Observing Chair - Australian Made

[PeterHA]

All,
If an Australian made, hard wood, steplessly hight adjustable and rock solid astro chair would be available, would there be interest and what would people be prepared to invest.
Image shows a prototype, I might have the real thing with me at the ASV Star-b-Q on Saturday.
Cheers,
Peter

[norm]

Things that I would be looking for are:

1. Does it serve it's intended purpose first and foremost.
2. How well does it stack up to the stellar chair
3. Weight... Last thing I want to be lugging around is a 15kg block of timber to pack in the car.
4. How well does it fold down, does it fold down
5. Stellar chairs going for $170-$180??? It's expensive IMO, however it seems to do what it does and reasonably well.
6. How comfortable is it, stellar chair has padding.
7. When adjusting height, is there assurance the seat itself will not accidentally slip

I think the chair is stunning. 2ndly it's hard to go past anything made of australian timbers. For me however form,function and cost are ultimately the decider.

I'm not sure of price. Maybe put a poll up with some pricing range options for people to vote on. This way you may not get offended and secondly others may not feel embarrassed on what they suggest.


Good luck with it.

Norm

[PeterHA]

Forgot to mention, I am not making/ selling this chair, a friend made it for his Bar and to be hight adjustable for other purposes. I just identifid it as a potential observing chair!
If there would be interest he would start thinking about making more I guess.

[AG Hybrid]

The biggest problem with these $150+ astro chairs are the $50 adjustable height stools you can buy from office works.
Also, the $25 adjustable height ironing seats you can buy from time to time from Aldi.
And!!!
The ~$35 adjustable height workshop stools from Bunning's too.

[CJ]

Nice bar stool! Striking design and beautiful timber but, IMHO, for an observing chair, it looks heavy, uncomfortable and wobbly. Feet would help the wobbles but spoil the look.

[Steffen]

I agree, the little adjustable stools are great – if you have a Dob. Around an EQ mounted scope they simply lack adjustability.

I bought an Aldi ironing chair back when it was discussed here, and filed it under joke. It's unsuitable for use in the dark IMO, adjustment is fiddly and time consuming. It's also uncomfortable.

Cheers
Steffen.

[jamespierce]

I reckon these are the competition....

http://www.catseyecollimation.com/cperch1.html

You can have a look at ours on Saturday night.

The basic adjustable chairs are fine if you don't need lots of height (bigger DOBs) or very low to the ground (longer refractors) ... For us the Cats Perch suits both needs very well. They break down pretty well for travel. Be nice if they were lighter, but then nothing much about our total astro setup is very light.

[kenwishaw]

Anyone able to update this thread?
I have a 14 inch DOB (and a bad back) and need a height adjustable chair that is not too heavy or bulky as it all has to fit in my Subaru Impreza. So something in tubular metal would be preferable. Anyone have ideas?

[AEAJR]

I can't speak to the original poster.

Here are two examples of simple and expensive to make observing chairs.

OBSERVATION CHAIR

Observation Chair- Denver Chair
http://valleystargazers.com/Chair.pdf
Observing Chair – Lybar Chair
http://stark-labs.com/craig/lybar/lybar.html

I built the Denver Chair. Took me about 2 hours. Works great. You can likely build it out of scrap lumber you have laying around. Mine is not painted or made pretty in any way.

[AG Hybrid]

I have this chair. Bought from these guys actually.
http://www.swamp.net.au/guitar-stool.html

Solid as a rock with a back rest and foot rest. Also the seat is very thick padded. Thanks to its sturdiness it is a bit on the heavy side at 10 kilo's fully assemble. But, it dismantles and folds fairly flat. You can also save weight by leaving the back rest at home.

[kenwishaw]

Thanks all!
That gives me plenty to go on with.
The swamp stool looks great but won't be high enough for a 14 DOB :(
But plans for the Denver look the go.

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: I might get me one of these , looks good .
Thanks for the link AG .

Brian.

[kenwishaw]

Following up on the Denver chair i went back to the cats eye pro mentioned earlier in the thread in 2013. I have ordered the plans and have a builder mate very keen to construct it. will keep you posted through this


thread.http://www.backyard-astro.com/equipment/accessories/Cat/cat.html

Ken

[AG Hybrid]

For a 14"er. I think you'll find it will be high enough.. except maybe at zenith. Can do a simple calculation of measuring your height from the base of your hip when seated to where your eye height it is. Add it to the max setting of the chair and compare to eyepiece height on your scope. Ive never had to use it at its top 2 highest settings for my 12". Unless your 14" is F5 or more then maybe your right.

[Sarge]

I bought a "Folding ironing chair" from Aldi for around $30, metalframed with a padded and adjustable height seat. Works well with my 12" dob. It was one of their one-off specials, but keep a look-out they might come back.

Clear skies
Rod
:D:D