yoderjac
Well-Known Member
I'm finding more and more uses for 3D printing when it comes to hunting. As many of you know, I recently purchased a Burris Eliminator 6 scope for my smokeless muzzleloader, but most of my firearms still have Leupold scopes. Leupold has a Custom Dial System (CDS). Basically, you provide them the ballistics of your particular load and they provide a dial for your scope that is calibrated to those ballistics. You sight in at either 100 or 200 yards, and use that dial to adjust for drop at larger ranges.
In general, this system has worked well for me, but a couple years back I found an issue. As I've gotten older, I'm hunting more from box blinds rather than treestands. When hunting from a box blind, it is much darker inside the blind than outside (by design). Without some lighting I can't see the CDS dial, and the last thing I was to do is be shining a flashlight in a blind.
So, what is needed is a very small light fixed to the scope that shines directly on the CDS dial and is not easily visible from a distance.
I decided to try to design one and print it.
The above is the body of the light. It is made to hold a 2032 battery a switch, and LED.
The above is a picture of the cover. It snaps on to the body and the cover extends over the battery to keep water out. It is not waterproof, but I'd call it water resistant.
The next piece I needed, shown above, is some way to connect it to the scope. I created this base with slots in it for cable ties. It can be cable tied to the scope and the body of the light epoxied to it.
The next pic above shows the electronics inserted into the body. They are simple and I got the kit from Evan Designs as a kit.
The pic above shows the entire unit with the base epoxied to the body and installed with cable ties on the scope.
The final picture above shows the gun in a dark room with the light turned on. You can clearly see the dial, but the small red LED would get no attention from deer at a distance outside 100 yards. It is conveniently mounted and gets turned on with a simple button push.
In general, this system has worked well for me, but a couple years back I found an issue. As I've gotten older, I'm hunting more from box blinds rather than treestands. When hunting from a box blind, it is much darker inside the blind than outside (by design). Without some lighting I can't see the CDS dial, and the last thing I was to do is be shining a flashlight in a blind.
So, what is needed is a very small light fixed to the scope that shines directly on the CDS dial and is not easily visible from a distance.
I decided to try to design one and print it.
The above is the body of the light. It is made to hold a 2032 battery a switch, and LED.
The above is a picture of the cover. It snaps on to the body and the cover extends over the battery to keep water out. It is not waterproof, but I'd call it water resistant.
The next piece I needed, shown above, is some way to connect it to the scope. I created this base with slots in it for cable ties. It can be cable tied to the scope and the body of the light epoxied to it.
The next pic above shows the electronics inserted into the body. They are simple and I got the kit from Evan Designs as a kit.
The pic above shows the entire unit with the base epoxied to the body and installed with cable ties on the scope.
The final picture above shows the gun in a dark room with the light turned on. You can clearly see the dial, but the small red LED would get no attention from deer at a distance outside 100 yards. It is conveniently mounted and gets turned on with a simple button push.
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