Cheap version of arca cube!

[wildtypitch]

WHile I was wandering around the local engineering and electronics market here in Beijing I stumbled upon a second hand item that looked like and arca cube geared tripod head (the one with the $1500 price tag).
The guy's first price was around $70 for it. I had no mount on the top or bottom so would need a rotating clamp for the top and a base, it didn't have the extra release that flips the head another 45 or so degrees but in all other respects it was pretty much the same deal, maybe a little less refined.
Anyone else from an engineering background know about these things? He had a few of them lying around.

 

[pelerin]

WHile I was wandering around the local engineering and electronics market here in Beijing I stumbled upon a second hand item that looked like and arca cube geared tripod head (the one with the $1500 price tag).
The guy's first price was around $70 for it. I had no mount on the top or bottom so would need a rotating clamp for the top and a base, it didn't have the extra release that flips the head another 45 or so degrees but in all other respects it was pretty much the same deal, maybe a little less refined.
Anyone else from an engineering background know about these things? He had a few of them lying around.

Could it be intended as a base for a transit?
Celac

 

[wildtypitch]

that sound plausable, I don't know what a transit is but there were also 1-2 foot long things with a base attached to a long screw running the length. Is that a transit?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

In general terms, the Arca Swiss Cube is a three-axis goniometer. Goniometers can be used in telescope or artillery mounts, microscope stages, other optical applications, in drill presses and other kinds of machining equipment, and generally anywhere something needs to be positioned at a very precise angle.

 

[pelerin]

that sound plausable, I don't know what a transit is but there were also 1-2 foot long things with a base attached to a long screw running the length. Is that a transit?

No, a transit is a surveyor's tool... in practical terms: a goniometer + gunsight. I think a picture might be valuable here.
Celac

 

[wildtypitch]

Yea its a goniometer for sure I found a Chinese company that make them http://www.optics-focus.com/manual-goniometers-c-65_70.html . I was about 20 meters from there headquarters today, shipping artwork. Unbelievable!