Just bought the wood and screws yesterday to make this particularly easy to build observing chair:

http://www.stark-labs.com/craig/lybar/lybar.html

Wish I had thought of it!

_________________
Clear skies, Stacy

StellerVue 80mm Nighthawk
Orion Starblast 6" Newtonian
Old Jason 3" reflector
Orion 8x50 binoculars (which need some re-alignment)
Two wonderful and beautiful hazel green eyes

That's a great idea, Stacy. Let us know how it works out.

I have a padded metal folding stool I bought at Target for less than $20.

It is perfect for viewing with my 10" dob. It so happens that no matter what the height of the eyepiece, the 18" tall stool puts the EP easily within my comfort zone. Of course, perhaps not so much if I had a larger dob or a refractor.

Good luck on your project.

_________________
>^..^< Mike >^..^<





“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight; nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety; is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better persons than himself.” ~ John Stuart Mill


Just Say No to Victicrats.

I've been using a LYBAR chair for 5 years now. It's the best $5 I've spent in a long time When you buy a 2X4 at Home Depot, they give you two free cuts, and charge you $.50 for the third. The guy there gave me the third cut for free, and all I had to do was put in the screws.

_________________
Ah, but I was so much older then.
I'm younger than that now
Bob Dylan


49.6 mpg avg over 38,000 miles. 177% of '08 EPA
Best flat drive 94.5 mpg for 9.8 mi
Best tank 1033 km (642 mi) on 10.56 gal = 60.8 mpg

I got 1"x8" oak for comfort and stability, so it was a little more...but I got all my cuts for free

Thinking of making a seat pad for it as well...one that is easily removable - maybe with velcro tabs...in a fabulous fabric of course.

_________________
Clear skies, Stacy

StellerVue 80mm Nighthawk
Orion Starblast 6" Newtonian
Old Jason 3" reflector
Orion 8x50 binoculars (which need some re-alignment)
Two wonderful and beautiful hazel green eyes

Brilliant simplicity! Thanks for this post, Stacy. Like Mike, I went the Target route. Bought a folding two step system that gives two seat heights for sitting, and two step heights for standing. I like this LYBAR seat even better, if for no other reason than simplicity and economy. Also beauty, but only in a "form follows function" sort of way.

_________________
Jason® (Admin...and spoke-folk)




Veritable Imagery
Single ride personal records: Distance-76.7miles, Max Speed-50.4mph, Max sustained speed (20miles) 19.5mph
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ― Albert Einstein

I'm not sure where my mind is. My Lybar is from the plans, and the wood is definitely not 2" thick, nor just 4" wide.

_________________
Ah, but I was so much older then.
I'm younger than that now
Bob Dylan


49.6 mpg avg over 38,000 miles. 177% of '08 EPA
Best flat drive 94.5 mpg for 9.8 mi
Best tank 1033 km (642 mi) on 10.56 gal = 60.8 mpg

That is a great solution, Stacy!

_________________
-Erik Wilcox
Homebuilt 16" Truss Dob
8" Antares f/5 Newt
SV 80mm ED Nighthawk NG on M1 ALT/AZ
Nikon Prostaff 65mm spotter on Trekpod
Konusvue 20x80 binos/Peterson PipeMount


"Newt Gingrich is what stupid people think smart people sound like."
-The Great Paul Krugman

Evolution is both fact and theory. Creationism is neither. -Anonymous

ATT built one as well for the Astro Tip column. It's one of Craig's best inventions yet, and he's had a bunch of 'em.

We built ours out of 3/4 ply instead of dimensional lumber and added a deck panel on one of the "sides" for a 4th seat/stool height, ending up with heights of 12 (the deck), 18, 22 and 28 inches. When used as a 12" deck, it's very stable and works well as raised platform for young viewers at outreach events.

It took longer to rip the plywood, but we still managed to finish it in a little under 2 hours, not counting painting the thing.

If we do another, we'll try 1/2" ply and will cut more handholds in it to lessen weight. The 3/4" version weighs 20 pounds - not terrible, but I'd like to get it down to 10-15.

I've ended up using the thing a lot more than I would have guessed when we decided to build it for the column. It provides a perfect seat height range for my 4" Eq mounted refractor and also gets a lot of use as a step stool and even a saw horse from time to time.

The 1"x8" Oak should make a beatiful chair and I really like the idea of a cushion. I think I'll look for some closed-cell foam. I see no reason why that couldn't be cut to fit and then glued on the 3 primary seats.

The folding stools sound like a great solution as well - I'll have to go shopping soon.

Gary,

A velcro'd pad is the way to go...rip and sit basically for any of the positions from what I am seeing....and if one side is "dewey" from being in contact with the ground, when then, the seat pad takes are of that

_________________
Clear skies, Stacy

StellerVue 80mm Nighthawk
Orion Starblast 6" Newtonian
Old Jason 3" reflector
Orion 8x50 binoculars (which need some re-alignment)
Two wonderful and beautiful hazel green eyes

Your right of course. Velcro is a much better answer. Great! It'll give me something to do this weekend since it's supposed to rain here for the next week or so. I've been wanting to build a lighter version of our LYBAR chair and may do that this weekend as well.

Still in construction mode (Believe it or not!)...the past couple of weekends have been hectic and I also have to correct two cuts that the HomeDepot person made for me...waiting for sweetie to bring me a saw and drill from the project site to finish it off.

_________________
Clear skies, Stacy

StellerVue 80mm Nighthawk
Orion Starblast 6" Newtonian
Old Jason 3" reflector
Orion 8x50 binoculars (which need some re-alignment)
Two wonderful and beautiful hazel green eyes