On 10/27/10 8:34 AM, Jules Richardson wrote:
On Wed, 27 Oct 2010 07:41:04 -0400, J Burns wrote:
On 10/26/10 4:55 PM, HeyBub wrote:
Or at least a better one.
Or at least according to Gizmodo.
http://gizmodo.com/5672993/a-bit-of-...ts-the-common-
tape-measure
Nah.
1. Fractions. Thomas Jefferson would never approve! Hassle to read
the tape, write the number, remember the number, and add or subtract.
Got to be metric on both sides.
I think the extended tape in the photo is metric, even though the
retracted one says 25' as so is presumably not (yes, I know there's a lot
of perspective distortion in the photo, but look how close the '1' seems
to be to the end - and I doubt that the tip is 3" wide :-)
http://www.stanleytools.com/default....VIEW=ThumbView
Heybub's example is the 25' Fatmax Extreme. All 4 Fatmax Extreme tapes
measure inches.
I believe Fatmax came out in 2005. There are 10 other Fatmax models,
which are yellow. Six measure inches only, 2 measure mm only, and 2
measure both. Stanley sells 11 of the 14 by the internet. The 3 it
won't sell are the mm models and one that has both mm and inches.
I wonder if that's because they've had trouble with customers who
assumed they were ordering inch tapes.
3. 25 feet. It means a bulkier, heavier, more expensive tape. Mine is
8m, but I don't recall using it for more than 5m. For longer distances,
a fiberglass-reinforced reel tape works better.
Yeah, 25' is about the most I expect out of a tape before moving to a
bigger reel one - but I don't generally like tapes smaller than 25'. I'd
still have to take both to a job "just in case", so may as well just take
the one 25' one (and a 3' ruler for smaller work)
So far, my only metric/metric tapes have been 8m. I think I'll try a 5m
because smaller tapes are easy to keep in pockets. If I ever need to
measure something longer, I can easily extend the range to 10m (almost
33 feet) with a single marker, such as a pencil mark, a piece of tape,
or the edge of an envelope. Metric measurements are much easier to add
than inches, halves, quarters, eights, sixteenths, and 32nds.