{"id":58,"date":"2004-11-24T03:06:33","date_gmt":"2004-11-24T03:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2004\/11\/24\/tools\/"},"modified":"2004-11-24T03:06:33","modified_gmt":"2004-11-24T03:06:33","slug":"tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2004\/11\/24\/tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, as with any hobby that involves ‘equipment’, there’s that temptation to get hung up on all the cool toys, right? And then take pictures of them all dolled up and arranged just so…Well, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t breath-and-sleeve-shine my scope with a twinkle in my eye, but shucks, if you want to see a picture of a 6″ reflector, you’ll just cruise by the Orion or Celestron or Meade website and then wishlist yourself into a coma from time to time won’t you. (not saying I’ve been there–or am I?)
\nSo anyway, I think the thing that interests me more than anything else is not just the splashy gadgets, but all the grunt tools too, and how they’re used or transported and organized and then subsequently abused and possibly brought to ruin…I don’t know. Which brings me to some of my sparklies and not-so-sparklies. A disclaimer: I wanted to shoot this stuff outside on the front walk where I do most of my observing, but it was really cold tonight. Really. So I’m asking you to pretend this stuff is outside. When I get some time, maybe I’ll clone in an outdoor background to top off the effect.
\nFirst things first, here is the center of operations, the Orion Skyview Pro 6LT, with the tub I pack the parts in, the eyepiece & fragile item tool case, and the too-small paperwork table.
\n
\nNow for transporting this stuff, the rubbermaid tub has been great. At the suggestion of Tom W. at Cloudy Nights, I invested in the tub with some 2″ thick sheets of foam that I cut to fit in the tub and divvy it up into 3 layers:
\nBottom Layer:
\n
\nMiddle Layer:
\n
\nTop Layer:
\n
\nAs for the case for eyepieces and miscellaneous scratchables, I used some of the extra foam and layed down a bottom layer, and then overlayed it with a second layer of foam that I’ve been progressively cutting shapes out of, as I need spots for more items. I picked the case up at Home Depot where I almost grabbed an aluminum style case but thought better of it, what with this age of terrorism fears, and we know how any respectable mass murderer will be sure to carry his vials of plutonium in a metal case (I am nothing, if not influenced by the media). So here’s how I ended up arranging things:
\n
\nNext in line are the sketching tools, which I’ve been carrying around in a coffee can so far, but I’ll splay them out for ease of identification.
\n
\nI’m considering getting a nice slim plastic case for all this stuff, because I’m starting to think the coffee can is a little pathetic.
\nAnd lastly, my cold-weather get-up:
\n
\nSo that’s the tool tale so far.
\n(also, that snow background up there is fake)
\nJeremy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tools<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools-and-techniques"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":161,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2005\/08\/20\/digitizing_tuto\/","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":0},"title":"Digitizing Tutorial – Page 1 of 7","author":"jperez1690","date":"August 20, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Digitizing Tutorial - Page 1 of 7","rel":"","context":"In "Tools and Techniques"","block_context":{"text":"Tools and Techniques","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/tools-and-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":120,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2005\/05\/02\/sketching_tutor\/","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":1},"title":"Sketching Tutorial – Page 1 of 3","author":"jperez1690","date":"May 2, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Sketching Tutorial - Page 1 of 3","rel":"","context":"In "Tools and Techniques"","block_context":{"text":"Tools and Techniques","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/tools-and-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":472,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2009\/03\/15\/drawn_to_the_un\/","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":2},"title":"Drawn to the UniverseAPR 2009 – Messier 51","author":"jperez1690","date":"March 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Drawn to the Universe 200904","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":371,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2007\/10\/25\/a_new_sketcher\/","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":3},"title":"A New Sketcher and a New Scope in the Family","author":"jperez1690","date":"October 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A New Sketcher and a New Scope in the Family","rel":"","context":"In "Observing Report"","block_context":{"text":"Observing Report","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/observing-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":539,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2010\/08\/12\/drawntotheunive_1\/","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":4},"title":"Drawn to the UniverseAUGUST 2010 – C\/2009 R1 (McNaught)","author":"jperez1690","date":"August 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Positive Sketch of C\/2009 R1 (McNaught)Click image to view larger version. Original Negative Sketch of C\/2009 R1 (McNaught)Click image to view larger version. Bright comet C\/2009 R1 (McNaught) is the subject of this month's column. We look at graphite techniques for sketching a comet, and optional digital colorizing of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":567,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2011\/04\/22\/astronomical_sk_2\/","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":5},"title":"Astronomical Sketching Worshop and Presentation at the 2011 NCRAL Convention","author":"jperez1690","date":"April 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Next Friday and Saturday - April 29 and 30 - I have the privilege of conducting a workshop and speaking on astronomical sketching at the 2011 NCRAL Annual Convention in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Details about the convention can be found here: 2011 NCRAL: The Amateur Strikes Back The Astronomical Sketching\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tools and Techniques"","block_context":{"text":"Tools and Techniques","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/tools-and-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}