Thread: So obvious when you think about it

I think I read the same thing in the Australian wood review. my two tapes tapes were 2mm out for every meter.

any errors in your work? The tape did it! stoopid tape. Sorry boss; can you buy me a new one...

Wow you guys are great, I thought it was just me

i measure glass splashbacks etc for a living we have a tollerance 0 -2. i use stainless steel rulers to measure with 150,300 ,600,1000 and 2000. i will measure tight with rulers do my deductions and then double check sizes with tape measure. When i buy tape measures before i buy i get ruler off shelf and check the tape to see how accurate it is,i keep going till i find a spot on one.Even after using i still check them.Someone picked up in show us your shed i had 6 tape measures as of yesterday with a clean up i think i got ten now.I also have a Diso laser measure it cost $1200 its pretty accurate + or - 2 over 200 m.i have used on big jobs.But it all comes down to double checking your sizes and equipment.

scotty

I am always buying tape measures but for some reason the seem to vanish. Its the same with pens, They just vanish off the face of the earth. I am sure there is a pen heaven and I'm starting to think there is a tape measure heaven too.

Originally Posted by munruben

I am always buying tape measures but for some reason the seem to vanish. Its the same with pens, They just vanish off the face of the earth. I am sure there is a pen heaven and I'm starting to think there is a tape measure heaven too.

Measuring tapes have a built in electronic timer.when its time is up to vanish,it emits a strange nioseless signal after dark.Then the little elves that you have seen now and again down the back yard come running.They pick up the tape and take it back down the yard and drop it in a deep hole,never to be seen again.
Does that explain it.
The older the owner is the shorter the time is. If you are 40 the timer runs for 6 mths.
If you are 50 it is set for 2 months 60 1 month. and if you are 68 well you may be lucky to get it home and still find it
Pens seem to be a different story.They just seem to be fair game to any tea leaf.He wont miss it,or he can afford them more than me attitude

I have several tapes. (All Stanley Fat Max) I have checked them for accuracy against each other. Since I rarely use anything over 96 inches, I only check the first 96 inches. It is a PITA but I did compare each of the 96 graduations across all four tapes.

The surprising thing is that I didn't notice any graduation being off by more than a half of a 1/64.

Originally Posted by AUSSIE

The older the owner is the shorter the time is. If you are 40 the timer runs for 6 mths.
If you are 50 it is set for 2 months 60 1 month. and if you are 68 well you may be lucky to get it home and still find it

My timer must be broken. I pick 'em up at Bunnies or wherever, put 'em on the cashiers counter while I reach for da wallet and never see them again. (But I always seem to end up with tubes of silastic in the bag, even when I didn't buy any!)

Still, that's OK... it makes up for all the times I've borrowed a Bunnies tape to measure their timber lengths, only to get home and find it still clipped to my belt.

Originally Posted by AUSSIE

Measuring tapes have a built in electronic timer.when its time is up to vanish,it emits a strange nioseless signal after dark.Then the little elves that you have seen now and again down the back yard come running.They pick up the tape and take it back down the yard and drop it in a deep hole,never to be seen again.
Does that explain it.
The older the owner is the shorter the time is. If you are 40 the timer runs for 6 mths.
If you are 50 it is set for 2 months 60 1 month. and if you are 68 well you may be lucky to get it home and still find it
Pens seem to be a different story.They just seem to be fair game to any tea leaf.He wont miss it,or he can afford them more than me attitude

you can find home????

Just today I was helping my brother-in-law put up an awning. I turned up just after he had put the beam on the props. so I decided to cut the posts to length.

He said to me I've measured from the beam to the concrete and I have marked the post where it has to be cut. I said to him have you allowed for the haunch in the post and he says yes.

So I cut the bottom off the post and attached the footing to bolt it to the concrete then took the post over to the beam to fix it in place and the post ends up short.

He says I measured it twice before I marked it turns out the post was 88mm short and then I said to him you measured it with the tape box on the concrete didn't you and forgot to add the size of the tape box onto the length. Cost me another hour to fix the problem.

Lesson I learnt was to never trust another persons measurements.

Originally Posted by rrich

The surprising thing is that I didn't notice any graduation being off by more than a half of a 1/64.

With my eyesight today I couldn't read a 1/64 let alone a half of one.

Hi - I work for an engineering company and we use tapes but ours are calibrated tapes that come in plastic boxes with certificates of calibration - these are much more accurate than a standard tape. Yes they do cost more