Subject: Re: how to square a try square

From: "Casey " <[email-masked]>
Date: 12 Feb 1997 23:42:04 GMT

Eric,
I have heard that you can adjust squares by beating the tongue at the
joint. To make the angle more acute, beat the outside of the ell. To widen
the angle, beat the inside. The area you beat (with a ball peen hammer)
should be triangular, with the larger part of its area toward the
appropriate edge for the desired adjustment.  I've never tried this
technique, but it should work in theory. You are deforming the metal
slightly so as to make one side kind of "longer" than the other, until the
error is corrected. On the physics side of things, you should let the
square cool before trying its accuracy, to get a true reading. Beating will
also heat the metal, giving a false result. Alternately, you could have a
machine shop grind or mill it true, to a precision you specify.
Casey

P. Eric Chi <[email-masked]> wrote in article
<[email-masked]>...
> I have a Stanley try square ( with metal handle) which I got from a local

> hardware store quite a while back. I found it is NOT square. Is there
anyway I 
> can fix it?
> (BTW, it is too late to return it.)
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Eric.
>  
>

---

From: [email-masked] (P. Eric Chi)
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 97 21:16:37 GMT

I have a Stanley try square ( with metal handle) which I got from a local 
hardware store quite a while back. I found it is NOT square. Is there anyway I 
can fix it?
(BTW, it is too late to return it.)

Thanks,

Eric.

---

From: [email-masked] (John Luby)
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 12:07:52 GMT

>(BTW, it is too late to return it.)
As a last resort, you could try the classic method with a punch, long
used on engineers' squares.

I assume you know how to test the square on a straight edged board. If
the angle is more than 90 deg., apply the punch to the outer corner of
the try square. If less than 90 deg., punch the inside corner.

To be honest, I've only known this method to work on small steel
engineers' squares.

Usual disclaimers.

( [email-masked] is my address for non-spammers )

---

From: Ed Bennett <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 11:04:24 -0800

> (BTW, it is too late to return it.)

Yes, there are ways to fix it.  I've read through two responses so far that 
advise you to beat it with a hammer/punch.  UUUUGGGGHHHH!  Perhaps this could 
help the condition of an el-cheapo framing square but you said "try square".  It 
surprises me that one even recommends it for an engineer's square (hardened 
steel and hammers/punches don't go well together).

If it's worth it to you, find a machine shop that is able to grind it.  I 
suspect, based on the brand name ("Stanley"), that you'd pay about 3-5 times 
what it's worth to have it ground.  You could try to go after it yourself with a 
file if you have a means to check squareness (the straight-edge/scribe the line 
method is marginally adaquate at best).  It's not easy but you could probably 
correct really gross error with this metod.

I suggest you learn a lesson from this experience and write off the cost of the 
square as an educational expense.  Then go shopping for a real square from a 
machine shop supplier (don't bother with the ultra expensive brass/rosewood 
stuff made for woodworkers).  Get one with an accuracy specification/
classification.  Expect to pay $30-$50.  Cheap tools always cost more to replace 
than buying good tools the first time.

-- 
Ed Bennett
[email-masked]
Home of the TS-Aligner
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