Subject: Re: Bridge City - III

From: [email-masked]
Date: 27 Mar 1997 19:33:07 -0700

In <01bc3a6c$de8d1c40$c89e09ce@horizons>, "John Hofstad-Parkhill" <[email-masked]> writes:
>The 5" adjustable try square arrived yesterday.

>Well, as I noted but ignored the handle is not 1" wide, so the graduations
>along the outer edge of the blade are pretty useless (IMO). The inside

Have they changed the design?  My "handle" is 1.00025".  Closer than you can see.

>
>The little flange that pops out is another mystery. I suppose if it came
>out easily (it does not) you could use it to keep the blade flat, but I'm
>not sure why it would provide any benefit. The weight of the handle
>prevents it from laying down while in use.
>

Try loosening the little knurled nut on the side of the handle.  The little brass 
blade slides out very easily.  Then tighten the nut to lock it in place.  Not always
reliable in locking but it always slides out easily.

The little blade is very handy, not so much so on the 1.5" and 5" but try the 9" or
14" and you may like it (no I don't have them all).

ernie fisch

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From: [email-masked] (Bennett Leeds)
Date: 28 Mar 1997 03:34:01 GMT

"John Hofstad-Parkhill" <[email-masked]> writes
> The primary reason I selected this item was the graduations along the
> blade, I've always wondered why a try square doesn't usually have such
> things.

Because it's hard enough to fix the blade at 90 degrees without also
having to fix it at a certain point.

> graduations are relative to the inside of the handle, the outside
> graduations are also relative to the inside of the handle.

Sure about this? I've got the larger version of this, and the outside
graduations are relative to the outside of the handle. I note that their
catalog shows the smallest version being used to measure height on the
outside edge.

> So you can't use it to measure height, it's slightly more than 1/16" short.

Is yours defective?

(I reiterate my previous musings on the ability of the accuracy of the
scales to be dependent on the accuracy of the handle thickness, but that
mine appears to be at least within 1/128", which is good enough considering 
the graduations are 1/32" apart, IMHO.

> prevents it from laying down while in use.

Again, with the larger version it does keep the blade flat. However, the
larger version has a longer blade, so the center of gravity is not 
somewhere in the handle. I found at a show that the dfit of the little
flange varied widely among samples.

> I guess I expected something a bit better, I'm not sure what.

Well, from my experience with the larger one, you should have gotten
something better.