stupid chrony question

[Jlnel]

I have an old chronograph unit, I can’t recall name but I’ll check, I wanted to set it up the other day and it only had 3 metal bars and not to like I see in others pics, do you need that top cover, looks like a sunshade?? I’m not sure how the thing functions so thought i would check before wasting my time. Thanks!

[prebancolt]

If it is a CHRONY, the top "sunshades" are for use on sunny days. On cloudy days, the chronograph should work just fine without them. They are intended on creating a white background so the sensor can see the bullet better (or something like that) More experienced people will probably chime in soon!

Edited February 25, 2013 by prebancolt

[AlamoShooter]

the sensor is just a Light meeter that picks up the shadow of the bullet passing. if the sun is at an angle to you Crono thin even the shades may not help.

Like our friend said it may work fine on an overcast day when the sun is high in the sky

[Steve RA]

If you could post the name of the unit you would probably get more specific advice.

[Jlnel]

Ill try and get brand name tomorrow

[Hi-Power Jack]

I lost my shades for my Chrony years ago - I just keep it in the shade

and it works pretty well - sometimes I'll drape something over it to

create a little shade, if necessary.

[Classic_jon]

I have seen several people do this for replacement Crhony shade rods:

Copied from another site:

"Happily, there's no need to go to such expense. A welding supply store near you has rod of the proper diameter - 5/32 inch or 4 mm. You won't find that size of rod at Home Depot or most hardware stores, but it's nothing exotic in the welding world. A variety of materials are available. I bought mild steel rod because it was the cheapest. The original rods appear to be made of aluminum, but I think I can cope with the extra few ounces of weight.

I paid $1.87 for enough rod to make two complete replacement rod sets for my Chrony. These welding rods come in 36" lengths, but I have access to the tools needed to cut the rod into 16" sections and blunt the ends a bit.

I blew through another $2 on a 24" length of 3/4" size PVC pipe, plus end caps, to make a protective carrying case for the rods. I will probably glue on one cap and let the other stay on by friction. I will also add some sort of cushion to the insides of both caps, to keep the rods from damaging the caps over time.

My replacement rods will not break down into sections that fit inside the original Chrony box, but whoop-dee-doo. They still beat sending over twice the money to Canada, waiting at least a week, etc. I'm sure someone handy with metal fabrication could make the rods collapsible or foldable or whatnot. I was going for the simplest and cheapest solution."