I see what you mean about needing the nut on the inside, and thus the flattening of the dowel. There are so many ways to construct this device. You could appoxy the nut to the outside of the PVC tube and then not worry about flattening the dowel. You could cut a slot in the PVC, then have a bolt screwed into the round dowel with a nut that would tighten down on the outside of the PVC.
My idea for the square block was just a block stuck on the end of the round dowel. The square block would not go into the tube, but it would help to keep the whole shabang from rolling. I've heard of people using curtain rods for this same device. The cam would be difficult, but not impossible to do in wood. Probably easier to just by a plastic cam set. Someone posted a design for a similar device on here, only it was a 2X2 with a groove routed in it, and a flat strip that slides through the groove and could be locked. These are all great ideas for transferring distances. I often use a locking tape measure for the same. So many cats, so many ways. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [email protected] Tel: (412) 268-9081
