-MIKE- wrote:
On 3/14/10 10:58 AM, HeyBub wrote:
Doug White wrote:
Get this one from Harbor Freight;
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=9541


I'm usually the first guy to defend ol' HF, but I have yet to find an
accurate analog measuring device in their store. One day, I went in
looking for a square and tested out a bunch of that exact model and
none were square, and a good many of them had inaccurate scales. They
commonly did not start at "zero" at the corners.

I would go beyond the normal HF motto of buyer beware and say, just
avoid them for something like this. If not, make sure you have a way
of checking it for square and accuracy of the scale.

Good points. I recall, however, from teaching Physics labs, that one should
avoid using the end of a ruler -such as a yard stick (actually, we used
"meter" sticks) - as a starting point. Start at the 1" mark and subtract one
inch from the result to get the true distance. The reason is that the ends
of measuring devices get boogered up and distort the beginning point.

For building such things as dog houses, it probably doesn't amount to a
significant problem. Obtaining the measurement for a piece of glass,
however, could be a WTF? moment..