Cheap DIY Lighting For a Chronograph

These are really good chronys, well worth the money.

Having spent just over £100 on a new chronoscope, I have spent many happy hours discovering the power output of all my air rifles. Unfortunately it was always dependant on good weather.

So it's into the shed for my testing, where I can't get a reading without a lighting system. Those things can cost up to £50 if you buy the matching set to go with the chrony unit you have purchased, however it only costs a fraction of that to make your own. You have to use the old style non energy saving light bulbs which you can plug into the mains and connect to the underside of the light diffusers, or cheaper still, use the type of battery powered LED lights - the ones that don't stutter, as you won't get a reading otherwise.

Cheap and chearful lighting system.

I went for the latter, choosing a common type made by Rolson that have a magnet on the back and a hook for camping purposes. They cost anything between 3 and 6 pounds each; I got two for 6 quid from B&Q.

Magnet and Hook on the back.

The magnet was not strong enough to hold the light to a piece of metal resting on top of the diffusers from underneath, and the light is not strong enough for it to work if resting on top.

Plenty of LEDs for the job in hand.

So I cut a strip of thin steel with some tin snips and rounded off any sharp edges, then folded it in half to make a clip.

It's best to fold the metal around a pen or something, clips onto the diffuser easier that way.

The metal clip held on to the diffuser without any movement; it needs to sit in the center of each diffuser for the lights to get the best readings on the chrony.

The clips are not going anywhere.

The lights stick to the metal on the underside of the diffuser and it takes a firm tug to remove them, so there's no chance of them falling off if the unit gets knocked.

twist the light around until the on/off switch is in the best position for your taste.

These lights take three AAA batteries and that will last quite a few hours with constant use; i've used these lights camping before and left them on all night with a decent set of batteries in them and they still worked the following morning.

Believe me it works a treat.

There are other styles of lights and torches you can use but it's important that they are the type that give a constant light and not stutter like the flourescent tube lights do. Any hardware shop or camping shop should sell them or they can easily be found online.

The whole thing took 15 minutes to make and only cost 6 quid as I already owned a set of tin snips, but you could even pick up a set of tin snips for a fiver if you don't have any and that's still a massive saving on buying a professional unit.

TTFN

Best wishes, Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe.

Using the Pro Chrono Digital

 An out of the box review.

Having already owned a chronograph which unfortunately met an untimely death, you end up wondering how you ever coped without one in the first place. But after six months without one, I am relieved to say I am now the proud owner of a brand new Competition Electronics Pro Chrono Digital, and bloody good it is too. There is another version which is not digital, but the advantage of going for the digital version is that it can be connected to a laptop and stores your info in a file. For an extra £60 (at time of writing), ProChrono will supply you with a cable to connect the unit to a computer, and a software disk which stores the full range of info in an easy to read format.

Well worth the wait.

On opening the box you see the 3 by 4 by 12 inch unit, two light diffusers, four metal rods and a booklet of easy to understand instructions in English. The body is a tough plastic and the whole unit is two lbs in weight. It is powered by one 9 volt battery with storage space for a spare which is handy in case you run out of power down the range, though a good battery should run for 10 hours solid. 

Extra battery storage is a clever idea.

The battery box is on the underside next to a brass screw-in connector which allows you to mount the unit on a camera tripod, this makes it easy to target shoot off hand and get a reading at the same time.

There is a tripod around, but the wifey tends to use it for photography.

The read-out on the front gives you the FPS read-out; it can be changed to MPS at the touch of a button and will tell you the high and low of each shot string. If you want ft/lb's you have to work it out yourself (I use this handy free online calculator: http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/energycalc.htm ), or buy the software supplied by ProChrono. The two buttons above the read-out and three below are easy to understand and use, and after one read of the instructions I understood their function completely.

Very wide sensors.

To set it up and use is simplicity itself; pop in a battery, turn it on at the side, shoot over the sensors on top and you get the speed of the projectile on the read-out. Next to the on/off button are two jack plug ports for the remote and PC cable, this is in a shallow recess which offers a degree of protection from damage when using outdoors.

This bit seems straightforward.

The two light diffusers front and back sit on two 13 inch rods and mount solidly into the unit, also giving a rough guide to a 12 inch ark of sensor coverage. When I used it for the first time, it was in the shadow of a woodland on a sunny day. I shot 5 20 shot strings without a single error from the chronograph. There was no need to calibrate anything, just put in the batteries, switch on and shoot. 

It really is a case of fit the batteries and you're ready to go.

The read-out gave the speed in FPS after every shot without having to reset, and stores the info even when the batteries are removed. The only time I have had an error was on one occasion when trying to measure a very slow moving pellet; although it should measure from 30 to 7000 FPS, more care must be taken over slower projectiles.

Chronoscope with light diffuser and poles

The five buttons around the read-out are used respectively to change the shot string, redisplay, review, delete shot, and delete string. The unit will store up to 9 strings - each string containing up to 99 shots - before it's full and needs deleting. This is where having the PC cable and ProChrono software come in handy. It would also be handy to be able to view a live readout on a computer screen.

It really isn't rocket science, in fact it's pretty self explanitory.

All in all I am utterly impressed by the ProChrono Digital, it can be set up in seconds and can be easily operated even by an idiot (which is just as well in my case). Now I can get to diagnosing problems in my old air rifles and make sure my favourite air rifles are still performing well. I may even test my crossbow and slingshot. Until then ...

TTFN

Best wishes, Wing Comander Sir Nigel Tetlington- Smythe.

A Tale Of Two Chronoscopes

 The long, long wait ...

For the last six months I haven't written any blogs because I haven't really done any work on my air rifles, I have used them a little but there is only so much you can write about that. The reason is a little to do with work commitments and a lot to do with my old chronograph dying an untimely death last May. It was the Mk IV Combro chronoscope which attaches to the barrel of your rifle - a brilliant little device but if you're not extremely careful with it, you can shoot out a sensor, which is exactly what I managed to do.

The Mk IV Combro still gave a reading after shooting out this sensor.

Happily, the company which builds them will repair them very cheaply for you and I can highly recommend their service. In the case of my chrono however, the final nail in it's coffin came when it fell, in it's box, onto a hot plate on the cooker and was reduced to ash and melted plastic. Oopsy.

Shortly before it's untimely death.

I needed a new chronoscope, but this time I decided I would wait and save for a larger model, one that not only measures pellets and BB's whatever the barrel shape, but can also measure projectiles from bows, crossbows and slingshots. There are a few makes you can choose from. There is the Skan, which by all accounts is excellent but a bit expensive and doesn't do bolts and arrows. The Shooting Chrony range includes the Alpha, the Beta, and the F1, which are cheaper but a bit of a bugger about lighting conditions. There is also the American made Pro Chrono with the basic and digital models, which is a little more expensive than the Alpha but a lot more forgiving.

Ooh, Yes, that's the one I want.

After a lot of research and some brilliant advice from some of the airgun forums I decided to go for the Pro Chrono Digital. Little did I know it would be nigh on impossible to find anywhere in the UK which actually had them in stock!

Oh happy days.

So I waited and waited and waited some more, but no joy, it would appear I was not destined for a Pro Chrono Digital. A few months before my birthday I notice a very good deal on the Shooting Chrony Beta with lighting unit, not what i'd originally wanted, but a good compromise. So when the Fed Ex lorry dropped off a large birthday present with my name on, I was expecting to unwrap the Beta, but, oh joy, it was actually the Pro Chrono Digital! The wifey had managed to find a store on ebay with a few available, bless her cotton socks.

Out of the box and looking damn fine.

Sadly it doesn't come with batteries included and I didn't have any to hand, so I made do with fondling the box and reading the instructions. Look out for my next post where I will put it to test - can't wait!

TTFN

Best wishes, Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe.