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Well, I've used youse guys as a test-bed for many of our newest designs, so why not something different...
I had a nice long quiet drive out to New York and back today (my Great Aunt's 95th birthday party ) and came up with an idea (well, several actually, but this one I got down on paper real quick cuz it was easy and cheep )
I've uploaded a pdf file that I would like some of you to take a quick look at. If you folks think something like this is useful to the community I'll go ahead and make it public (with instructions of course). Just don't want to waste my time if something like this is of little use...
The file is a Fin Spacing and Circumference Calculator and can be found here: https://fliskits.com/products/free_dl/fin_calculator.pdf
What you will see when you open this file are 8 rulers on a page. The top most and bottom most are standard 1:1 scale rulers and are used for reference purposes.
this is how you use it:
1) Assuming you know your body tube diameter (up to 10 inches), you lay a straight edge at that point along the standard (gray) rulers on both the top and the bottom (so you know it is aligned properly)
2) Looking at the second ruler you can read the circumference of your tube right off of that scale called the Circumference Scale) (NOTE: On ALL scales, the smallest division is 1/32")
So, now you know the circumference of your tube directly.
Now, you may wish to create a fin marking guide for anywhere from 3 to 7 fins. Let's say, for example, you want 5 fins. With your straight edge still in place, you can go to the 5-Fin Spacing scale and read directly from the scale how many inches along the circumference the center of each fin would be.
This would allow you to quickly mark out a fin marking guide on a piece of paper with proper markings for each fin.
On the sheet, I show an example using a BT-70 tube.
Being a visual scale, it is not as exact as a calculator would be, but I beleive that it is plenty close enough for the vast majority of scratch builders wanting to assemble something quickly and accurately.
I am looking for some input.
Is this a useful tool?
Is this something that you would use?
Understand... ...it's stuff like this that keeps me up nights... LOL
thanx for any feedback, positive or negative!
jim
I had a nice long quiet drive out to New York and back today (my Great Aunt's 95th birthday party ) and came up with an idea (well, several actually, but this one I got down on paper real quick cuz it was easy and cheep )
I've uploaded a pdf file that I would like some of you to take a quick look at. If you folks think something like this is useful to the community I'll go ahead and make it public (with instructions of course). Just don't want to waste my time if something like this is of little use...
The file is a Fin Spacing and Circumference Calculator and can be found here: https://fliskits.com/products/free_dl/fin_calculator.pdf
What you will see when you open this file are 8 rulers on a page. The top most and bottom most are standard 1:1 scale rulers and are used for reference purposes.
this is how you use it:
1) Assuming you know your body tube diameter (up to 10 inches), you lay a straight edge at that point along the standard (gray) rulers on both the top and the bottom (so you know it is aligned properly)
2) Looking at the second ruler you can read the circumference of your tube right off of that scale called the Circumference Scale) (NOTE: On ALL scales, the smallest division is 1/32")
So, now you know the circumference of your tube directly.
Now, you may wish to create a fin marking guide for anywhere from 3 to 7 fins. Let's say, for example, you want 5 fins. With your straight edge still in place, you can go to the 5-Fin Spacing scale and read directly from the scale how many inches along the circumference the center of each fin would be.
This would allow you to quickly mark out a fin marking guide on a piece of paper with proper markings for each fin.
On the sheet, I show an example using a BT-70 tube.
Being a visual scale, it is not as exact as a calculator would be, but I beleive that it is plenty close enough for the vast majority of scratch builders wanting to assemble something quickly and accurately.
I am looking for some input.
Is this a useful tool?
Is this something that you would use?
Understand... ...it's stuff like this that keeps me up nights... LOL
thanx for any feedback, positive or negative!
jim