I took out the garbage the other day, maybe 30 minutes before sunset, and the moon was out.
The sky was clear and the temperature pleasant. So, I grabbed one of my kids – the other was out at an activity – and brought out my telescope for the first time in a while.
Astronomy is one of my “I’ll have time for that someday” passions. I have a driveway and a telescope, but it seems there’s never a good time. The last time I set up a telescope at night was a few years ago during the summer. The bug bites put me off observing for a while.
We also have a lot of tree coverage. And light polution.
But the weather was nice the sky was clear, and there was the moon.
The craters looked great, with more texture than you can see in the photo. My kid seemed impressed. This might have been the second time I aimed my telescope at the moon. It was nice.
It was getting late. After my kid went inside and I grabbed my camera and an adapter. Took a bunch of photos. I went inside, did some quick cropping and adjustments to one of the photos, and voila. I also tried stacking a bunch of the images, but that didn’t come out as well.
Here’s a drawer with some go-to tools in a tool box I was testing a bunch of years ago. How many of you can recognize ALL of the brands?
This was an Ultimaker 3D printer that was at a Maker Faire I attended in 2013. Wow have things changed in the 13 years since then.
Here’s a Printrbot from the same event. I bought a more polished version they later came out with. It didn’t work out well, so I returned it.
At the time, 3D printers were still very much high-maintenance activities. That’s no longer the case – you can 3D print today without needing to be an enthusiast or expert.
Here’s a knurled nut.
And another angle of the same.
I think these are 1/4″-20, which at present are $14 and change for a 10-pack via McMaster Carr.
They come in handy for jigs and such. While fairly low torque, they’re easy to turn by hand.
Remember when ToughBuilt had folding bolt cutters?
Or when Home Depot was selling the Leatherman Wingman for $25?
I wish I bought another of the Craftsman Pro bench vises when it was available – I could definitely use it now. But, that one was difficult enough to budget for at the time and took a while to buy.
Here’s a jig setup from a Dewalt training center. Same concept.
Triangle Tool’s ratchet had a narrow head, fine swing angle, and was superbly finished. I sent it to a reader and hope it’s still serving them well.
These Grip-on ergonomic locking pliers were a huge pain to track down, and ultimately they’ve proven to be less useful than I expected.
