First laser guided miter saws. Then circular saws and jigsaws. Then drill presses and table saws. And now, in the latest flyer from Summit Tools – laser guided scissors! Ok, come on – really? What next?
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
(soon to be www.flairwoodworks.com)
– Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. – Albert Schweitzer
Replies
Chris, I don't know what's next but I've been using a laser "tape measure" (from Hilti) for a few years already for taking jobsite measurements. It's incredibly accurate and easy compared to anything else, and I'm very familiar with all the quaintly traditional methods like story sticks etc. They've apparently got a setup where you set the laser on a tripod in the middle of a room, it rotates and takes readings around 360° at that given height. Your computer then takes that info and plots out the actual room dimensions and any computations resulting from them. With some room layouts you would need to take readings from 2 spots to get the complete picture. I'd like to get greedy little fingers on that system...
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
Ring, I watched a surveyor who had one of the 3d laser systems, do an as-built drawing of an old water treatment, and pumping plant.
They could set it up and spray the laser. It took them two days to do the plant, but it was about 80X200-feet.
They ended up with a 3d model accurate to 0.5-mm, of the whole thing. Size of surface run conduits, water lines, bolt heads, flange diameters and thicknesses, etc. It still took about a month to go back in and flesh it out with things like what sizes of wires were in the conduit. But it was far faster, and accurate, than it could have been done with standard survey grade lasers.
It sure made the design work for he upgrades a lot easier.
I'am waiting for a laser guided cordless drill so that I can put the cross hairs dead on a #2 square or #2 phillips.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
"I'm waiting for a laser guided cordless drill so that I can put the cross hairs dead on a #2 square or #2 phillips."Might be interested in that, but only if it also rotated the bit to match the orientation of the screw head.BruceT
Some stone countertop companies are using those systems -- a combination of lasers and machine-vision. They put a tripod along one wall, then use some specialized stickers at important points on the far wall (where the countertop will be installed.Then they hit the 'start' button and walk away for a few minutes. When they are done, they have a computer file that their CAD-driven machinery can use to cut the stone.I'll bet that some high-end cabinet shops are doing the same thing.
Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
Chris,
Rumor has it that LN or is it LV is coming out with a laser guided #7 plane. The laser will not only show the projected path of the blade on the end of the board, but also will vaporise the wood ahead of the "cut". No more sharpening!
Note-- after a recommendation in Derek's in depth review (yet to be published), the plane will come with the following caveat: "Warning! Do not look directly into laser with your remaining eye!"
Ray
..We could use laser guided something or other in the bathroom.....
BG,
Saw a sign on the wall above the toilet in a bathroom: "Stand close--it's shorter than you think."
Ray
I want a proximity sensor that will automatically lift he toilet seat up at night if I stand in front of it for two seconds or more. Then laser crosshairs inside the toilet tank that give an aimpoint.I will pay good money - more than a L-N plane - for such an integrated, night-pee system. Somebody invent it, please."Yes, but what's good for me ain't necessarily good for the weak-minded." - Augustus McCrae, Lonesome Dove
Ed,
The system you wish for has already been invented, marketed, and discarded. The automatic seat lifter, I mean. Ever wonder where the term "tallywhacker" came from?
Ray
Btw, caught the 3d installment of Lonesome Dove series on ION tv this weekend. That might be my favorite western, certainly Tommy Lee Jones' best role. The book was darn good read, too.
Ray
Far better is the mufti patent vacuum-p system which not only hooks up on entry but vibrates on timed release to clear those oft neglected corners. Volunteers are needed for field trials since my wife will not have it in the house.
For ladies may I offer the mufti navel belly button frost detector. For those who prefer the bare midriff yet live in northern climes. If the temperature is above 30c it flashes green, turns orange on a drop to 15c and becomes bright red and hoots at zero degrees. It measures one half an inch and weighs only one ounce.
The accessory battery pack provides three years power and comes with a free trolley for convenient transportation and all power leads.
Mufti,Does the Mufti Ladies' naval button frost detector come in a sealed unit, or can it be disassembled, maybe have a few chips added and be "hacked" in a certain way? It could be useful to indicate other environmental and biometric type information. I am thinking of ladies that I have known who were as inscrutable as the stone sphinx until I spoke certain words and the fires of he-- were unleashed upon my poor head. My ex-wife comes to mind,...I'm thinking if I had a sort of multi-coloured, "terror alert system" around it might make life a little easier.I'll pass on the vibrating porcelain throne, but good luck anyway. Ed
Ed,
The wife forwarded me an email the other day, wherein the author, a mid-menopausal wife, described a gift from her hubby. He had given her one of those mood rings, so as to be able to predict, by looking at her hand, what her response might be to say, his "Hello dear, how was your day?" She said if she was in a good mood, the ring turned blue. If she was not, the ring made a big red mark on the side of his head, because he hadn't given her a diamond.
Ray
Back in my road warrior days, I made a pit stop at ORD. When I stepped up, the wise azz next to me said "Damn, this water is cold". Not to be outdone, I replied "It sure is.........and it's deep, too"
Ray,
With your obvious interest and expertise in this matter I feel you should get to work on a laser-guided carving chisel.
Not only would a single design of blade allow any carving cut to be made but said cuts would be guided by a set of programmable lasers in the handle. These would map out the next cut but allow the user to do the pushing (albeit via a handle-embedded nerve interface linked to the laser) so that we could claim that we carved the thang and not the machine. This is important to one's self-esteem, as you know.
Please include a variety of programmed patterns, including simple A&C pokes but also one or two of Grindling's designs.............
The price should be around $79:99 after tax and include a nice bubinga box to keep the item in, with an extra thick lid on which one might practice. Please avoid the use of chrome finishes and go-faster stripes.
Lataxe, even more interested in carving now (tool buying opportunity).
PS Did I mention that the blade should be self-sharpening?
Lataxe,
Funny you should mention that idea. I'm working on it, see attachment. I believe I've got it down pat, except for the part about the laser, the programming(- it's all in the onboard computer, but the wetware is incompatible for downloading-) and the box. Oh, by the way, the price point is unattainable--I, the carving apparatus, can be had, but not that cheap!
Ray
Ray,
It is wunnerful, what you can do with paper-mache. How much is a set of the molds? Not that I need any o' them ones as they appear to be based on the legs removed from innocent bull terriers. If they were tusks you would be had-up in front of the beak and rightly so!
When you have lost your sheep to either the voracious state or the even more voracious neighbours, there is certainly a job for you at the shed as resident carver. No need to bring the armaments as Nanny will ensure you do not come to harm at the hands of the more Xenophobic members of the Galgate community. (Although you may need to change your pronunciation).
Do you like soup?
Lataxe, a dog lover (but they have to be alive ones).
Lataxe,
The molds are dirt cheap, it's that woodgrain walnut flavoured plaster that's so hard to come by.
No sheep here, I hand-raised those nasty little critters as a child for spending money, and learnt to hate the smell. Of the sheep of course, not the money. And low Nanny presence hereabouts, with little need of Her. All the voracious neighbors are known to one another as supporters of our 2d amendment and surprisingly (or not, if you think about it) polite to one another. Anyways, when it comes to Nanny protection, she is wont to say when seconds count, "We'll be there in just a few minutes."
Xen-o-phobic. Afraid of the Warrior Princess?
Ray, lover of soup, that's why I wear a strainer on my upper lip
I suppose this is old news, but a laser-guided hand saw now exists. It's a triumph of marketing over everything - including common sense:
http://www.toolcrib.com/blog/2008/10/01/the-laser-guided-hand-saw-and-6-other-stupid-laser-tools/
I have a set of mustache nano-lasers on order, so I can see exactly where I'm going to bite the sandwich. ;-)
I'm going to England shortly after the New Year. I understand that one of the finest English ales, "Old Tennis Shoes", now comes in a laser guided pint...
I'll report.
Mr Guy,
You have misread the tourist brochure. Old Tennis Shoe comes as a lesser guided pint. After you've drunk half of it you are so unco-ordinated that subsequent attemps to gulp at the delicious liquid results in poor elbow manoeuvres and you slop beer down yer shirt. At this point the landlady adopts a sneery look, although she will still offer you more Shoe as the profits come before everything else in a pub. Just be careful to count your change from this moment on. Also, it is best to sit down.
Perhaps you should stick to Old Walters Groggings which, despite it's name and the particulates suspended in the brew, is a healthy tipple. Do not mix it with Pussers Navy Rum (cask strength) as you may then be press-ganged by the local yachting club. Britain is a strange foreign place and full of untrustworthy types eager to misuse an innocent wee Yankie bloke trying to enjoy hisself.
Lataxe, an untrustworthy Yank-misuser.
Lataxe,
Perhaps a tippler like yourself is familiar with Dead Dog Scrumpy?
In the year of 1642, near a little cider mill,
A poor old dog lay down to rest, 'cause he was feeling ill.
He chose a most precarious perch above the apple press,
And in his sleep he tumbled in, and perished in distress.
This caused his master for to grieve, likewise his mistress too.
But all their sorrows were relieved when they sampled of the brew.
"Ahah!" cried farmer Atwater, "The like I ne'er did sup!"
So he summoned all the neighbors in, and bid them take a cup.
Now every man who drank that night got drunk as drunk could be.
They marvelled that the scrumpy had acquired such potency.
The farmer kept his counsel, and gave each another drop,
When all at once the poor old dog came floating to the top.
A silence fell upon the room, and every man did frown.
The recognised ol' 'Bedneggo, tho he was upside down.
The Squire lost his colour and collapsed upon the floor,
While the Vicar lost his breeches in the rush to reach the door.
"Hark ye!" cried farmer Atwater, "In all his life I vow,
He ne'er did bite no man nor dog, and he'll bite no man now.
So let this be his epitaph,'Here lies our faithful Ben,
Who perished in the scrumpy vat, But quickly rose again.' "
Now if ever you're in Devon, and you go into a bar,
Just ask for Dead Dog Scrumpy, it's the best there is , by far.
Refuse all imitations, and you'll sleep just like a log.
You can always recognise it, by the hair of the dog.
Cheers,
Ray
Ray,
Now then! That is a fine ode with an excellent hero in it (the dog). As it happens the ladywife and I go to Devon soon for a week, taking photographs of the wild Atlantic weather and the wintry beauty of Exmoor. Shurely there will be a charming Inn up the moor or down in some cove where the Dead Dog may be had?
In all events I intend to imbibe a sufficiency each evening after a hard day's shutter button-pressing. If that Dog is not available there is always Old Murderer's Ale, which was traditionally drunk by the ship-wreckers before they went out to make a false light to draw hapless vessels onto the rocks, for pillage. "Murderer's" because the rascals bludgeoned the survivors so as to ensure no witnesses to the pilfering could run off to the rozzers and the beak with their description of the pilfer men (and women).
The ladywife tells me that her great, great grandmother remembered being part of a gang of such wreckers on the Yorkshire coast in olden times. Of course, this may be a naughty-tale told in the family to excite grandchildren on dark winter nights. Still, the ladywife did once machine gun a yacht just up the coast from there, when she was on the Territorial Army range doing her Type 2 machine gun exercise. Apparently this ugly weapon shudders and goes up, so that a wee girl gripping the beast cannot let go the trigger and ends up shooting the many bullets up in a far reaching arc - outside the 2 mile shipping-exclusion limit in this case.
The yachsman survived (but not his rigging). He sued the army and the ladywife was in disgrace. Of course, she were just a girl then.
But I digress.
If I find an Inn selling Dead Dog I will take a piksher and send it to you. Otherwise it will be one of a big wave bashing a harbour.
Lataxe, a martyr to his hobbies
laser guided scissors! Ok, come on - really? What next?
I guess you have never tried to cut the paper for christmas presents and have them made fit for the receiver!
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