A Big Secret About the Diameter Tape Measure

The Diameter Tape Secret
The Diameter Tape Measure Secret

Diameter tape measures are made for wrapping around pipes and poles, to find the diameter. That’s a good enough reason to keep one in your tool box, garage, and vehicle. But there’s one feature that no one talks about, until now….

The other side of the diameter tape measure is a regular tape measure, in inches or centimeters. It measures length, not diameter. So, even though it is a special tape, it is also a handy every day tape, too. Lufkin, and the other manufacturers, thought of everything when they designed these handy pocket tapes. Everyone should have one or two.

Lufkin Y906PD pipe diameter tape measure, not Barlow W906PD Lufkin Diameter Tape

 

What Will Pipe Diameter Tape Measures look like in 2030?

Measuring Techniques
Measuring Techniques

There are distance measuring apps out there, but measuring the diameter of a pipe presents a unique measuring situation.

  • Calibration. There will need to be some way of checking to see if the app is working correctly. You will need to measure a known standard to see if the app is measuring right. If not, there needs to be some way of calibrating or adjusting the reading, to make it accurate. In other words, if you measure a 2 inch pipe, and the app says 2.1 inches, you need a way to adjust the setting to read 2.0 inches. Otherwise, when you measure a 3 inch pipe or any size pipe, the measurement would be off.
  • Calibration should be done with different sizes of pipe, to make sure you will get an accurate reading at any of those sizes.
  • The curvature of the pipe needs to be considered. You aren’t taking a picture of a 2D object. The pipe is 3D, so your camera may not see the top and bottom of the pipe as being 180 degrees away from each other. If you are too close to the pipe, you wouldn’t see the full 180 degrees. So your measurement would be too small.
  • Resolution of measuring. A pipe diameter tape measure normally has a resolution of 100th of an inch diameter. Can a smart phone app be that accurate?
  • The nearness of the object. For calibration, we would need some standard distance from the cell phone. Maybe this could be accomplished by using an object like a 12″ ruler, placed between the pipe and the phone. Hopefully, a less mechanical method will pop up.

If you know of an app that can accurately measure pipe diameter, please let me know. If one does not exist, I’m sure it will be invented in the near future.

3 Homeowner Uses For An Architect Scale Ruler

Architects, designers, and planners use architect scale rulers in their work every day. Here are 3 ways that an architect scale ruler can help a homeowner like you, too.

  1. Plan a new arrangement of furniture in your living room. Whether you just
    kitchen-design
    Kitchen Design

    moved in, or you just want to make a fresh arrangement of your furniture, you can start with a piece of paper and an architect scale ruler to see if your plan will actually fit the way you want it to fit.

  2. Design a new kitchen in your home. The best way to start is to find a picture of a kitchen in a magazine, then see if the components will fit into your space. An architect ruler will let you make precise measurements in your drawings of different kitchen designs.
  3. Design a garden in your back yard. If your space is limited, the architect ruler will help you to make the best of the space you have. You may discover that you don’t need to buy as many tomato plants, or pepper plants.

 

7 Ways To Use Promotional Maglites®

Tony Sabo & Dave Navoyosky at the New Product Showcase (NPS) in Cleveland OH Jan 19, 2016
Tony Sabo & Dave Navoyosky at the New Product Showcase (NPS) in Cleveland OH

Since you can get your company logo applied to Maglites®, you have the power to do many things. Here are the best 7 ways to use Promotional Maglites®…

  1. Give them as safety awards to everyone in the shop, after a year being accident-free.
  2. Give them to your best customers in order to secure your relationship.
  3. Use them as raffle prizes at a trade show (unless you would rather give one to everyone there). A raffle will bring a lot of traffic to your table.
  4. Give them to all your employees at Christmas time, to show your generosity and appreciation.
  5. Give a Maglite® with your corporate logo as an incentive to bring in a new customer.
  6. Advertise your company at a golf outing by putting a Maglite® in every “goodie bag” for the golfers.
  7. Use Promotional Maglites® as incentives to your sales team. Give one to the highest salesman every month.

Since your logo can be permanently laser engraved, or even printed in full color on the barrel, your logo will stand out and promote your company for many years.

Why Use Maglite Flashlights With RED Bulbs?

When you need a rugged USA-made flashlight, you normally choose Maglite Flashlights. But here’s a new reason to choose America’s favorite torch:

Choose the NEW Maglite® with the Red Light bulb. Why red?

  1. Red light is easier on the eyes than white light.
  2. Red light is easier on the eyes than any other color, especially blue.

Red lighting is used in confined spaces like airline cockpits, boats, and truck cabins. The visual spectrum of light goes from red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. As we go from red to violet, the “energy” and frequency of the light increases. The higher the energy and frequency, the more disturbing it is to the eyes. I once had a car with red lights instead of blue ones in the dash. I noticed how pleasant the red lighting was.

Here is the newest wavelength technology from Maglite®…

J3ASW2MagliteSolitaireSpectrumSeriesRed MagLite® Solitaire LED Spectrum-Red j3asw2