Ski Pole Tripod

So some time during the winter my camera tripod broke. At the time I didn't really care that much, but on short notice I needed a tripod so I scavenged around my house and I stumbled upon my aunt's old ski poles. Immediately I had the whole thing planned out in my head and got to work. So here's how to make a camera tripod out of a pair of ski poles.

So here's what you're going to need for the project

Materials:

• Pair of ski poles
• 6 Screw and Bolts (Round Head Combo #10 - 24 x 1 in)
• Piece of wood at least 6" x 6"

Tools:

• Circular Saw (or any type of saw, I just used a circular saw)
• Jig Saw
• Hammer
• Drill
• 1 in drill bit
• 7/32 in drill bit
• Compass (the drawing kind)

To start off you're going to need to cut one of the poles.

• Remove the handles from the top of the pole
• Measure 3 10 inch pieces
• Cut them and discard the extra end, you will not need this

Now it's time to drill the holes, you will need a 7/32 drill bit for this.

• First measure a 1/4 inch in from the top, this will be were the first hole goes
• Then from the end of the first hole measure 1 inch, this is where the second hole will be
  • make sure the top of the hole is at the 1 inch mark
• Repeat for the other two legs

Now it's time to make the base where all the legs will attach to.

• With a compass draw a circle with a radius of 2 3/4 in, this should give you a diameter of 5 1/2 in
• Then with a Jig saw cut out the circle
• Measure and mark the middle and an equilateral triangle on the base
  • I used a somewhat complicated series of measurements for the triangle but to save time you can print one out and use it as a template
• Use a 1 inch drill bit to drill ta hole in the middle of the base
  • This is where the pole will go through
• Mark the middle of each side of the triangle, this is where you will drill
  • When drilling the leg hole

Now its time to fit the legs in place. I put the bottom nut and bolt in the leg before fitting it in to place to make it a little easier.

Now onto the camera mount

• The first thing I did was remove the straps attached to the top of the handle by pulling out the plastic piece that was holding it in
  • Then I took the bolt from my broken tripod and super glued it into the hole where the strap was
    • I reused the bolt I had from my last tripod but if you don't have one you can buy a 1/4 inch nut with 20 threads to the inch - the standard camera mount size

Put all the pieces together and you have a ski pole tripod! Congrats! :)