I've been thinking a lot about making precise measurements as I make modifications on my 1-ton frame. Recently my brother showed me a $600 piece of bar stock that had a number of threaded holes in it. The holes are for mounting a caliper to the bar, to make the bar part of a long precise measuring tool.
So after looking at that I was thinking I could make something using the same idea but based on stuff I have laying around.
I have some 10 foot sticks of conduit leftover from a project a few years ago. So I was thinking I'd contrive a way to attach a caliper to one end, and drill a hole on the other to allow mounting a pin to measure from. As long as the caliper is mounted in a way that is stable, and the distance from the stationary point to the drilled hole is known, I should then be able to make accurate measurements of about ten feet without the problems associated with holding both ends of a tape measure and then reading it accurately.
Drilling more holes allows shortening the measurements. Splicing two pieces of conduit would allow extending the reach up to 20 feet.
Since most of my measuring points are holes drilled in the frame, I can use the lathe to turn rod to exactly fit those holes, and either turn some of the rod small enough to fit in the hole drilled in the end of the conduit, or drill a hole in the one piece of rod (on the lathe to ensure its centered) and drop a smaller rod to match the hole in the conduit into.
Does my description make sense? Is there a better way for a guy working alone to make precise measurements up to 20 feet? Is there a commercial product that does the same thing and doesn't cost more than a cheap caliper, a couple sticks of conduit and a little hardware?
