Hello Tom. I just spent about an hour and a half at Lowes playing around with the dowels and plastic pipes.
Here's what I found: They had a thin wall PVC pipe and a thicker (schedule 40) PVC pipe. Theyy only had one half round and it was five eights. They also had square sticks right next to the round dowels. What worked the best as far as a good fit was three quarter inch, schedule 40 pipe and a five eights inch square stick. These come in three foot lengths. This arrangement only fits if you sand down two adjacent corners of the stick. You only have to sand down about a sixteenth of an inch from the two corners. No problem at all. It made a nice snug fit. I bought a 10-20 by three quarter inch long wing bolt. I'm going to tap threads into the pipe since the schedule 40 pipe wall is pretty thick. If it doesn't hold, I think I can fit a nut inside like you did. When I put the stick inside the PVC pipe, I'll position it with the sanded corners away from the bolt end, so there will be more room inside for a nut if I decide that I need one. All I did so far is sand the corners of the stick to fit it into the pvc pipe. Don't have time to finish it today because I had to help the better half out in the yard, then she wants to go out for dinner, then a few drinks at the American Legion. That sounds better than working on this measuring stick. Tomorrow is another day. I think this is going to work out well because the schedule 40, three quarter inch pipe is nice and rigid and still light weight. I had no idea they had the square, three foot long, sticks. The sticks make it easier than cutting the round dowel. Will let you know how it all works out as I progress. If it works well, I'll make about three or four of them starting at about 6 inches and going up to about three feet, or longer if I can find some longer square sticks. These lengths are in the non extended state, so, the overall length will be about double that. Thanks for all your help by explaining how you did it. Regards, Tom H From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tom Vos Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 8:26 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Re: another measuring device: It never occurred to me that half round was available. That would simplify the project. Thanks. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> [mailto:[email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> ]On Behalf Of Tom Hodges Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 7:53 AM To: [email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Re: another measuring device: Hi Tom. Sounds like you have a lot of people interested in your clever measuring device. I have a question. Don't they sell half round that would fit into the pipe? If so, you could cut two, one inch pieces off and glue them to the ends to make the ends fully round? I'm sure they sell half round but I don't know what sizes are available. What ever sizes are available, you can probably buy a PVC pipe that will accommodate it. I'm currently using one and a half inch, half round, to duplicate some old interior door casings. Not saying we should use anything that big, but, just saying many half round sizes are available. Regards, Tom H. From: [email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> [mailto:[email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> ] On Behalf Of Tom Vos Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 8:02 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Re: another measuring device: You've got some good ideas here. The reason for the flat side of the dowel is to allow a nut to fit between the dowel and the pvc. The small bolt I use for a set screw goes through a hold in the pvc, and threads into the nut. When I keep tightening the bolt, it threads through the nut and clamps down on the flat part of the dowel. You could, as you suggest, rid the dowel, and glue half round pieces on the end. That would give the same result. I've noted in an earlier post that you could use a router for this. That might work better, but my router was set up for a different job at the time and I didn't want to change its settings. The idea of a square block sounds good, but my pvc is round. You do want to have the dowel sized so that it won't flop around too much inside the pvc. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [email protected] <mailto:dr25%40andrew.cmu.edu> <mailto:dr25%40andrew.cmu.edu> Tel: (412) 268-9081 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
