[Wavytone]

The luxury model I made 16 years ago - it consists of an electric wheelchair which has a tubular frame that plugs into the top of back the chair. To this I made a wooden cantilever which places a small scope (or binoculars) in front of the observer at the perfect position for observing.

The electric wheelchair provides fast slewing in azimuth, and vertical height adjustment to suit the observer, as well as footplates to keep your toes out of the dewy grass.

The cantilever consists of 4 x tassie oak strips (put the strength where its needed) with some bits of lightweight maple acting as spacers. At the back it has what's left of a dec shaft and counterweight cannibalised from an old mount no longer used.

Between the ends of the cantilever is a crude altazimuth mount so the user can point the scope anywhere, consisting of a wide "U" made from 4x laminated birch shelf brackets (a few dollars from Ikea), two "lazy suzan" bearings on either side provide altitude bearings, which were basically large diameter ballraces running in pressed aluminium disks (also cannibalised from something at Ikea) and the azimuth axis is a $10 bicycle front-wheel shaft with bearings and locknuts, bolted to a plate of 10mm aluminium scrap that serves as the cradle to which the scope attached. The altazimuth mount was made so that it rotates quite freely, with friction to hold the scope provided by using a DVD bolted on the shaft with the edge running between two felt pads that provide adjustable drag.

The cantilever also swings up and down freely so it accommodates observers ranging from kids to tall adults, as well as accommodating the changing eyepiece position for objects at the zenith v low down near the horizon.

In practice it provide quite stable and surprisingly free of vibration and would be able to support binoculars or compact scope up to a Celestron or Mead 8" (the scope in the pic is a Mead 4" f/10 SCT).

Note there is also an accessory tray for eyepieces and other bits & pieces attaches to the armrest. A deluxe version could include electrically heated blanket to keep the observer toasty (from the wheelchair battery), red LED lamp and a shelf for laptops/iPads. Reversing lights might be desirable too as having the wheelchair back over someones toes in the dark is unpleasant.

Net cost was maybe $50 and some scrap parts.

More pics available if this grabs your imagination.