Or would the tolerances needed in the hinged mirror make the whole thing unusable?
I was looking at modern "smart telescopes" recently and noticed some are sideways and wondered if that would be possible for a normal hobby Newtonian telescope.
Possible upsides:
no tripod needed for use
mirror is light so smaller motors can be used for movement
Possible downsides:
maybe mirror flatness?
EDIT/UPDATE:
so i tryed it with a 75mm first surface mirror, it kinda worked, at least better than a normal mirror, but i wasnt able to get it as sharply focused as i like.
I suspect the mirrior i use has micro ripples because its just 2mm thick and doesent look like its seen a polishen process....guess thats how far a budget of 25bucks gets ya