14 replies to this topic

[grif 678]

I have several small classic refractors, and are a delight to use, but for one thing. The legs just need to be longer, to keep from bending over at times.

Well, I made my own solution, which in no way will hurt the legs on the classic scope. And it can be real cheap. Find some cheap wood legs from some cheap scopes . All you really need is the single piece that slides up and down inside the outer two pieces. Remove them, and connect them to the inside piece on your classic wooden mount. To keep from scratching your classic scope, just get some felt pieces, and wrap a couple pieces around your classic leg about 6 inches apart. Then put your other cheap leg against that one, and let it stick out as far as needed to make the tripod leg longer. Then take two hose clamps and go around the places you have felt on, around both legs, and it will be just as sturdy as if it was one leg. The felt will keep from scratching your good tripod leg, and if the other piece gets scratched, what will it hurt. Then if you ever decide to sell your classic, just remove the clamp , take the felt off your tripod leg, and it is just original again.

It is so much easier to use your nice clasic refractor if it is high enough to be comfortable with no bending. And to adjust it, just loosen the clamp, and slide the pieces up or down, then tighten back.

Just my easy cheap way to use my classic refractor scope. Do not have to do this with my 90 ETX on my 114 unitron mount, the tube is so short that you do not need to bend over anyway.

[RichA]

I have several small classic refractors, and are a delight to use, but for one thing. The legs just need to be longer, to keep from bending over at times.

Well, I made my own solution, which in no way will hurt the legs on the classic scope. And it can be real cheap. Find some cheap wood legs from some cheap scopes . All you really need is the single piece that slides up and down inside the outer two pieces. Remove them, and connect them to the inside piece on your classic wooden mount. To keep from scratching your classic scope, just get some felt pieces, and wrap a couple pieces around your classic leg about 6 inches apart. Then put your other cheap leg against that one, and let it stick out as far as needed to make the tripod leg longer. Then take two hose clamps and go around the places you have felt on, around both legs, and it will be just as sturdy as if it was one leg. The felt will keep from scratching your good tripod leg, and if the other piece gets scratched, what will it hurt. Then if you ever decide to sell your classic, just remove the clamp , take the felt off your tripod leg, and it is just original again.

It is so much easier to use your nice clasic refractor if it is high enough to be comfortable with no bending. And to adjust it, just loosen the clamp, and slide the pieces up or down, then tighten back.

Just my easy cheap way to use my classic refractor scope. Do not have to do this with my 90 ETX on my 114 unitron mount, the tube is so short that you do not need to bend over anyway.

Tripods for telescopes are not made for the average man's height of about 5-11" now.  Stooping to view the Zenith is normal.  Which is why half-piers for GEMs are becoming a bit more common.  Even cheap Newtonians that are mounted low down fail to have mounts that prevent major stooping when looking at objects low to the horizon.  Small scopes like Maks, small refractors and SCTs are pretty easy on viewing because their eyepiece swings are much smaller arcs than Newtonians or long refractors.  You can buy rising piers (electric) but they cost a lot of money.  Most terrestrial tripods have rising piers or columns but they are generally not wide enough or strong enough to hold a scope steady.  An exception would be the Quickset Hercules tripods which new cost a fortune but used are in the $500 range.  Their rising columns are capable of holding a mount head and short 5 inch refractor or long 4 inch.

Edited by RichA, 14 January 2022 - 07:01 PM.

[Terra Nova]

I can raise my 60mm Mayflower to whatever height was needed:

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[Garyth64]

I "raised up" my refractors by putting them on some 5' homemade tripods.

 

Here's an example of a Sears 6339a on a CG-5 mount with one of them compared to the same on its original mount and tripod:

 

 

I also put them up high for some straight-view viewing without a diagonal.

[Compressorguy]

Does raising a classic SCT count, lol? Made a 10” pier extension out of some 4” PVC and allthread rod for my 1974 Celestron C8 orange tube. It is now an absolute joy to use!!! 

 

#NOMORESTOOPING!

 

 

 

Edited by Compressorguy, 14 January 2022 - 03:10 PM.

[Kasmos]

This seems to be a common problem.

 

I absolutely love my Mizar SP-68R but it's tripod is way too low.

It has three non sliding bolted heights and this is it fully extended.

I'd like to make some 30 to 50% longer center legs for it.

It would be reversible as the originals would be stored.

 

The two photographs below basically illustrate how low it is fully extended.

 

BTW, how are you suppose to use some of those super short Taks and Cartons you see?

I'm talking those with very short legs that don't appear to be for table tops

Edited by Kasmos, 14 January 2022 - 04:30 PM.

[barbie]

Rather than extending my tripod legs, I telescope them in for a shorter tripod and observe seated on a padded keyboard bench that is foldable. Observing is far more comfortable sitting, especially with my arthritic lower back and knees!! The tripod is also more stable for high power observing. For observing the moon & planets, this is far better and easier for me. My spouse observes with me and raises the tripod legs higher if need be while I hold onto the whole telescope assembly. This works well for my small refractors but the bigger the scope & mount, the more difficult this becomes.

Edited by barbie, 16 January 2022 - 10:14 PM.

[Senex Bibax]

With my dovetail-adapted RAO EQ mount on top of my SpectraPhysics surveyor's tripod, I can raise any of my scopes as high as i like. And that's after removing the elevator column for improved stability.

 

Edited by Senex Bibax, 18 January 2022 - 01:00 PM.

[Paul Sweeney]

I also prefer to sit while observing. An adjustable seat is my solution. Trying to stay in one area of the sky helps, too.

[grif 678]

When you have back problems like I do, sitting in a chair hurts more than standing up straight. And adding the extra length to the tripod legs lets you stand straight.

[RichA]

 

With my dovetail-adapted RAO EQ mount on top of my SpectraPhysics surveyor's tripod, I can raise any of my scopes as high as i like. And that's after removing the elevator column for improved stability.

 

HI, the tripod mount is made by Quickset.

[Terra Nova]

When you have back problems like I do, sitting in a chair hurts more than standing up straight. And adding the extra length to the tripod legs lets you stand straight.

The nice thing about a tripod with an elevator column is that the height can be adjusted for chair, stool, or standing, and also as height changes with elevation angle of what you are viewing.

[grif 678]

I had a Quickset Samson tripod years ago for my 100 mm binoculars. It was light weight, but had a tremendous payload capability, used for TV cameras. It was rated for 40 lbs, and handled the binoculars with ease. The column could be raised by the crank up to 7 feet, and raising the column up or down, the image still stayed in the FOV. These can occasionally be found on ebay for around $150 to $250, and that is just a fraction of their new cost.

I am thinking of getting another, and taking it to a machine shop, and have them fix a way to connect one of my altaz mounts to the base plate, without hurting the integrity of the mount, being able to remove it if needed.

Like the picture above, it would be a great mount system for small refractors. The larger Quickset Hercules mount would hold the C-8 with no difficulty, with a 70 lb payload capability.

[Terra Nova]

My brother uses a Queckset Gibralter extra-heavy duty tripod for his C9.25. It handles it unflinchingly… nary a giggle! It weighs about eighty pounds. Those were the tripods used to handle the old time tube-cameras in TV stations fifty years ago.

[mdowns]

 

I had the Quickset Hercules that carried my Oberwerk 25x40x/100mm border patrol glasses.The elevating column was an absolute boon for those binoculars and would likewise be a real value for any alt/az scope arrangement.Terra's brother using a 9.25 on one of those is not  surprising to me.