#10 Construction Prep
Telescope Project
I’ve fallen a bit behind on the blog posts, but am catching up! This will cover from the previous post until the start of this week on 11/20. In that time, I gave the penultimate sprint presentation, made some tweaks to the design based on it, and have started getting ready to construct a v2 telescope out of wood.
I have made a few updates to the design. Finding the right design for the handle wound up being a real challenge. I came up with several ideas I wasn’t happy with, went over them with the class in the presentation, and with their help realized that the handle doesn’t need to be ancient or match the rest of the telescope. It works just as well as a modern (or other) addition, and overall the feedback I’ve gotten inspires me to embrace a wider variety of ages in different components to this device. Another idea from the group in that vein is to include a chaotic rat’s nest of cables connecting the device to the brain and maybe other odd things. Partly to conceal the functional cables, but also to create an appearance of generations of people modifying and building on the device.
I ran into a couple minor issues getting my 3D printer set up after a couple months of inactivity, and opted to skip the agita of printing a second mockup, and just build the next version out of wood. It’ll be great. Based on that plan, I’ve laid out all the pieces w/ measurements to cut out of a single sheet of nicely-finished half-inch plywood that I’ve also gone and picked up from a local hardware store, and set aside some time to pop into the scene shop at work to put this all together.
I’ve also encountered an interesting inspiration for a what this device might plug into. At the Museum of Natural History in New York, I encountered an interactive video exhibit about climate change, and thought that the style, content and interactive elements all worked together perfectly. The technology isn’t particularly complex – in fact I could recreate it myself fairly easily with the right equipment – but as a total experience it really works. It’s something I’d love to try my hand at remaking overall, and some aspects of this could be a great way to see through the telescope.
Other
Outside of the telescope project, a lot’s been going on. At work, the lighting team of one is now a lighting team of two, and we’re more productive than ever before. Good Person of Setzuan has closed and we’re in the process of changing the space over for a student-run fashion show. We ran one last year and it was one of the most popular events at the performing arts center. We’re in an even better place this year, since our damaged lighting has been returned and we’re almost up to our full inventory. I’ve also started working on the next major Theatre Dept. show, Oklahoma! – and at the moment am weighing the opportunity to projection map a very fun set with the time it will take on top of everything else going on.
We’re also prepping for some pretty major facility modifications to accommodate a touring dance company in January. Our 100A 3-phase company switch may not provide enough power for the scale of the rental equipment package they’ll require, and we’re looking at options to upgrade or augment it with an additional 100A of 208V 3-phase. We’re also planning to rewire an architectural house light system into multiple zones, which won’t be a minor job either.
And to top off the chaos, I’ve been helping my girlfriend buy an EV! It hasn’t been a stress free situation by even the most stretched imagination, but we’ve got it now, it’s a wonderful experience, we’re currently testing it out on a road trip to Maine. I love my own car, but this is definitely a more comfortable experience.