Cheap Astronomy – DIY Tools And Materials

When doing Cheap Astronomy, one needs to modify cheaply bought astronomical equipment – there is no way round. So one needs tools and materials to fix all the shortcomings. Inspired by this Tested.com's podcast and their very excellent list, I thought I put together my own list.

Most of the stuff is not specific to DIY Cheap Astronomy, but instead can be used for other DIY projects you might want to make.

Missing is an extensive material section – like plastic piping, aluminium profiles, wood, and so on. For such material, go to your local hardware stores and see what they have. Especially wood is easy to work with and I can recommend trying out doing some things in wood. I hope I will add a post about materials in the future.

Also missing is an electronics section (soldering iron, wires) – that would be another post for itself.

First of all: you do not need all of this.
You have what you have, so don't buy stuff (unless you absolutely have to) and instead try to do things with what you already have.

But if you see one or the other thing from this list for an affordable price, then by all means get them. In some things I would maybe invest a little bit more (e.g. a good ratchet wrench with sockets), other things I buy as cheap as I can get (e.g. a metal hammer or a set of metal files).

Then when you need a saw, you can get by with only one metal saw – you don't need a hand saw and a jigjaw and a circular saw and an angle grinder. The same goes for hammers – one metal hammer should get you going.

BTW: The versions for working with metal (e.g. metal drill bits or metal saws) are usually fine for working with plastic or wood.

Work area:
What I found helpful is having two working surfaces: One wood bench for "dirty" work (e.g. drilling, grinding) that can be in the basement, garage or somesuch – or even outside! A small bench can suffice for this. And the other work area is then one table for "clean" work, which can be your normal "office" desk or even a kitchen table.

If you have only one work area, then put your vacuum cleaner nearby whatever you do (e.g. grinding, drilling), tape down the hose if necessary and suck away all the dust and slivers before they settle on every nearby surface. But be careful not to use your vacuum cleaner for hot stuff (e.g. when grinding or drilling metal with high speeds)!

Staying organized:

• Get sorting boxes! And get as many as you can afford. Usually quite expensive, so look around and if you see cheap sorting boxes, then get them!
• Drawer units are highly recommendable. Look around for what size(s) suit your needs best.
• Find a place for every bit, where you can easily get things, and can easily put them away again. E.g. keep the drill stand in the shelf, the drill bits in the top drawer, the files and hammers in the drawer below, the ratchet wrench below that, and so on.

Occupational safety and health:

• Get safety goggles to protect your eyes while using powertools. Get some goggles with good ventilation, and maybe some from the "anti-fog" variety.
• Get earplugs or acoustic earmuffs to protect your hearing while using powertools.
• Get a small fire extinguisher for every room you work with powertools like drills or grinders.

Dark out for astronomy:

• Matte black paint
• Black flocking material

Getting things right:

• Tape measure
• Calipers
• Steal ruler

Tools for screwing around:

• A set of metric combination wrenches (or open-ended wrenches): With at least sizes 7mm, 10mm, 13mm and 17mm.
• A 1/4" ratchet wrench and metric sockets: You need the sizes from above, plus possibly other sizes.
• A set of slot/cross screwdrivers or bits (or both): Usually Phillips #1/#2, Pozidriv #1/#2, flat head #1/#2, maybe smaller/larger sizes as well.
• A set of allen wrenches or bits (or both) for metric hex keys: You possibly need all sizes from small to large (2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 3.5mm, 4mm, 5mm, 5.5mm, 6mm, 7mm, 8mm and 10mm)
• Maybe some hexalobular socket ("Torx") tools as well
• A good pop-riveter with rivets is nice. (Get one that can handle M3/M4/M5/M6 threaded rivets!)

Bolts and nuts:

• Metric M3, M4, M5, M6 and possibly M8: Bolts, nuts, flat washers, star washers, threaded rods and other such things.

It is difficult to say what you will need, and how many. At first, buy only what you need, and maybe a little bit more than you need. E.g. if you need four M4 nuts, then buy maybe six or eight – but if you can spend a little bit on top of that and get a set of say 20 M4 bolts and 20 M4 nuts, then get it! If you continue working like this then over time you will build up a collection of bolts and nuts. And by that time you usually get a feeling for what you need.

Tools for drilling, cutting, grinding and hammering:

• A drill
• A matching drill stand is helpful (to create a small drill press)
• A "small" machine vise
• A bench vise can be helpful
• Utility knives (e.g. "X-Acto")
• A set of metal files (I find that I need these four: normal sized hand file, normal sized half-round file, small&fine hand file, and small&fine half-round file)
• Metal hammer (small and large)
• Possibly a plastic mallet
• Some metal saws
• A jigsaw with blades for metal
• A angle grinder can be helpful (a small one with an thin disc will suffice). 
• If you combine the angle grinder with a stand for cutting, then this will create a simple chopsaw.
• A proper electric hacksaw/chopsaw (like the one pictured here and here and here) is helpful if you want to cut down the tubes of OTA (and want to make sure to cut at an right angle).

Bits and pieces:

• Metric metal drill bits: I once bought a set of (cheap) drills from 1.0mm to 6.0mm in 1/10 mm increments – this is pure heaven. But what you have is OK (you can even get far with drill bits in imperial sizes).
• Metric threading tools: A tap wrench with a set of metric taps (M3, M4, M5, M6 and M8 should suffice, but you will need some matching 2.5mm, 3.3mm, 4.2mm 5mm and 6.8mm metal drill bits as well!). And maybe a die wrench and M3 to M8 dies as well (usually comes in a tap&die set anyway).
• Imperial threading tools: A 1/4"-20 UNC tap and a 3/8"-16 UNC tap can be helpful (the two sizes used for photo-tripods, cameras and so on).

Chemicals:

• A little bit petrol or diesel fuel: E.g. for getting rid of grease (like in mounts).
• Maybe an dedicated degreaser.
• Paint thinner: Good for cleaning and preparing things you want to paint.
• Some grease: Preferably non-sticky and non-runny, like e.g. lithium grease. But Vaseline or any other brand of petroleum jelly will usually do fine as grease.
• Alcohol, specifically pure isopropyl alcohol: For cleaning optics
• Orange oil based solvent: E.g. for removing residues from sticky tapes or adhesive label.

Some of these things are bad for health and environment: Store the stuff safely. Keep the room ventilated where you use that stuff and avoid extended exposure. Use only what you need, don't waste it, and don't put it in the sewer or in the ground.

Sticky business (glue, tape):

• Electrical tape
• Duct tape
• Doublestick tape
• Foam doublestick tape
• A fast 2-component glue (e.g. 5 minutes / 20 minutes) is helpful.
• A slow but hard 2-component glue is helpful.
• Contact cement is helpful.
• Hot glue (with matching pistol) can be helpful
• Cyanoacrylate (e.g. "Super Glue") can be helpful. But keep this stuff as far away from optics as you can! It will deposit a ugly and hard residue on any nearby surfaces.
• Maybe get some thread-locking fluid as well.

Learn to use each glue properly, and learn what is the right glue for the right job – it really pays off.

This will have to suffice for now. I am sure I have forgotten some things, but I will add them later, I swear!