Yesterday I added another project to my Thingiverse projects: The Advanced Astrolabe. This project shares the same design plan as the Basic astrolabe I posted earlier, but I added more advanced features to this one. Those of you who want something more substantial than paper to work with should check this out.
In researching the astrolabe and related tools, geometric construction comes up regularly. I find the process of using a straight edge and compass to create accurate designs to be fascinating in and of itself. One of my ongoing projects is drafting an astrolabe using just those tools.
The other day I ran across a fascinating and addictive puzzle game that teaches geometric construction over the course of many intricate problems.
Euclidea can be played using a browser, or via mobile apps downloadable from Google Play or the App Store.
The game starts with a series of simple tutorials to teach the interface, then proceeds to present the user with more and more challenging tasks.
Fun, and useful to anyone interested in astrolabes or geometric construction.
Astrolabes were on display at Maker Faire Nova. The Maker Faire at George Mason University was this past Sunday. A good time was had by all. I had a prime site for my display and had a constant stream of visitors. On display were all my various paper versions of astrolabes and quadrants, along with a selection of the new work in wood and acrylic. I had the chance to demo the functions of the astrolabe and discuss history and its uses in period.
The booth setup worked well, giving me plenty of room to move about, and lots of room for visitors to look. actual live demos did not come off as much as I would have liked, I had prepared walk-through sheets for each of the instrument types, but the only one that got any use was the one for doing math on the sine quadrant.
Another problem was the age of a lot of the participants. Many of the visitors were too young to have enough of a background in astronomy or math to really understand what I was explaining. There were surprises though, one young lady had done a report on astrolabes the previous month and was quite knowledgeable.
Finally, I set up a slide show with photos of extant pieces, and video of the laser cutter and 3D printers working. But I think having the simulators available would have been more of a help.
See also:
http://www.astrolabeproject.com/17/05/2019/nova-labs/
http://www.astrolabeproject.com/24/05/2019/thingiverse/
There are at least two articles about making and using astrolabes in the print media this month. The first, in the June issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine is a quick how-to piece on constructing an instrument using my Astrolabe Generator. The second article is in May/June issue of AramocoWorld and is more in-depth on use. it is very good to see my work bring used, and reaching a wider audience.
Next Sunday I will be displaying my work at the 6th Annual Maker Faire Nova (https://nova.makerfaire.com/) at George Mason University. I will have a wide selection of astrolabes, quadrants and such, along with all my current handouts and will be doing demonstrations. Come find me in the MIX building.
With me getting to the point of making instruments out of more than paper, I’ve started to post the working files and instructions on the Thingiverse site.
The first two projects have been added: A version of the Sine Quadrant (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3649670) and the Lunar Volvelle (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3650060).
I hope to have the astrolabe files up there soon, but that is a much more complex project.
Back when I started this project, I looked into local workshops and maker spaces to see if any would enable me to do the sort of work I wanted to do. At that point I didn’t have the time or resources to make it happen, so I stuck to paper.
Starting last year, I found I was able to free up the time to devote to the best of the local maker spaces: Nova Labs, in Reston, Virginia (nova-labs.org). Nova Labs boasts a full wood shop, a well outfitted metal shop and two industrial laser cutters, along with a host of other tools. Pretty much everything I need to build anything I can imagine.
More than just a place to work on projects, it is a community of people in love with building things: Projects I’ve seen in work there range from the mundane, to the amusing, to the amazing. The sense of community is strong, and there is always someone to bounce ideas off, or ask questions of.
Initially my focus was on the laser cutters. They are the ideal tools for turning my postscript files into finished objects. Converting .eps files to the needed .dxf files is a bit more of an art than a science, but trial and error is a good and patient teacher, especially if you keep good notes.
The first project I tackled was the sine quadrant: Single piece with no moving parts, so straight-forward to cut. I worked in wood, craft plywood in particular, as it was readily available. The result was encouraging.
So, I’ve been busy.
There will be several posts over the next few days, catching things up.
Most importantly to me personally: I now have access to the tools and space to start working in something other than paper. I’ll be posting about the Nova-labs Maker-space at length later.
Next, related to that, I now have several wood and acrylic pieces to show off.
The Astrolabe Generator is still in development, with changes, enhancements and improvements being added weekly. I hope to roll these into a release soon.
Stand by for more.
One of my readers was kind enough to put together an Instructable on turning the output of my generator into a fully usable plastic instrument.
How to Build a Customized Astrolabe Using a Laser Cutter:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Customized-Astrolabe-Using-a-Laser-/
I received a nice email from a user in Argentina, and he has given permission to post some of his photos and notes on how he achieved the lovely result.
“I started generating the EPS files with your software for my southern latitude, and then added some more stars to the rete and a clever-but-mostly-useless device to the sun eccentric in the back, for the leap years.
I then had it laser-cut and engraved on a plastic material we call Metalex here in Argentina, which has a black PVC base with a shiny metallic layer on one of its faces, thin enough to be cut with the laser. In order to give it more weight I laser-cut the same shape on 3 millimeter wood – minus the engraving – and glued the metalex cut-out on it.
Since I wanted the rete and the front ruler to remain thin to avoid parallax (and for better looks), I left them as they were, just the metalex sheet without the wood. And to avoid wear to the thin metallic layer I backed all moving parts with a special paper I found, which has a soft velvety lining on one of its faces. For my next project I’ll probably have it laser-cut to the same shape too.”
