Any body want to share their DIY Night Vision project?

Here is my latest;
This the next generation of my DIY Night Vision Scope. I redesigned the housing surrounding the camera body to affix the lens and make the entire unit rigged. Here is my drawing,



This was the hardest part not having a legitimate mill to work with.



It all came together nicely and will be ready to field test soon. Could use some pointers of how to get a decent finish on the housing though?



Here's the camera and lens which is a 120mm and not 150mm.


Here it is all camoed out and ready to mount on the rifle.



Finally got to range test my DIY night vision scope Frankenstein II. I mounted the scope on my newly acquired Armalite A10T 7.62 X 51mm. Oh this rifle is sweet to say the least. There was some concern the electronics would not stand up to the shock of a large caliber weapon so I was pleased I had no issues even after 40 rounds.

I discovered several things that I overlooked. 1st Forgot my spotting scope at home. 2nd. Was when you remove the IR filter from the ccd in the camera it becomes color blind. So the standard Alpine Orange targets were mostly invisible through the scope. Luckily I had a black Marks-a-lot and was able to draw a bulls-eye the scope's optics could pickup. The resolution is not quite what I hope for with the 120mm zoom lens and I will say 100yds is probably its limit. I was able to line up the target and put together a decent group but I question whether I will be able to distinguish a doe and a button buck at this resolution.

So here is what Franken II looks like on the A10T:


Here is target of 2, 3 shot groups. The first group are the top 3, the bottom 2 are after adjusting the POI down 1 pixel, there is actually 3 shots as two are basically in the same hole right above the bulls-eye.


So what you see cost a little more than $200 and my machine time. With IR illumination it can see in total darkness out to 200yds. Next up is a hog hunt in a few weeks, hope to have video for my next update.

Here is the build list.

CAMERA BODY $38.00
700TVL SONY Enhanced Effio-E 4140 CCD Box Camera ATR Auto Iris OSD
http://www.securitycamera2000.com

MONITOR $20.31
3.5" TFT LCD Color Mini Monitor For Car Auto Rearview Monitor DVD VCR
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=m570.l3201&_nkw=3.5%22+TFT+LCD+Color+Mini+Monitor+For+Car+Auto+Rearview+Monitor+DVD+VCR&_sacat=0 LENS $72.87 2MCCTV 2M-5100A

120mm AutoIris Varifocal CCTV lens $86
http://www.ragecams.com

CAMERA TO PICATINNY $17.95
See Through Tactical Riser Off set Mount PICATINNY RAIL Scope Flashlight Sight [1/2" Riser Mount 8 slots]
Mounts to bottom of camera body
http://www.ebay.com/itm/See-Through-Tact...t-/221003118692

ILLIMUMINATOR $150.00 Not Pictured
Custom UniqueFire T20 IR 940nm


ILLIMUMINATOR MOUNT $6.80
MODIFIED PICATINNY SCOPE MOUNT RAIL 13 SLOTS
Cut in half and attach to camera body to mount light
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tactical-Picatin...=item51b16d48c9

PIG TAIL $1.95
2 way Twin DC Y splitter Pigtail Cable
One leg goes to the camera the other to the monitor
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111142203922

BATTERY $52.60
YABO 12v UPS Battery 9800mah Lithium Ion Battery for CCTV
http://www.amazon.com/Hiyadeal-Portable-...attery+for+CCTV

BATTERY POUCH $11.88
VISM by NcStar Stock Riser with Mag Pouch
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005OAAHTA/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

CAMERA INCLOSURE $12
2.5" x 2.5" x 1/4"WALL Square Aluminum Tube

MONITOR BRACKET $4.00 Ace
Hardware 1/2" band Iron

4ea 8-32 1/2" cap screws $1.60
Attach camera to Picatinny Brackets

4ea 8-32 1/4" cap screws $1.60
Attach the monitor bracket to monitor and camera body

2ea 1/4-20 1/2" flat socket screws $0.80
Attach camera to Picatinny Brackets

1ea BNC to RCA adapter

1ea BNC 90 Degree Coupler

Here is a night time clip. The 8 oz bunny is 75 yards away.
http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/edgeer1/media/2014-02-1720-31-35-C_zps504c7b67.mp4.html

Here is a day time clip
http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/edgeer1/media/2014-02-1917-30-06-C_zps1efc80da.mp4.html

Ok I have shown you mine now show me yours!

Yeah... I wish, that is cool!

I can't believe I'm the only one that has done this. I know Hard-Ware has a cool thermal unit. Is there not anyone out there with a scope based on this technology?

Well, now you got me wanting to build one, I like your set-up.
I would just paint that thing black.
Is the screen a little too close to you while shooting? Would it be better mounted on top of the camera so that it isn't right in your face?

Im still waiting on parts for my build. I will be trying it with my scope first ( so it can be taken on-off easily and still be used "normally" ). I figure there will be some issues with light transmission through the scope but......also I have put together an illuminator using a Osram Golden Dragon IR LED with a 1000ma driver to be mounted on it. With this LED I can see about 125yds using an old Sony Nightshot camera. Most of my stuff has come in but still waiting on the camera and BNC/Rca adapters etc........

Here in Texas, there don't seem to be too many, but this is more popular to do over in England based on all the creations that show on the NV UK forum. http://www.nightvisionforumuk.com/

My hat is off to folks like you who have such talents and time. That is some neat stuff.

We now know what the "Slow Boat From China" is all about, don't we?
I Ordered 2 UniqueFire T20's from WallBuy's. The T20's are in customs going on a week, however, I received the two 940nm pills from the guy in Great Britain in 5 days. So I have everything needed to complete the second scope and think I can have it up-fitted with mounts by Friday.

By the way, this last camera I received had the IR Filter glass that overlays the CCD cover glass glued with a superglue like material. It was a real chore to get it off and I eventually had to chip the glass off the top of the sensor housing. You have to remove it if you want to see light above 890nm. The 3 cameras I had removed the filter before were held in place with a soft almost pliable clear gum/glue. Not this one, it was stuck solid. Only way to get it off was to chip both layers of glass.

I didn't realize that about the IR filter. At this point I am using a 850nm LED so I should be good. I have been tracking my package and it actually made it to the US pretty dang quick, I think it was here in 2 days but then there is waiting on customs, delivered to shipping partner etc. Been sitting in NJ for 3-4 days now.....

Here you go, I found this video if you need to remove the filter to see your light your building.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSBf_nkTfNE

She made it look easy but I hope I don't have to do that.......

I wish I had watched it before to butchered the last one I did. LOL

A couple of questions, if you dont mind. My stuff came in and I was playing with it last night. I noticed ( as you had stated in another thread ) the loss of light when using the camera through a scope ( I believe you had done the same in your first build ) so will probably go scopeless like you. Do you just set the zoom and focus and not touch it after it has been sighted in? When I zoom the crossshairs move. I figure I will zoom to get a good view at 150yds or so, focus then lock them both down. Last night I was able to see well out to maybe 80-90yds through the scope and I gained about 20yds without it. My weakness is the illuminator. The Golden dragon LED is only like 500mw and the optics are poor for this application. Im going to have to order a T20 and Osram Oslon LED and put it together myself, I cant stomach $150 for light right now.....

What lens do you have? If you look at the photo above you will notice cap head screws at the front of the scope. Those are there to affix the front of the lens so it can't move. The OD of the lens is about 3/16" smaller than the ID of the square tube. Once together I used a laser bore sight to adjust the screws to align the scope before going to the range. The back screw that mounts the camera body to the picatinny mount goes all the way threw the square tube. The front screw of the picatinny mount has a little tolerance so the base can be swung a degree or two for alignment.

Once the lens is set you will be able to zoom in and out without moving the POI. Now if the scope is not aligned true to the bore because you don't have a laser bore sight then the POI may move. In that case just create a second set of cross hairs for the second distance.

Just finished the second scope last night so I will post up a few more pics of how I mounted the camera to the tube/picatinny base.

Thanks for the response. My lens is a 5-100 auto iris. So, you use the screws to push the lens around to align it with the bore sighter? I dont have a boresighter but may be able to get ahold of one.

Just read your post and realized you specifically stated you use the screws to align it. My bad.

Yep. I had to make a spacer the proper height to center the camera in the square tube. You having a mill, you may be able to mill it on a slight bevel. A MOA is 1/60th of a degree so it doesn't take much if any.

If you get a Bore sighter buy the in the chamber one. The down the tub versions arn't that accurate.

I started to build some but lost interest. I'll sell the whole lot of parts if anyone is interested. PM me.

Can you be a little more descriptive as to what parts you have?

Well I did just that with the second scope. Meet the black sheep of the family.

Here is a pic of my scoped build, my version 1. As reported, there is a loss of light through the scope and I am working on my version 2 now.

What Illuminator are you using? Looks like it brought home the bacon.

I killed that pig last Saturday night on its first real test run. I am using a Golden Dragon Led that I mounted on a piece of aluminum to act as a heatsink and allow me to put it in a scope ring. I used a 1000ma buck puck to drive it. It isn't bright enough though. I can only see 80-100yds. I just reflowed 2 Oslon Black leds last night to put into a T20 as soon as it arrives, hopefully today.

If you look on the bottom side of the rifle under the front sight/gas block you can see the driver attached to the back of the 1" round piece of Al that the led is attached to.