Solar Eclipse 2024 Expedition

Honestly, I can't say what the heck happened, but I never posted on my 2024 Solar Eclipse Expedition. But it happened, and here is that day.

I started out following state and U.S. highways past Indianapolis to a small town called Hartford City. Why Hartford City, IN? Well, as it happens, there is a cloud cover website you can visit that will tell you on a map what the percentage of cloud cover is for a given time of day and location. Hartford City showed up as an ideal spot, being both inside the inner band for the longest eclipse and as it had the lowest percentage of cloud cover in Indiana. I pulled into a public park in the middle of town.

 I set up next to a family who had just bought their telescope the day before at Costco. No bad vibes on Mom & Dad... They were out there serious about learning how to use the telescope to get a good view for the kids, and they did so, spectacularly. They were a really wonderful family, and I enjoyed meeting and talking with them. They were accompanied by friends, all from Valparaiso University.

As for me, I set up my gear over an hour or so, as I made good time hitting Hartford City in the morning. I got my focus where I thought it needed to be and started imaging. Slow through the partial, but at a great flurry during totality. I ended up with some nice images of totality. My goal of getting the diamond ring was accomplished as well. Here are some of the images from the day.

These were shot on a Canon T1i with a Tamron 70-300mm zoom. I used an ultraviolet filter matched with a 16.6n neutral density filter. All have been post-processed for brightness/contrast, and using the gimp plugin for the astrophotography noise filter.

Sol prior to the eclipse. ISO400, 1/2048th sec., f16.

As the eclipse begins, the air cools down and things seem a little off. ISO400, 1/2048th sec., f11.

Retreating from totality. ISO400 1/3200th sec., f14.

And totality! Prominences were nice, albeit a bit smaller. ISO400, 1/512th sec., f14.

This was the coveted prize of the trip: the diamond ring image. ISO400, 1/320th sec., f14.

 

This is a composite image consisting of just the sun from one image, and the jet and sky from the second. It's a false image, but gives an interesting view. The jet is on display at American Legion Post 313 in Fairmount, IN. ISO400, 1/2580th sec, f11 (jet/sky).

Make a Strong, Secure Tripod Out of Any Good Tripod

Why Would Anyone Want to Do This?

Prior to the 2024 eclipse, I sold my telescope, opting for a standard DSLR with a telephoto lens. I lost a bit in clarity, as my lens maxes out at 300mm (the telescope had an effective focal length of 1350mm). There is one significant advantage, that I have now begun exploring. I've picked up a star tracker mount kit from the Czech Republic, allowing for deep-space imaging. Assembly is complete, but I then noticed a real problem. When I placed it on my telescope, it was horribly wobbly.

This image is a composite of two images, one where I'm pushing against the lens (to the right) and one where I'm pulling it (to the left).

Notwithstanding some error due to not being able to hold the camera steady, it gives some indication of the wobbliness. I lined the images up along the first joint atop the tripod legs. Note in particular how the amount of offset increases as you get farther away from the pivot point. While this pan/tilt assembly may be good for camera use, it's inability to support the weight of the tracker makes it a problem in this application. What I needed was something much simpler with fewer connection points. Step one is thus to remove the pan/tilt assembly from the vertical shaft. I just applied a little force while continuing to crank, and it came out with no damage at all.

The pan/tilt assembly is separated from the tripod.

 

Thinking Through the Solution

My first thought was that I would use a threaded rod with a couple of bolts, but that I'd need to get one of the bolts welded to a plate that I don't have. No worry, I thought, I'm off work this week. I'll call a fabricator and have it done in minutes. So off to the city I go to pick up the parts. I picked up a 24" length of 3/8" threaded rod, a pack of bolts, a large washer... and that's when I saw it: a piece of 1/4" thick plate steel, 4"x12".

1/4" is thick enough that I could thread the plate itself, and screw the rod through it. Then, I could use the second bolt to tighten down against the plate, and no welding needed! Well, I just bought that thing right up and brought it home is what I did! I was amazed at how easily my reciprocating saw went right through the steel as I cut off a 4" square piece. I was worried that it was going to be a strenuous effort, but not at all. Drilling and tapping of the center hole were not any more difficult, though it was a bit of a chore keeping the drill bit and the tapping bit straight as I tapped the hole.

The Result

The 24" rod was more than I needed, so I cut approximately 4 inches off. As I expected, the second bolt under the plate provided enough security to lock the plate to the rod (which comes in real handy when trying to attach something to the threaded rod) without damaging the aluminum shaft.

I left just over 3/8" of the rod sticking through the top of the plate for mounting accessories to the tripod. I secured the bottom with a washer and another 3/8" bolt. It's tightened down to maybe only 3 or 4 pounds. It only needs to be tight enough to prevent slip during imaging. Tightening too much would damage the tripod's center shaft.

Here is the new configuration in action:

The image on the top shows the tripod being used for strictly the camera. In this case, the ball-head mount can attach to the same threaded rod. This means that with the pan and tilt capability of the ball head, we no longer need the original pan/tilt assembly that came with the tripod (less stuff to carry, and less stuff to fail). When using the star tracker, it spins smoothly down the threading and seems to hit the entire plate at the same time, confirming at least that I was close to being perpendicular with the drilling/tapping. Once secured to the surface of the steel plate, there is enough room for bubble levels on the edge of the plate to verify level.

The total cost was around $21.00 for materials, and about 30.00 for tools that I didn’t have:

Materials

Threaded rod	3.00
4”x12” piece of ¼” plate steel	16.00
3/8” bolts	2.00
Washer	0.50
	21.50

Tools

3/8” tap bit	9.00
5/16” drill bit	4.00
Handheld tap driver	15.00
	28.00

Labor:    About two hours

Yet to do:

• I'm considering putting bolts, or possibly pins in to hold the bubble levels in place (and of course, I need to get the bubble levels).
• I'd like to give the plate a good sanding, then hit it with a few coats of primer followed by a few coats of black. Bake that for about 15 minutes, and it will make a nice and durable finish. (But not in the oven you make food in. This process will ruin an oven, so better to use an old toaster oven that you can throw out.)
• I've given some thought to welding a small set of 'wings' on the bottom nut to allow for in-the-field tightening. If it came loose, this would be a faster and lighter way to re-tighten the nut.

Eclipse 2024: First Field Test

For this eclipse, I'm switching from using the camera/telescope combination to using strictly a camera and zoom lens. My hope is to get a view that includes more corona and sky. (In fact, I'm even hoping to capture the visible stars in the sky during totality.)

So, I've put together a new kit:

• Canon Rebel T1i
• Tamron AF 75-300mm Zoom (1:4-5.6)
• Tiffen 62mm Ultraviolet filter
• K&F Concept 62mm Solar Filter ND100000,16.6-Stop Solid Neutral Density Filter
• Dolica ST-510 tripod
• Cuely electronic shutter release

It's really a very simple setup. My original intent was to sacrifice a Mylar solar filter I made for my old Bushnell telescope for the camera. This would entail buying an ultraviolet filter, removing the glass, and replacing with the Mylar as I did for my 55mm lens. As I was perusing ads for a suitable (cheap) filter, I ran across a sample image that showed a side-by-side comparison of an image with and without the ultraviolet filter. I was astonished! There was the vivid color that my photography has been lacking for years. Could it be that simple? Well, of course, I had to find out. The filter arrived in the mail two days ago. I took it out this afternoon, and shot a few test shots with and without the filter. Below is the side-by-side. It is not quite as dramatic as the sample shot on the website (they were, after all, advertising the filter...) but there is definitely a noticeable difference:

Image with and without a UV filter. The UV filter is used on the left.

My Keyboard Project - Part 2

PART 1 ~ PART 2

The PCB/bezel kit came in, and good news. The stabilizers are already installed, and lubricated. The keys were pre-lubricated, also, so that speeds things greatly (and I've heard lubricating switches can be a tedious task).

 

The disassembled keyboard includes the bottom half of the housing with battery, the printed circuit board (PCB) with stabilizers, foam padding, and finally the metal plate at the bottom There is also a bezel not shown above.

INSTALLATION

Before fully assembling the keyboard, one thing I wasn't sure about was the inside of the case. I took a look, and it was a rather open chamber underneath the PCB. I took some leftover foam from a flooring job we did and cut it into three layers of strips that could fill the empty space. With that, it was time to assemble. First the keys, then (after a wait due to an ordering problem), the keycaps. I also applied my own logo. When installing the key switches, I opted not to use the plastic spacers running around and rather see how they fit first. The Gateron switches snapped in perfectly. No need at all of spacers.

The foam padding provides additional sound deadening. It's cut into strips as there are ribs running horizontally across the bottom of the keyboard housing.

 

Iblancod C87 with Gateron red switches.

 

The keycaps fit rather snugly, and were easy to install. They too, feel a little cheap, but they were the lowest-priced caps I could find on AliExpress, so yeah - cheap. I'll upgrade to something nicer later.

The mostly completed keyboard with the keycaps installed.

 

The keyboard has been in use now for a few months, and I love it. I did notice one additional annoyance. Every now and then, I would feel like maybe I hit the CapsLock key, but no status changes on the keyboard. The next time I look up, I would see that I did hit caps lock. Looking back over the board, I saw the obvious design flaw. The LED for the CapsLock switch is located "on" the PCB. The top surface of the bezel sits approximately 1/2" above the LED. The space in between is filled with a black hallow tube leading down to the LED. As the inside of this tube is black, it reflects only a tiny fraction of the light being produced. If you want to see the light, you need to have your eyes hovering directly over the LED, which is clearly not practical. So, I took a hot-glue gun and made some elongated teardrop shaped drips of glue. I then fitted them into the center of the tube and marked where they stopped. I then cut off the top (wider part) of the teardrop, and fitted them back into the tube until they were flush with the surface of the bezel. When dry, the glue allows enough light through to be able to easily see if the LED is on, but also spreads out the light into more directions, so it can be seen from any angle.

The semi-transparent glue helps to spread out the light in all directions, making it easier to see.

That brings us to the next problem I noticed. For whatever reason, this poor typing of late has also manifested with the symptom of hitting two keys when I intended only one of the two and double-tapping keys much more frequently. If you think step-by-step at what happens when we copy and paste text using just the keyboard, double-tapping a key can be really problematic. Well, as it happened, I had done a lot more reading about different switch types, and when I purchased a set of Red Dragon red switches, they also threw a set of five or so other switch samples. I decided that what I needed was a switch that was tactile like the blues, but quiet like the reds. From that set of extra switches, I found that both the brown, and the purple fit the description. The purple seemed like it required just a tiny bit more force than the brown, so I decided on those (later research confirmed that this was the main difference between the two).

They came in the mail on a Saturday, and I had them in the board before dinner. One significant issue with the purple switches, however. The pin on the right (when looking at the switch from the top, as if inserted into the PCB) is significantly thinner than the one on the left. While swapping out switches, I ended up bending 4 pins and having to replace the switches. (This is, by the way, why I buy a pack of 100 switches for an 87-key layout). Looking back, the sample switch that came with the Red Dragon reds was an Outemu purple, not a Red Dragon purple. A bit of looking around reveals that the thin pin is specific to Outemu switches and housings. (Red Dragon branded switches are manufactured by Outemu.) I found it odd that I didn't run across this in pairing the switches to the hot-swap mounts, but something to keep in mind for the future. I am also considering looking for a slightly stronger set of springs. That could also help with double-tapping, though possibly at the expense of keyboard fatigue.

The new purple switches have a tactile feel without the loud click.

 

I have definitely noticed a small improvement in my typing, and significantly less double-tapping of keys. I keep the back light set at low with a color like a faint violet (the closest to white I can get), and the transition from a light background to dark is perfectly seamless - the keyboard always seems to have the right amount of light for my liking. The tactile feel is really unpredictable with the Outemu (Red Dragon) purples. If you press on the key while pulling slightly toward yourself, the feel is different that when you press while pushing the key away from you.

So, the question is, will I build the next one? Probably not. The discount you get on ordering in smaller quantities is lost when you add in shipping. Since most boards in the $50-75 range are pretty nice, it's hard to justify building one with the essentially same feature set. What you do get, however, is the ability to build something with your requirements in mind. Having gone through that once, I don't think building is really the best route for me going forward. From this experience, I know what works for me, and what doesn't. If I need another in the future, I'll pick up something that already has what I want (and maybe macro support, too), and pay less for it.

My Keyboard Project

PART 1 ~ PART 2

OK, so I decided it was time to jump down into the rabbit hole, and build my own keyboard. l chose AliExpress to get all of the parts. All told, with shipping, the total cost was about $100. The first set of shipments have arrived. These included the switches (Gateron reds), a switch puller and opener, the USB-C cable, lubrication, stabilizers and o-rings. I already had the keycap puller and brush.

Start of the kit. I still need the keyboard housing and key caps.

The tweezers and smaller silver key puller came with the keys. I opted for the 100 count cup of keys to ensure I had some extras in case any were bad. Here's a closeup of the key switch:

Gateron red switch

The white base has a clear area that will allow light from the board-mounted LEDs to shine through the clear plastic top. This makes the switches cheaper (since they don't need the added LEDs), and helps to ensure whatever software on the keyboard's processor is well integrated with the lights (as they come as a set). It's also surprisingly quiet. I do still need to test and lubricate each switch.

Day Hike: Potato Creek State Park, Redeux

My last hike of significance was back in November at Potato Creek State Park. I wanted to go back and see the park in the summer, and yesterday I did just that.

This time, I added some additional distance, by taking trail 1.

A view across the lake

The Shrader Springhouse

 

 

One of a number of boardwalks protecting the wetlands

Trails are well-marked and feature an incredible amount of foliage this time of year.

Day Hike: Potato Creek State Park

Potato Creek State Park is located just southwest of South Bend, IN. It has facilities for camping, hiking, fishing, and horseback riding.

Despite the cold and rainy weather, I took the day to hit trails 4 and 2. Shortly after starting out, I disturbed a blue heron on the lake. The remainder of the train was uneventful. Some parts of the trail are paved or stone-covered. In spite of the wet weather, there was very little mud - only one spot about 6 feet long. There are also numerous lookouts built where one can observe wildlife (season permitting). Now that the leaves have dropped, much of the horizon and sky were various shades of gray. On the floor, however, there were numerous small ground cover plants which revealed a beautify green carpet for most of the hike.

Overall, It was a really nice walk, and I expect I will visit again in the warm weather to see the park in the warmer months.

 

Distance: 7.33km

Elevation Gain: 128m

Temperature: ~41 deg. F

Time: ~2 hours