shorter than the others?  A tripod has three components; the head, legs and leg braces.  The head is the top part of the tripod that holds the telescope or camera. 

This first article shows how I made a cardboard tripod head.  

I use cardboard because it's cheep since I do not have room to store the stuff I make it is usually discarded after VBS is over, so there isn't a lot of profit in spending too much to make it.  I am able to get large sheets of cardboard from a local Sam's Club. I go in around 6 p.m. and find the employee straightening up the shelves. They usually have several sheets they are willing to let me take home. 

Here is a pretty good look at the stuff I used to make this.

This is the second head I tried making, the first failed, because I believed it did not need to be precise and I could make it look wonky.  I discovered that wonky was more difficult than straight and narrow, so I drew everything with precise measurements and angles in pencil first.  I will show you step-by-step how I drew each element.

Basically your goal is to draw a equilateral triangle with a tab extending out of each vertex. If you are one of the 10 percent of people who are good with geometry you probably have all you need to continue.  For the rest of us here are the steps.









First I used a compass to draw three circles one 3 inch, one 5 inch and one 5 1/4 inch diameter.  The compass needed to be half that amount; 1 1/2, 2 1/2 and 2 5/8 inch. These measurements work good for what would be considered a normal size telescope; they can be adjusted for larger telescopes.









I left the compass at 2 5/8 inches the radius of the largest circle.  Put the point of the compass on the outer circle and make two marks (arcs) on the circle on both sides by swinging the compass around. I movee the point of the compass to one of those marks and make to more marks the same way.  I repeated this all the way around the circle, so I had created six marks all equal distance from each other. Here's a link to another explanation of how to draw an inscribed equilateral triangle. 

I connected three of these marks to create a small triangle in the circle.

I measured 2 1/4 inches away from that small triangle and made a mark.  I did this twice so I could draw three lines all 2 1/3 inches away from the small triangle












to draw a large outer triangle.

Next I drew a line threw the vertexes of the triangles and measured one inch on each side and













drew lines two inches long from the edge of the large triangle.

One inch on each side gave me a two inch wide tab, which I needed because I knew I would be making two inch legs and the tab needs to be the same width as the legs.

The result is the object seen to the left. There is one more step before I cut it out.







I used a protractor to measure a 100 degree angle to draw flaps on each side of the three tabs. The flaps must start at the point where the tab meets the triangle. If you have never used a protractor; Here's a link to help you with the protractor.

























When I got ready to cut it out I realized that I had all solid lines; oh no, solid lines get cut and dotted lines get folded.  I used a little paint to dot the lines so I (you) would not cut the wrong ones.  

I cut the pie slice lines inside the small circle so each of the small triangles could be folded down.

Do not cut the circles.





Now, I used my scale to score the dotted lines to prepare them for folding.  If I want a straight fold I must use some sort of straight edge to score the cardboard. I put the straight edge on the line then pushed down hard.











Finally, I folded the tab down and I hot glued the edge of the flap to the edge of the triangle.










It is going to need some additional support so I made three sides.  Traced the basic shape added a small flap along the top.  I cut them out and scored the line along the top flap.










Test fit. (This photo shows side flaps, I learned that they need to be trimmed off.)

I hot glued each side support in place.

The head is done, next we make three legs and supports.

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