Which set up for sitting at in a normal chair, without contortions?

[Alan White]

Thanks for the continued thought folks, very much appreciated.
Back is slightly less painful and I am working as normaly as I can, but its not fun by evening time.
Physio is starting to have an positive impact, thank goodness, but as I am paying not sure how long it will remain an option.

The ST80 I just bought to try a short tube has potential and the image is far better than I suspected it would, in actual fact its rather good.
I am thinking of a MAK or SCT if things contunue as they are.

I had hankered after a dob until now, but I am not sure I would manage the lifting etc at present, time will tell.

[Alan White]

5 hours ago, Moonshane said:

One of my more comfy scopes is my 12" f4

Note the telrad now has a riser and i always use a right angle finder

Shane

That looks a very nice dob.

Is that an Orion Optics base as well as tube.

 

[John]

The mount and base of Shanes scope is one of his own excellent creations. He made one for me as well (I prefer to stand when observing):

 

[nightfisher]

1 hour ago, John said:

The mount and base of Shanes scope is one of his own excellent creations. He made one for me as well (I prefer to stand when observing):

 

These "Moonshane" dob base`s seem to have a very small footprint, and being made from Birch ply should last a long time if properly sealed

[iPeace]

If it came to this for me, I guess I would use something on a photo tripod with an extendable center column to help keep the eyepiece (rotated diagonal) at the same height as the altitude shifts. Something short and light - I like that anyway - would be best for carrying out and mounting this way. I probably have the ideal scope for this in the TV-60, but if I didn't have that I would try it with the much more budget-friendly Mak 102. Or indeed with the TS INED70 which I foolishly passed on to a more deserving home.

My thoughts and hopes are with you.

[Alan White]

Folks, wanted to again say thanks for the input from each of you, much appreciated.

Been at the Physio today and have been told its muscular things, no disc issues at all, which is great.
The rebuild of myself will take a while to regain core strength and mobility though 

I may be taking up some of the suggestions made to remain looking upwards to my satisfaction.

[Nyctimene]

Very good news, Alan; I hope that you soon will regain your health, strength and flexibility completely- but go slow, very slow, over a couple of months up to a year (a retired neurologist's advice ). As far as scoping goes, I'll second the advice above to go with a SCT or Mak. In addition, two ultimate solutions with absolutely fixed eyepiece positions come to my mind:

Russell Porter's "Springfield mount" for Newtonian scopes:

http://www.astrosurf.com/re/unusual_telescopes_russell_porter.pdf

and the Coudé configuration for refractors:

 

A German amateur and professional telescope maker, Manfred Wachter, built about 50 years ago about 150 Coudé s, mostly 150/2250, but up to 200/3000 mm, that were used very successfully by several Astronomers associations for outreach. Rare instruments (never seen or used one), but excellent build quality

 

 

Could be a nice project for an experienced ATM...

Stephan

 

[John]

When I googled "Springfield Telescope" I got this

 

[Alan White]

 Love it John.

 

[Alan White]

Well I have just put the AZ4 and steel tripod back together.
The ST80 sits on top really nice.
The set up is very light and managable, very important at the minute.
Its nice and smooth and the EP is at a comfortable angle from 20 degrees to 80 degrees, which is good enough for me.

This may well be my solution for a couple of months while I repair.  
I have noted your good advice Nyctimene, thank you.

[RT65CB-SWL]

38 minutes ago, John said:

When I googled "Springfield Telescope" I got this

 

"Doh!" 

[L8-Nite]

Consider trying a zimmer frame set in front of your chair, with a narrow shelf board attached across it as a leaning post.

[Mr Spock]

As someone with a slipped disc I can say any observing position is painful!

I have my C9.25/EQ-6 set at a height suitable for me to sit on a kitchen stool. Add a RACI finder and things are looking much better. Any adjustments are taken care of by moving the diagonal around.

[popeye85]

personally I find that a normal chair and my 8"dob is as comfortable as I could hope for-although I do sometimes have to put a box of the chair to give e extra height!

[N3ptune]

On 6/8/2017 at 09:50, John said:

The mount and base of Shanes scope is one of his own excellent creations. He made one for me as well (I prefer to stand when observing):

 

That telescope is SO nice, the tube and the mount. I wish to get one exactly like that one day!

[DRT]

Alan,

I had a problem with nerve pain in my legs a few weeks ago and couldn't stand for more than a few seconds. When we had a few sunny days I managed to rig myself up with my Lunt 50 Ha and TV-60/Quark on a mini-giro mount and my Tele Vue Telepod tripod sitting in a normal patio chair. Any heavyweight camera tripod with an adjustable centre pillar would do the same job as it allows you to adjust the position of the eyepiece by simply moving the central pillar up or down.

Something like that would easily handle your ED80.

I hope you get the back pain sorted soon.

Derek

[Alan White]

Derek

It would indeed but I have an ed100 and an ST80, very different beasts.

The AZ4 is ok for the minute though.

[mikeDnight]

The Springfield telescope could be the answer. 

[DRT]

On 11/06/2017 at 22:52, DRT said:

Alan,

I had a problem with nerve pain in my legs a few weeks ago and couldn't stand for more than a few seconds. When we had a few sunny days I managed to rig myself up with my Lunt 50 Ha and TV-60/Quark on a mini-giro mount and my Tele Vue Telepod tripod sitting in a normal patio chair. Any heavyweight camera tripod with an adjustable centre pillar would do the same job as it allows you to adjust the position of the eyepiece by simply moving the central pillar up or down.

Something like that would easily handle your ED80.

I hope you get the back pain sorted soon.

Derek

Here is the set-up I was describing, but with a Lunt wedge instead of my Quark...

 

[Alan White]

Having thought about this long and hard.

What would I miss out on by selling my ED100 DS Pro and buying a 5 or 6 inch mak?

 

[Moonshane]

Field of view is the only thing I can think of really other than the cooling times of the Mak vs the instant use of the frac. I think some Maks don't allow 2" eyepieces due to the rear end aperture being too small?

Then again if you use your 80mm for wide field views you'd have both covered with the 80mm and the Mak.

[nightfisher]

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

Having thought about this long and hard.

What would I miss out on by selling my ED100 DS Pro and buying a 5 or 6 inch mak?

 

As Shane said, field of view but as also said the smaller scope could cover that, the 150 pro mak takes 2" or 1.25 ep`s, but a 127 only really takes 1.25 ep, cooldown is an issue if you take scope from house to view with, my little 102 Mak lives in an out house so is always ready.

If you want to know any more about Maks just ask i have had plenty of them

[Alan White]

Thanks Shane and Jules.

Longer term I will have a bigger reflector again, but for now, its not to be, unless a dob owner can convince otherwise!