I'm overwhelmed by so many advices! One doesn't know from where to start
This evening I implemented version 0.0.0.0.1 of my star gazing armchair and I'm very proud of the result. After considering many ideas, I think I was able to do it applying the KISS principle.
While looking on eBay for a both directions cheap winch, I came across with a tool called Spring Balancer. It is used where workers have to use heavy tools and it remove the weight out of them by a smart use of springs.
What you need to do, is set one of them above you and hang the binoculars to it. It works kinda of smart elastic, at least those I bought from "TotalTools" (a sort of slightly more specialized Bunnings for hardware tools). Spring Balancers benefit over elastics, is that you can modify the spring tension, while with elastics you can't, unless you replace them with another set. I spent $78, as I'm a bit impulsive I guess, but on ebay I saw similar ones for around $20. I bought 2 of them because they have had only the 1.5 to 3 KGs model and at the end of the day with 2, if one of them fails, you have some redundancy safety measure in place.
Now I can comfortably sit and pointing the binos in many directions, with minimum need to move the head, because now it is the binocular moving toward the direction I pick, instead that the other way around. There is some shaking, but way less than that I have experienced with my tripod (which although being a Manfrotto and nominally supporting 5 KGs, it clearly is not adequate for astronomic use with a 4.7 Kg binos).
Next steps are, to make it portable by creating some sort of aluminum structure to provide the hanging point above my camping armchair (well the armchair will not be set exactly below this hanging point. Just a bit forward so to allow me be able pointing the binos also to the zenith).
After that, I'm going to replace the spring balancer with an electric winch (depending on your ebay buyer skills you can get one for even less than $40 featuring also remote controls. If you wandering why I didn't go straight for it, please don't ask... ).
I will post pictures of my progresses asap, in case you may be interested in this solution.
Cheers
Giorgio
PS
Quote:
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Regarding the Horse Head Nebula in Orion- if you find it in your binos I will give you $100, a kiss on the cheek and send you a cake everyweek for the rest of my life.
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Does it count if I will stick a picture of the Horse Head Nebula to a tree say 30mt far and I will observe it with my binos?
