What do you do, to avoid doing jobs you really should?

[earth titan]

Personally I made this, in the middle of lagging the loft.

Found a sheet of 3/4" ply in the loft (the previous owners must have been stinking rich if they could afford to board the loft out with sheets of this stuff) and I already had a suitable bit of 4"x2" stud from building an office.

Took about an hour and a half and cost me £5.00 for a bit of M10 thread.

Et Voila....... Denver (or Rushden) observing chair. And it only bleedin works..

[bcfcciderhead]

Hey i like that, you could make me one lol

thats very good got me thinking, was going to buy the Skywatcher one until i seen the price...

does the seat part come off/fold down? to help in storage

[earth titan]

It folds up to sit flat.

Do a search for Denver observing chair. Plans are on the tinternet.

Make sure you use 3/4" ply for the brackets. Normal planed timber would not have the strength.

[Space Beagle]

Half an hour.....!

Mine took me hours, nay, days of fiddling and faffing to get done..

Yours looks very good though, nice job!

Doc

[Rob1961]

I cheated and bought a Lidl 'ironing chair' very nice, adjustable, comfotable and padded back all for £7. Wish I could do woodwork though....

[simon84]

I'm always tinkering when I should be finishing the house.

My latest projects are making an ali dovetail ready to support my dslr, red dot finder and QHY5 finder/guider. Its 320mm by 100mm by 20mm thick and the only way I have of cutting the angles down both sides is by hand with a hacksaw......I've done one side.....

I've also just finished my pier which kept me from tiling the kitchen for days.....

Nice chair though, looks really good.

[earth titan]

And having tested it, I can report it works...!!

Best views of jupiter yet, as I could sit for extended periods, without my head or body moving.

Gonna fit an eyepiece rack (bit like cup holders) cos once you get comfy, it's a real pain to move.

Going to shorten the front cross piece so I will be able to get right under the scope and add one to the rear, to further stabilise it. Not that it appeared to really need it but if I'm going to shorten the front.......

Can strongly reccomend having a go.

[brianb]

Sleeping is a good way of procrastinating....

[rabbithutch]

Very nice!

My search skills are wanting because I've not found a site that gives dimensions or other information.

Can anyone help?

[The Warthog]

I made a satisfactory Denver observing chair. Once I had seen a picture and got the idea of how it was made, I made up the dimensions to suit myself. My only problem was that the friction fit that is supposed to hold the chair in place didn't really work, so I am going to run 3/8" half round channels across the back, and put a piece of 3/8 dowel in the back slider of the chair to engage the channels with more force than the friction fit give me. I have two cedar skeletons for the chairs in my shed that I am going to make into my mark II chair next year, if I have time. (My workshop is outside, and it's too damn cold here in winter to do woodwork outside.)

BTW, I made a tripod a couple of years ago, and deliberately eschewed the usual ep tray in the middle. I've been thinking of making a ep shelf that will attach to the tripod leg nearest me and hold itself on by friction, or maybe by a clamp.

[rabbithutch]

Given the position of the eyepiece on a dob, are these chairs useful with one? Consider the dob an 8-10" on a typical mount.

[The Warthog]

You can make these chairs quite high, although I would think that 4' would be a practical maximum. That should put you in a comfortable position to view through a Dob of that size. I find, though, that I am only in the chair if I am watching the Moon or a planet for a long time. On DSO`s I usually move from one to another fairly quickly, and am on my feet for that.

BTW, I really like the hinged top on the illustrated chair.

Here`s a couple of pics of my mark I chair.

[earth titan]

If you run a search for 'denver observing chair' on google then the plans are on the third or fourth link.

Works fine for my 12" so see no reason it wouldn't work with an 8" or 10".

[ollypenrice]

I 3D-doodled a welded 'live outside' one out of scrap steel along the same lines but no-one ever sits on it. Boo Hoo!! They just put their laptops on it.

Sulking.

Olly

[LukeSkywatcher]

I dont do DIY,. I hire other people to do it. Im pretty useless with my hands unless there is a computer keyboard beneath them.

[rabbithutch]

Thanks for the information.

I googled and found some interesting minor variants.

Then, I drew one up in SketchUp to that I can play with some modifications in a model before building one. I think I have enough scrap and even the hardware lying about.

It's good to know that this would work for a dob, too. And, I think I would use it more as a leaning bench than as a long-term viewing seat. Artificial joints and arthritis mean that I don't stand for long periods without paying the piper.

Thank you, again.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice stuff. I have some remnants of 3/4" and 1" ply-wood left from earlier projects. Might be enough.

[yeti monster]

Sleeping is a good way of procrastinating....

Mrs. Yeti is well practiced in both..................

[northernlad]

Well I've got to say I've been inspired.

Like bcfcciderhead, I was looking for a new seat/chair (my old one has given up the ghost) and had seen the skywatcher one - £££ ouch. After looking for a similar type, such as ironing chairs, I'd just about given up - then I saw this thread.

I had a happy hour and a half in the workshop, and I'm very pleased with the end result. A bit of paint and stain and it'll be done. Cost to me = nil.

So cheers 'earth titan' for a great post.

[Pete Presland]

this is definitely my next project,hopefully it will be as free as the mask i justed made