I give up !! How does one take photos of a build when you're all covered in Epoxy ?

[kjhambrick]

All --

I really enjoy the build threads and I considered documenting the build of "La Pequeña Vulcanita", my new BT-55 Vulcanite scale model.

But evey time I take on a task that I want to document, I am a mess and I don't want to touch my Phone to take photos !

Or I've mixed up a batch of Epoxy and I can't stop to take photos ... or something else prevents a photo shoot ...

How do all'Y'all do that ?

I am in awe !

Thanks

-- kjh

 

[tsmith1315]

A tripod and pre planning to take shots is very helpful. If you can set up for a series of shots, all you have to touch is the shutter.

 

[Joekeyo]

I take pictures of the results rather than the act. That way I have a chance to wash my hands.

 

[ljwilley]

Yes that's what I do.

 

[mh9162013]

Like @tsmith1315 said, you need to plan ahead. If you go into your project thinking, "I'll document it with pictures while I go along" you're bound to miss taking a picture of a step you wanted or when you're ready to take a picture, you won't be in a position to take it (camera/phone isn't nearby, etc.)

 

[ONAWHIM]

gloves, clean your gloved hands with alcohol.
gloves, change them if needed.

I buy the 100 pair pack every so often

 

[Hobie1dog]

mini tripods that can sit on a desk/bench, or a cell phone holder placed so all you have to do is touch the screen, that's after you remove your disposable gloves you have on when you get anywhere near epoxy...

 

[AcadiaRockets]

I have a dedicated old phone for the Featherweight app. One day I discovered if I took a picture with it that it was on my google pics just like my regular phone. So use an old phone and cover it with sticky epoxy hands (not the lens) and don't worry.?

 

[kjhambrick]

@tsmith1315 --

Hmmm ... I have a small tripod in one of my old rocket boxes and a digital camera.

Maybe I need to graduate away from Cell Phone Pictures

You asked this morning about my latest build that I have not documented much

I was able to JB Weld the fins to the glassed BT-55 today as planned during lunch:



The AV-bay sled is an Apogee BT-55 E-Bay Sled with a few minor mods which will go in the long coupler in the forward end of the fin can with a Blue Raven, a Featherweight Mag Switch and an Additive Aerospace Simple Circuit.

I am waiting for a set of BT-55 tubes to arrive in the next day or so and I may glass the forward 8-inch main chute tube ( not sure yet ).

The nose cone is balsa which will get either a single layer of "tip-to-tail" glass or an epoxy paint-job, depending on what I do to the main chute tube.

So far, I am on track for 172 grams dry mass ( 80 gm so far ) so the rocket SHOULD be light enough for an Estes D12 ( 700 ft ) but stiff enough for an AT I200-W ( 8100 ft and Mach 1.5 ( whee )

I am really looking forward to flying smaller rockets more frequently than I can do with the Level 2 Rockets I used to fly most of the time.

-- kjh

p.s. This is a picture of a Blue Raven with a Power Perch pretending to be an AltAcc that you asked about:


Ugly but functional

I flew it for my Level 1 Cert in June and I'll fly it again for my Level 2 in a 54mm rocket as soon as we have a go for a launch in Central TX.

After that I hope to have learned enough about flying the Blue Raven to re-design my old AV-Bays so I can retire the kludged avionics sled.

 

[tsmith1315]

Hmmm ... I have a small tripod in one of my old rocket boxes and a digital camera.

I use an early Canon EOS digital in manual focus mode. I find it much easier to manipulate than a phone camera.

 

[Steve Shannon]

All --

I really enjoy the build threads and I considered documenting the build of "La Pequeña Vulcanita", my new BT-55 Vulcanite scale model.

But evey time I take on a task that I want to document, I am a mess and I don't want to touch my Phone to take photos !

Or I've mixed up a batch of Epoxy and I can't stop to take photos ... or something else prevents a photo shoot ...

How do all'Y'all do that ?

I am in awe !

Thanks

-- kjh

A helping spouse is the answer to prayer.

 

[manixFan]

Use a desktop tripod for your phone so you can use that as a handle. Then use a disposable screen stylus (like you get when you vote) to activate and control the screen and just toss the stylus when you are done. I often use a paper towel to hold the tripod and never touch the phone.

Another trick is to lay out a line of gloves before you start rather than having to pull them out of a box. I buy several boxes at a time on sale for $5/100 gloves (Harbor Freight) so I don’t worry about how many I use.

Finally, if you have epoxy on your skin, using a solvent like alcohol can allow the uncured resin to more easily penetrate your skin and may eventually lead to an allergic reaction, which will make it impossible to work with. Just FYI.


Tony

 

[kjhambrick]

Use a desktop tripod for your phone so you can use that as a handle. Then use a disposable screen stylus (like you get when you vote) to activate and control the screen and just toss the stylus when you are done. I often use a paper towel to hold the tripod and never touch the phone.

Another trick is to lay out a line of gloves before you start rather than having to pull them out of a box. I buy several boxes at a time on sale for $5/100 gloves (Harbor Freight) so I don’t worry about how many I use.

Finally, if you have epoxy on your skin, using a solvent like alcohol can allow the uncured resin to more easily penetrate your skin and may eventually lead to an allergic reaction, which will make it impossible to work with. Just FYI.


Tony

Good advice, Tony.

I recall from the late 1990's when an active member of rec.models.rockets developed an epoxy alergy and he reported all the side-effects he was suffering.

I started using gloves back then unless I was doing something small where all I needed was a chopstick worth to do the job.

I should probably ALWAYS wear gloves because epoxy somehow seems to find my hands ...

I'll definitely implement your 'get a bunch out of the box and lay them out in a line' tip -- why didn't I think of that ?

A helping spouse is the answer to prayer.

Steve --

I believe my wife is hoping that this 'rocketry business' is only 'a phase' of an old man reliving his youth

I use an early Canon EOS digital in manual focus mode. I find it much easier to manipulate than a phone camera.

Tim --

My digital is not much better than the old Kodak disposables

OTOH, I need to look at my wife's camera -- she has a Canon and EOS seems vaguely familiar ...

All --

Thanks for all the replies !

A lot to ponder here !!

-- kjh

 

[kalsow]

Siri / NSA / Alexa, take photo now!

 

[kjhambrick]

Siri / NSA / Alexa, take photo now!

Dang, @kalsow !

I've got a Samsung ... Bixby. take photo now !

Gotta look into that

Thanks !

-- kjh

 

[John Kemker]

I recall from the late 1990's when an active member of rec.models.rockets developed an epoxy alergy and he reported all the side-effects he was suffering.

Dave Gawlik?

He developed a severe epoxy allergy in the 90s.

 

[kjhambrick]

Dave Gawlik?

He developed a severe epoxy allergy in the 90s.

@John Kemker --

I can honestly say, being old and forgetful as I am, I don't recall if it was Dangerous Dave or not.

And even if I did remember, HHS and their HIPAA law sez I can't say ...

-- kjh

 

[Hobie1dog]

Good advice, Tony.

I recall from the late 1990's when an active member of rec.models.rockets developed an epoxy alergy and he reported all the side-effects he was suffering.

I used to work with epoxy everyday most all day long and then after I got messed up and started building rockets again six years later, I had developed the epoxy allergy... and sometimes even having a fan blowing across the workspace and having a full face mask on with respirator cartridges and I can still get my eyes swollen.
You need to look at your cell phone and get it set up so that you say one word and it will click the shutter.

 

[Funkworks]

But evey time I take on a task that I want to document, I am a mess and I don't want to touch my Phone to take photos !

Or I've mixed up a batch of Epoxy and I can't stop to take photos ... or something else prevents a photo shoot ...

How do all'Y'all do that ?

I only have a few build threads in here, but for each photo, it's a 2-step process:
First, I ask the characters for their permission to take a photo of them.
Second, I take a photo of them in action.
Look up "Thunderbird" and "Smurf" for our results.



One of these (or an earlier version) also helps:

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HQ672ZM/A/joby-griptight-gorillapod-for-magsafe
Washing your hands all the time is also part of it.

 

[manixFan]

That Joby is what I use as well. Very handy.


Tony

 

[Hobie1dog]

Well I just spent the last hour trying to figure out how to use that one word to get the camera to take the picture and watched three different YouTube videos and none of them turned out the way that it did in the videos. so I can say Siri and then "ay cheese" and it comes up with a window at the top which wants me to pick out wether I choose the front or back camera..... and in one of the videos it showed how to go in and set it up to select just the back camera which I did. so I still can't get rid of that window that comes up which totally negates, the whole process of saying one word, and as soon as you select for instance the back button then it automatically takes a picture, but that means you have to press the word back just to get it to take a picture

 

[John Kemker]

Well I just spent the last hour trying to figure out how to use that one word to get the camera to take the picture and watched three different YouTube videos and none of them turned out the way that it did in the videos. so I can say Siri and then "ay cheese" and it comes up with a window at the top which wants me to pick out wether I choose the front or back camera..... and in one of the videos it showed how to go in and set it up to select just the back camera which I did. so I still can't get rid of that window that comes up which totally negates, the whole process of saying one word, and as soon as you select for instance the back button then it automatically takes a picture, but that means you have to press the word back just to get it to take a picture

I have the solution, Marty: Quit using iPhones. Here's a video on howt to do it with an Android. I just tried it and it works on my phone!

 

[Tractionengines]

I believe my wife is hoping that this 'rocketry business' is only 'a phase' of an old man reliving his youth

I am SURE my wife would like that to be the case. Unfortunately, I think I developed an addiction, and don't want to go thru withdrawal, so I'm here to stay....

By the way for taking photos, I do the change of gloves thing... also long cure epoxy. I HATE being in a rush. If I do use less than 30 min epoxy, then no "in-process" photos.

 

[jahall4]

... or just video what you want to capture. More better anyway. If a picture is worth a 1000 words then video worth 100,000. Here is a long video with lots of epoxy, none of which ended up on my hands thanks to gloves. ;-)

 

[tsmith1315]

This is a picture of a Blue Raven with a Power Perch pretending to be an AltAcc that you asked about:


Ugly but functional

I flew it for my Level 1 Cert in June and I'll fly it again for my Level 2 in a 54mm rocket as soon as we have a go for a launch in Central TX.

After that I hope to have learned enough about flying the Blue Raven to re-design my old AV-Bays so I can retire the kludged avionics sled.

Cool! I've considered something similar before. Way back when, the possibilty of mounting an AltAcc to an airframe or coupler instead of a sled was attractive. It's just another option, and mounting with only two bolts makes that easier.
The AltAcc was not even a little large in it's day, it's suprising how much smaller the Blue Raven is.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I have the solution, Marty: Quit using iPhones. Here's a video on howt to do it with an Android.

I had a nice Android but ran it through the washer and killed it.

 

[Cape Byron]

I believe my wife is hoping that this 'rocketry business' is only 'a phase' of an old man reliving his youth

Funniest thing I’ve read this year.

 

[Cape Byron]

Get a cheap Bluetooth remote for your phone camera. Mine is an AB Shutter 3 I got for free with an LED light. Put it in a ziplock bag. Done.

 

[watheyak]

I layer gloves. I'll put on three of four pairs so I can shuck the sticky set and keep making my mess.

This method also helps with build thread photography, although my current cell phone case has Gorilla glue boogers on it. That stuff is tenacious.

 

[conneryc]

mini tripods that can sit on a desk/bench, or a cell phone holder placed so all you have to do is touch the screen, that's after you remove your disposable gloves you have on when you get anywhere near epoxy...

This!!! Never work with epoxy without disposable gloves on. I've known people in the past that used to build boats and didn't wear PPE that developed such severe allergies to epoxy that they could no longer do their job.